Pizza

2-5-10

Two people, a 46-inch pizza, one hour, and the chance to win $200 and have your name on the wall.
A “Pizza Eating Challenge” is under way at Tino’s Pizza on Main Street; owner Tino Garufi said he was inspired by the Food Network’s “Man Vs. Food” show.
 “You always see this type of thing on TV, but not around town. I don’t know anyone who does this,” Garufi said. “I thought it would be fun, and seeing people try it would be great.”
The pizza is made up of 6 ½ pounds of dough, 40 ounces of sauce and a couple pounds of cheese, the equivalent ingredients to four of Tino’s large-size pizzas.
To take the challenge, deposit $40 and show up at the scheduled time with your co-pizza-eater.  Then, try to eat the whole pie, every last piece of crust, in under an hour. 
Succeed, you get your $40 back, plus the $200 prize, your name on a plaque, your picture on the wall – and bragging rights.
The plaque is being fashioned at Sport Tech, Tino’s Main Street neighbor.
The first to take the challenge were Adam Remillard and Richard McVinney, both of Oneonta, on Saturday, Jan. 9.
They sat in the front window.  A crowd started to form.  They only made it half way through.  With 19 minutes to go, they gave up.
For the three weeks since, Garufi has had signs in his windows promoting the challenge, but has had no serious contenders apply until this week. On some late nights, the bar crowd will come in and say they are interested in doing it, but forget about it, or change their minds by the next morning and never come in and sign up.
Two more – Tino only knew them as Dominic and Rick, who work at Aaron’s Rentals – tried again on Tuesday, Feb. 2, but gave up with 4 minutes and 2 ½ slices to go.
Garufi is hoping word of the challenge will spread about town and more people will give it a try. He thinks it would be fun to arrange some sort of challenge between local college fraternities or sororities. If it attracted the attention of the Food Network show, that would be even better, but not his ultimate intention.
“You always see this type of thing in Texas, but not Oneonta. It would be pretty cool if ‘Man vs. Food’ came to little Oneonta to try it,” Garufi said.
Tino’s Pizza has been back in Oneonta and located on Main Street since September, after spending six years in Cooperstown.
“It’s good to be back,” Garufi said about the move.