NORTH TONAWANDA: Pizza party

By Dave Hill/hilld@gnnewspaper.com

A new twist on a Buffalo classic earned rave reviews at the seventh annual Pizza Fest Tuesday night in North Tonawanda.

Pizza Junction won the People’s Choice award for best pizza for its beef on weck creation, made specially for this year’s event, attended by more than 400 people at the Knights of Columbus hall on Erie Avenue.

“It’s great. To have the public vote for you, it confirms that you’re putting out a good product,” said Sherry Fleckenstein, who has operated Pizza Junction for 36 years with her husband Thomas. This is the second straight year the North Tonawanda pizzeria has won the award, and its third overall.

“We like to come up with new ideas every year,” she said. “People loved the beef on weck pizza. Having something unique like that was a real positive thing for us.”

Based on the response it got from the public, the new creation will soon be appearing on Pizza Junction’s regular menu.

The public also gave top honors to the Crown Royal barbecued chicken wings from Pizza Fest newcomer Amherst Pizza & Ale House.

“We’re a relatively new business — we’ve been open just under three years — so it’s great publicity, and the turnout was incredible,” said owner John Bona III.

How did he come up with the idea?

“Let’s just say I’ve always been a fan of Crown Royal, and I get creative as a chicken wing lover,” Bona said.

A panel of guest judges — including Buffalo Sabres alumni Darryl Shannon and WKBW-TV Channel 7 meteorologist Aaron Mentkowski — voted Roman Cafe’s chicken finger pizza with a sesame seed crust as best specialty pizza, while T.C. Wheelers honey mustard chicken wings won the specialty wing category.

Twelve pizzerias in all provided plenty of pies and chicken wings as the Knights of Columbus Hall filled quickly. In fact, the line out the door was at least 25 deep before the start of the event.

Back for its third year, DeGraff Cafe, of DeGraff Memorial Hospital, was one of the more unusual pizza joints on hand. Mike Myhalenko, DeGraff’s director of food nutrition, said their pizza gets good reviews, although many people like to point out, in jest, that the hospital should be serving something healthier.

Todd Martino, of Wheatfield, was in his element Tuesday night, and he made sure he got around to each entrant.

His favorite items were the Jack Daniels wings from Roman Cafe, Mia Pizzeria’s cheese and pepperoni pizza and T.C. Wheelers honey mustard wings.

Martino has a particular appreciation for this area’s fondness for good pizza. His wife, Jennifer, grew up in Baltimore and Todd Martino lived there for eight years.

“There’s nothing more infuriating for someone from Western New York than to go to Baltimore and have no good pizza,” he said.

This was the Martinos first experience at Pizza Fest.

“I think it’s a good idea to have a variety of places to try,” Jennifer Martino said, although she admitted she’s partial to Mia’s, where she usually orders. She also liked the $12.50 ticket price for the event. “You can’t beat the price. I don’t think it’s high at all for what you get.”

The Martinos echoed one sentiment that was shared by several other people — that Pizza Fest organizers should consider expanding to a larger venue, perhaps an outdoor site during the summer. Pizza Fest has always been held during the winter and started out at the Knights of Columbus post in the City of Tonawanda before moving to the Sikora Post in North Tonawanda.

However, the Twin Cities’ penchant for pizza necessitated still a larger facility. Even though the North Tonawanda Knights of Columbus Hall holds about 75 more people than the Sikora Post, it still wasn’t big enough.

“We could have sold 200 more tickets,” said Joyce Santiago, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas, which organized the event. She said the Knights hall is “a lovely facility,” and Pizza Fest will most likely return there next year. As for the participants, she said, “Everybody brought their best and wanted to show the community what they have to offer.”

Roman Cafe owner Linda Fonzi said they planned on going through at least a dozen pizzas and 600 to 800 wings, the most popular of which were the Jack Daniels ones.

“Those are the ones they keep coming back for,” she said.

Renee Witt, of Cheektowaga, enjoyed Roman Cafe’s boneless teriyaki wings and T.C. Wheelers reuben pizza in particular. It was also her first time attending Pizza Fest, and she said it was a fun, family-oriented event.

“It’s a neat idea. The food’s excellent and the portions are huge.”

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.

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