The local pizza-loving community has been mourning the recent closure of Tony’s Pizzeria on Front St., but now they’re about to feast.
Local chef Aaron D’Eon and his partner Kristen Dalton have taken over the empty joint and are set to open a brand new pizzeria: Lew’s Pizza + Wings + Things.
“My grandmother is Lew,” explains D’Eon, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “She was a master chef for 60 years and she taught me how to cook at a very young age.”
This is not D’Eon’s first time at the rodeo. He used to run a pizzeria in Kingston over ten years ago.
While he’s been devoting himself to his other passion, carpentry, for the past decade, D’Eon has come to the decision to switch gears.
“I'm not getting any younger,” he says. “It’s very hard on the body. The deciding factor came last year when I had a pretty good accident with a table saw. I said: ‘That's it. I'm finding something else.’”
When the couple heard about the empty pizzeria on Front Street, they jumped at the chance to go into business together as they feel there's a lack of good pizza in the Region.
Dalton is born and raised in Thorold and she’ll be managing the front of house while D’Eon cooks in the back.
“That's how we stay together,” laughs Dalton. “We like to laugh, have a good time. We like to keep it light and simple. We work well together.”
Lew’s Pizza will offer authentic old-fashioned pizza.
“It's kind of between a New York and a Neapolitan style,” D’Eon explains. “It's all homemade. Everything's from scratch. I make the dough. I make the sauce. We have our own special cheese blend. We only use fresh ingredients.”
D’Eon puts extra care into his dough.
“The dough is a dough that's been perfected for centuries,” he says. “There is a secret ingredient that I'm not going to disclose right now. But it gives it an excellent flavour that's unique.”
And then there’s the sauce.
“Everyone raves about the sauce,” D’Eon says. "I don't use a plain boring sauce. It's a sauce with good flavour. And then it complements the cheese that we use, it has a very strong flavour. And then, like I said, the fresh toppings make a big difference.”
Another feature D’Eon prides himself on is the size of his pizzas.
“We even had to special order our pans,” he says. “Pizzas used to be big and they're not anymore. The most common, largest pizza that we can find is 18 inch, but most people are doing the 16 inch. We're doing a 20 inch.”
The restaurant will also offer sides such as chicken fingers, poutine, garlic bread and mozzarella sticks.
To help them run the place, Dalton and D’Eon have hired a staff of ten people.
“Everybody's part time because we have to play this by ear,” D’Eon says. “We got to figure out how busy we're going to be in the beginning because we're a brand new business and nothing's been here for a long time.”
One thing’s for certain: D’Eon and Dalton are jumping at the bits to throw their doors wide open tomorrow morning.
“They're expecting us,” says D’Eon. “There’s so much anticipation. And not just here. It's everywhere we go. We’re just ready to open the door and let the people eat.”
Lew’s Pizza + Wings + Things is located at 32 Front St N, and will open at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning. Orders can also be made by phone at 905-227-5676.
