Forget olives, order (your name here)

BUZZ on BUSINESS

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009

Entrants can compete in the "wood-fired brick oven pizza competition," by making an original pizza at the La Plata restaurant. Three winners will receive Ouzo's gift cards and have their eponymous pizzas included on the fall menu.

The restaurant will supply cooking equipment, its brick oven, 14-inch circles of dough and all the ingredients, including fresh vegetables, meats and spices.

Ouzo's has never held the contest before and got the idea from customers.

"It will be a lot of fun. Some of our customers have a huge variety of pizzas they want: ‘Got to make this one, that one.' I said, ‘Let's see what the public would like,'" owner Joseph Gressis said.

Entering the competition costs $30, while spectators pay $20. The fee covers pizza and sodas for attendees.

Gressis is aiming for 20 contestants and already has 14 registered, he said. Those 14 have some unusual ideas about pizza, judging from ingredients they've requested.

"Nope," Gressis answered when asked what a cook would do with arugula on a pizza. "I'm telling you there's some pretty interesting things out there. All different kinds: spicy pizza, sweet pizza, someone's doing a dessert-style pizza. The way it works is that contestants are going to make the pizza. It's pretty much going to be all-you-can-eat that night. The people are going to be the voice but main decision is going to be [by] the judges."

The judges will be La Plata chiropractor and loyal customer Frank Alfano, Wayward Street Player Douglas Everton and La Plata Mayor Roy G. Hale. The Wayward Street Players will also provide live music.

Prizes, in addition to inclusion in the menu, are gift cards to the restaurant.

The Sept. 26 contest will run from 4 to 8 p.m. All who attend will sample the pizzas but three judges will determine the winners.

E-mail iosiph@aol.com for rules and information.

Seafood market closes in Waldorf

The Charles County location of Annapolis Seafood Markets closed at the end of August and will not reopen, a company representative said.

The woman at the corporate headquarters said she was authorized to comment but refused to give her name.

"The business wasn't strong enough to stay alive. We were losing money. It was just a business decision," she said.

The Waldorf location was on U.S. 301.

The company still has locations in Annapolis, Severna Park and Edgewater.

County fair to promote recycling

Charles County government, the Charles County Fair Board, Charles County Public Schools and Coca-Cola Enterprises have teamed up to launch an environmental education program for children at this year's county fair.

Eighty recycling barrels, shrink-wrapped with banners displaying partner logos and encouraging recycling, will be placed throughout the fairgrounds for attendees to discard recyclables. Afterward, 12 of the barrels will be donated to county high schools.

In October, barrels also will be provided to the remaining county schools to raise awareness about the importance of recycling. Remaining barrels will be donated to the county for ongoing use at community events.

A special event for the public will be held at the recycling booth at the fairgrounds from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday. In addition to promotional giveaways made from recycled content there will be taste-testing using biodegradable cups, a hybrid truck display and a gallery of sculptured artwork made from recyclable materials.

Nonprofits attend seminar on tax return reform

Askey, Askey & Associates held recent seminars in La Plata and Leonardtown for local nonprofits to learn about changes to the federal income tax form 990 and required schedules.

The Askey team detailed what's new and when it takes affect. The two-hour seminars helped the attending organizations discover the many changes on the 990, according to a company press release.

Tara Ghrist, tax specialist, kicked things off by reviewing how and why the form got revised, the enhanced transparency of the new form and introducing who might be affected and when.

Christa Mudd, audit supervisor, detailed how the form went from nine pages in 2007 to 11 pages in 2008.

Janice Rohme, tax manager, presented how the new 990 schedules have changed, and explained that where there were two possible schedules in 2007, now there are 16 possible schedules for 2008.

Glenn Frank III, tax manager, identified items that organizations must face from the increased time demands on the employees and volunteers to the budgetary issue faced with the additional costs to comply with the additional information disclosures.

"We always enjoy the opportunity to lead discussions for not-for-profit entities to inform them of the new tax law changes" said Frank in the release. "The questions and comments from the participants really make the experience enjoyable."

emitrano@somdnews.com