AMHERST — Pizza Fest.

The annual event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas stirs up two distinct notions: A break during what’s traditionally the coldest and darkest part of winter, and a good night out with food and drink.

Joyce Santiago, the chamber’s executive director, said even though winter hasn’t been its usual force, Pizza Fest remains “a good night out” and all the money raised goes back into promoting the Tonawandas.

Hundreds began pouring into the Classics V banquet hall when the doors opened at 5 p.m for the 11th annual festival and it appears that no one walked away disappointed. From palate-appealing specialty pizzas to traditional favorites to spicy wings and desserts that tempted the sweet tooth, there was something for every taste.

The crowd had dozens of choices of pizza and wings from nine different locations.

Among those paying their way in were Town of Tonawanda residents Jill Ackerman and her 13-year-old son James. They’re Pizza Fest veterans and Jill said the night’s becoming a tradition.

“I like Rizzo’s,” she said of the Eggert Road restaurant. “They have great flavor and you can’t beat the friendliness of the staff.”

For James, the cheesy bread from Little Caesar’s was among his favorites. He also gave high marks to Buffalo Wild Wings for its spicy garlic wings. Almost as important, was the selection available throughout the hall.

“You can eat all you can eat,” James Ackerman said. “There are many different vendors, it’s not just like being at one place.”

Domino’s Pizza, whose current marketing campaign acknowledges it made mistakes in the past, scored first place in the Judge’s Pick for its Pacific Veggie pizza, which includes a score of vegetables and cheeses piled on “a cheesy parmesan crust.”

The judges gave the best wings award to Buffalo Wild Wings for their mango Habanero concoction, and the public seemed to agree, giving Buffalo Wild Wings the nod for best wings as well. The public gave top honors in the pizza category to TC Wheelers.

A newcomer to this year’s event was Dave’s Pizza Joint, located on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Wheatfield, and placed in both pizza categories. Owner Dave White seemed pleased with the evening’s activities. An hour into the event, and they were already running low on pizza.

“It seems like we’re getting a pretty good response,” White said, joking he might have to place a five-slice limit on returning traffic. “We’ve had seven trays so far and another three should be here any minute.”

A panel of 10 guest judges were broken into groups of five; one to sample pizza, the other, wings.

North Tonawanda Mayor Rob Ortt was sampling wings. He confessed that he like “the hot stuff,” and said there was a hot chipotle-type wing that caught his attention.

“Boy, there was some heat!” Ortt said. “There’s been some good barbecue wings, too.”

TC Wheelers, which in 2011 won the judges’ pick for its reuben specialty pizza and took home second place in the people’s choice pizza category, placed in all four categories this year, the only restaurant to pull off that feat. They brought back their reuben pizza, but it was the Scumdog Pizza, essentially a Texas hot on a pizza, that took third place for best specialty pizza.

Throughout the crowded hall, families, couples and groups of friends were enjoying the night of pizza, wings and drink. Among the crowd was a group of seven friends in their 20s, some who are Pizza Fest veterans and others who made their first visit.

Brothers Andy and Joe Lapenna, Salvatore Falzone and Nicole Bennett, all from the Town of Tonawanda agreed that TC Wheelers was their favorite.

“This is a fun event, and there’s no real pizza fest around but here,” noted Falzone.

“This is awesome, I love it!” added Bennett, a Pizza Fest rookie.

Santiago was pleased with the turnout.

“You always wish for more, but I think the attendees were happy that there was more room to get around this year,” Santiago said.