Lars
Smith
Lars Smith is the chef and co-owner of the State of Mind Hospitality Group in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was born and raised. He opened State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria in 2018 and has since expanded to three locations with plans for more. He has been in the industry since 2002, but his love for food started as a child. He grew up cooking with his grandmothers, eager to learn as much as he could from them. At State of Mind, Lars focuses on food made from scratch featuring local and seasonal Californian ingredients.
Lars has been involved in competitive pizza making since 2013. In 2017, he won the international pizza challenge Non-Traditional division in Las Vegas and was featured on the Cooking channel’s “Food Wars”. Since then he has continued to compete all over the country and in Italy. In 2020 he won both the Cal Mex and the Plant Forward categories at the Real California Pizza Contest. In 2022 at the World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy he received the top American score as well as 5th in the Pizza alla Pala category. In 2023 at the Pizza and Pasta Northeast competition Lars won 1st place in the Roman division. In addition to running his restaurants and competing, Lars also teaches and consults other operators. When not working, Lars loves traveling with his wife and 2 children, especially to Disneyland.
Accomplishments:
2017 International Pizza Challenge Non-Traditional division 1st Place
2019 International Pizza Challenge Traditional Division 2nd Place overall, 1st in Southwest.
2020 California Milk Advisory Board Real CA Pizza contest, Cal-Mex category 1st Place
2020 California Milk Advisory Board Real CA Pizza contest, Plant Forward category 1st Place
2021 International Pizza Challenge non-traditional 5th overall 3rd in Southwest
2022 World Pizza Championship, Parma Italy Top American score and 5th in Pizza alla Pala
2023 Pizza and Pasta Northeast Roman Division 1st place
www.stateofmindpublichouse.com
State of Mind Public House
101 Plaza N,
Los Altos, CA 94022
3710 Florence St,
Redwood City, CA 94063
State of Mind Slice House
3850 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94306
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