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South Main Pizza's Recipe For Success - Fresh, Diverse, Friendly

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South Main Pizza’s Recipe For Success — Fresh, Diverse, Friendly

By John Voket

Zipping up or down busy South Main Street, one might easily overlook the nondescript building tucked off the roadway across from Citgo. It’s not that South Main Pizza owner Robin Bernath wouldn’t want her first restaurant to resemble a Tuscan villa, but when it comes to Newtown’s newest pizzeria, it’s more about the food and friendly atmosphere on the inside that counts.

In just a few scant week’s since her official opening, Ms Bernath has quickly tapped the diverse taste buds of her loyal and growing following to spice up her menu with affordable specials — starting at less than $5 — as well as homemade soups, specialty pies, stuffed shells, lasagna, stuffed breads, even soft tacos and fish & chips.

While she looks back, like many new business owners, on what she describes as a “disastrous opening week,” the plucky entrepreneur has rebounded with little more than a few bad memories to show for the experience.

“We didn’t have a lot of experience making our fresh dough with well water, so it was literally blowing up in the cooler. We were getting tons of calls for pies and the oven wouldn’t light, and once we got it lit it wouldn’t stay at the temperature we needed, so the pies were sticking and coming apart,” she recalled. “We finally figured out the water to salt formula to get the dough perfect, but we really owe the public an apology. I hope they’ll try us again.”

Even though South Main Pizza offers so much more than just a few choices of Italian pies, Ms Bernath is fanatical about freshness, which she stated is the reason why her pizza is so popular. On most days she has a choice of pizza for slices, including both her New Haven-style thin crust and a chewy and satisfying Sicilian square pan pizza.

She dresses each of the selections with the best quality mozzarella available, and shops personally for all the freshest fixings she can get. Many of those fresh selections also go into Ms Bernath’s other recipes including her slow cooked beef chili, soups, chicken quesadillas, Hungarian goulash, and “famous” coleslaw.

“We take great pride in never settling for anything but the best, especially our cheese. Our grated Porcano Romano comes straight from New York, and our mozzarella and ricotta are delivered straight from the plant,” she said. “I really try to avoid premade or store-bought ingredients except for our customers’ favorite salad dressings from Ken’s Steak House.”

And although she has not been called on yet to do a lot of large-scale catering, Ms Bernath makes up for it by catering to the desires of her customers.

“If we have the ingredients, you can just ignore the menu because we’ll whip up anything you like,” she said.

With good service and her patrons’ pocketbooks in mind, Ms Bernath is proud to offer a seven-days-a-week, two-slice and soft drink special from opening to closing for just $4.50 (including Sicilian, sausage, pepperoni, and plain mozzarella); Taco Tuesdays with two soft beef tacos and a drink for $4.50; Italian festival-style fried dough daily for just $2.75 with sugar or sauce; beef, chicken, chili, or cheese quesadillas for $4.50; and her hand-battered fish & chips with the freshest cod and slaw for $6.50. If it’s a full Italian feast you crave, just order up a generous portion of meat- or cheese-stuffed shells, lasagna, chicken, eggplant or veal parm for $6.95, or good old spaghetti and meatballs for just $5.95.

Each dinner comes with salad and hot, fresh garlic bread. A children’s menu offers chicken fingers and fries, ziti and meatballs or spaghetti and meatballs for $4.50 with a drink included.

If you need a quick and unforgettable appetizer for visitors, or a quick pick-up for your social group or card club, try the broccoli, chili, ham, pepperoni, or spinach stuffed breads hot from the oven.

Among Ms Bernath’s more exotic pies are the Taco Pizza with ground beef, Mexican spices and jalapeno peppers, a diner’s choice veggie pizza, the Buffalo chicken pizza with zesty sauce and red-hot chicken, even an occasional idea suggested by one of her adventurous employees. Driver and counter worker Danielle Tenk prefers a combination pie with artichokes, ham, and pesto sauce, for instance.

South Main Pizza has a choice of hot oven grinders and cold wraps all priced at $4.50, a fish sandwich for $3.50, salads starting at $3 and soups including broccoli and cheddar, New England chowder, chicken and the aforementioned goulash for $3.50. Appetizers include Buffalo wings, cheese or chili-cheese fries, fried calamari, garlic knots, Ms Bernath’s explosive “kickin’ chicken balls” with three cheeses and jalapenos, fresh fried zucchini, stuffed cabbage and even the surprisingly tasty cauliflower fritters, when the ingredients are available.

If patrons are unsure of whether they are in the mood for a particular full order, Ms Bernath typically has several samples available to taste while you wait, at no charge. And if you are running low on dough, or in a rush, her plain cheese slices are always hot and ready at just $1.75.

The local restauranteur not only draws on her childhood cooking experiences but spent “many years,” learning the finer art of pizza creation working at Leno’s Pizza in Fairfield. She also got to know clients in the local market working for a year-and-a-half at Steven’s Diner just up the street from her new shop here in Newtown.

The mother of five was heavily influenced in her culinary pursuits by her Italian grandmother, and, on her occasional off time, Ms Bernath enjoys relaxing in her garden or sewing.

“My grandmother came to America from Italy when she was very young, and before long she was teaching not only her kids and eventually her grandkids, but all of the women in her neighborhood how to sew,” Ms Bernath recalled fondly.

Now that South Main Pizza is beginning to roll along, the local businesswoman hopes to be getting back to another activity she loves, real estate. As a licensed agent with Century 21 Green Garden in Monroe, Ms Bernath is anxious to return to her job “matchmaking” buyers with new homes.

“I took a break last year to begin planning for opening this restaurant, but besides feeding people, I love the job of getting people into a new home,” she said.

Whether its hooking people up with a three-bedroom colonial, or serving up one of her tasty offerings at South Main Pizza, Robin Bernath seems to be one entrepreneur who’s got her recipe for success going on all burners!

South Main Pizza is open seven days at 150 South Main Street (across from Citgo) Monday–Saturday from 11 am to 9 pm and Sundays from 3 pm to 9 pm. Free delivery is available with a $5 minimum order. Call 426-5105 for catering inquiries, orders, or delivery.

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