Sauce Wars return

Pittston Dispatch // Pittston Tomato Festival

May the sauce be with you at the 26th annual Pittston Tomato Festival. Participants will be seeing red as they try to decide the tastiest marinara.

August 24

By Jen Marckini jmarckini@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

PITTSTON – In a galaxy just south of Old Forge, there is mighty battle over which Italian restaurant has the best tomato sauce.

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Six local restaurants, including one on the other side of the Susquehanna River, are competing for title of best marinara sauce at this year’s 26th annual Pittston Tomato Festival, which opened Thursday. The festival continues today, Saturday (when the big tomato fights are set) and Sunday.

Sauce Wars returned for a second year by popular demand.

For a $1 donation to the YMCA of Greater Pittston, people can try out the different sauces and vote on their favorite one.

Organizers of the tomato festival know people come for dishes like homemade ravioli, bruschetta and egg plant rollatini. About 60 vendors are at the event.

“There’s quite a variety of food,” said Lori Nocito, chairwoman of the Tomato Festival Committee. “You can smell the food. Isn’t it wonderful?”

About 50,000 people are expected to go to the festival grounds during the four-day event.

The following Pittston area restaurants are participating in this year’s saucy battle: Caf� Olivia, Tony’s Pizzeria, Vince’s Pizza and Savo’s Pizza & Family Restaurant.

From the other side of the river is Grico’s from Exeter. The name of the sixth restaurant is being kept a secret by festival organizers to add a degree suspense to the competition.

Tomato-loving festival patrons can have their say by voting for their favorite sauce. The sauces were identified only by number, not by restaurant, to prevent biased votes.

Each person is given a ticket and a slice of bread for tasting each sauce. Tickets are then placed into a corresponding bucket and added up at the end of the night.

Mike Matosky, of Wyoming, picked sauce number four.

“It had the most robust taste to me,” said Matosky, 35. “Some of the sauces were sweeter and some of them tasted like they were lacking zest to it. Not bad, but not like a powerful punch in your mouth with the flavor. Four just gave that to me.”

Michelle Cassetori, who was volunteering at the Sauce Wars booth on Thursday, said some of the people take the sauce tasting seriously.

“Some people will savor it and they’ll want a second try on one of the sauces or need another piece of bread,” said Cassetori, a board member of Greater Pittston’s YMCA. “I have not tried them all myself. I will eventually over the course of the four days.”

Cassetori said that last year a chunky sauce won the competition. The marinara sauces in this year’s contest were all red sauces, some sauces were sweeter than others.

“I already tasted all of them,” said Tina Fisher, executive director of the YMCA. “I voted for my favorite, but I can’t tell you which one that is.”

Proceeds will benefit the YMCA’s Strong Kids campaign, which provides scholarships for children for day care and memberships for people who are in need. Last year the organization raised more than $1,000, and it hopes to raise more this year.

The Sauce Wars booth closes 5 p.m. Sunday. The winner will be announced later that evening.