Mia Ava East Coast Pizza in Pahrump. New awards

A local Pahrump pizza shop is continuing to solidify itself as must-try slice in town after winning another impressive award.

“The main thing I love about pizza is the people,” said owner Gary Rurans. “The people who love your pizza are die-hard customers. And you see them every week, you learn their names, you learn the family. That’s the best thing.”

Mia Ava East Coast Pizza opened its doors in June 2024. Rurans and his wife, Catherine, own and operate the business.

“We’re an authentic New York slice shop. It’s the kind of shop where you can come in really fast, get a slice and a drink and you’re in and out under 10 minutes,” he explained. “We wanted to be not New York-style, we wanted to be New York.”

Mia Ava offers three distinct iconic pizza styles: a thin and crispy New York style-pizza, a thick and crispy Detroit-style pizza, as well as a rectangular comforting Grandma-style pizza. The pizzeria also features a wide variety of sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers.

Their New York-style pie is what won Mia Ava second place in the traditional category at the 2025 International Pizza Expo in March in Las Vegas.

“We were just ecstatic,” Rurans enthused about their second-place win. “You always hope for the best, but we’ve only been open a year and we’re going against people and families that have been in the business for 100 years.”

Next, Mia Ava won third place in the traditional division at the California Pizza Challenge in August.

“It’s all been kind of like a rollercoaster ride. We never thought we were going to do that well and we are, so we’re going to keep riding it,” Rurans detailed.

Rurans said Mia Ava plans to compete at the 2025 Great American Pizza Challenge in October and the 2025 Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup in November. After those, he wants to return to next year’s International Pizza Expo to hopefully secure that major win.

While he is proud of the accolades they’ve received, Rurans hopes Mia Ava becomes a long-standing institution for pizza in Pahrump.

“We want to be like one of those pizza places on the East Coast, like Joe’s or Sal’s or any of the New Haven places that have been there over a hundred years,” he stated. “I want my kids’ kids’ kids running this place. I want the chef’s kids’ kids’ kids working here. I want this to be family owned and family run until the earth’s not here anymore.”

Mia Ava East Coast Pizza is located at 1971 Pahrump Valley Blvd. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information about Mia Ava East Coast Pizza visit miaavaeastcoastpizza.com.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com