Hooked on History: Pioneers of pizza satisfied the appetite of Tuscarawas County residents

Fortunate is the pizza lover who lives in Tuscarawas County.

For decades, area residents have had ready access to some of the best pizza around, thanks to the Italian immigrants who came here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bringing with them recipes from their home country.

Paul and Mary Penso opened the first pizza shop in Tuscarawas County ‒ and one of the first in Ohio ‒ in 1936 at their restaurant and grill on South Wooster Avenue in Dover.

More local history: Hooked on History: Harrison County's gunmakers brought great skill to their trade

At that time, people didn't even know what pizza was. "Most people couldn't even say the word. You had to coach them," said their son, Andrew, 94.

Their son-in-law, Reno Stevanus of Sugarcreek, was 12 before he ever ate pizza. "One Sunday, I went with my grandpa and grandma to her brother's place. He was a teacher in Boardman, outside of Youngstown. Their son made pizza for supper. I said, 'Pizza, what is that?' I found out."

Andrew described their pizza this way: "Best ever was."

The Penso family

Paul Penso, a veteran of the Italian army during World War I, came to America from Sicily in 1923 and moved to Dover in 1926. His wife, Mary DiGenova Penso, was born in Chicago. After their marriage, they started their business.

"The pizza oven was bought out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A guy came with it. He put my dad through the throes of making pizza, how to make it, making the dough and all that," said Andrew Penso, who helped with the business when he was younger.

They used an ordinary crust. "We would put a very small amount of sugar in the dough, because if the heat wasn't enough and the pizza itself cooked quick, it wouldn't brown up. The sugar made it," he said.

Andrew described his mother as "feisty" and a no-nonsense individual.

"My mother-in-law was the finest cook you could ever find," Stevanus added. "Pop could cook for the king of the world. There was nothing he couldn't make, the finest dish. It's kind of like born in them."

Paul Penso died in 1985, and Mary died in 1997.

The Penso family remains in the pizza business today, the third and fourth generations running stores in Dover, New Philadelphia and Strasburg.

Larry Dinolfo

The Dinolfo family had been in the restaurant business since the Prohibition era, operating their establishment, Dinolfo's Dining Room, out of their home at 432 Broad St. in Dover. It was a small place, with tables crowded into three tiny rooms.

For years, Larry Dinolfo was the owner, manager and only cook. He took over around 1954 when his mother became ill. He made all the food from scratch, including the dough, which was derived from a secret recipe passed down from an ancestor in Italy.

Dinolfo was as a much a reason to go to the restaurant as his food. He was one of the most colorful characters Dover ever produced. A star on the Dover Tornadoes football team in the 1940s, he liked to entertain his customers with stories and songs. He was known for his performance of the Dover fight song, selections by the 1950s group the Platters and playing "Sweet Georgia Brown" on the spoons.

Dinolfo was the subject of frequent articles in The T-R in the 1980s and 1990s. They noted that he got his start singing by performing for spare change outside the Reeves steel mill in Dover during the Great Depression.

Patrons of his restaurant included former Ohio Gov. Frank Lausche, musician Guy Lombardo and Hollywood character actor Cameron Mitchell. Henry Timken of Canton would come to the restaurant when he wanted to entertain European customers of the Timken Co.

Dinolfo died in 2001.

Mary Zifer

Mary Tornabene Zifer of Dover entered the pizza business out of necessity.

A gifted cook who was devoted to her family, she made pizza different than it is today, according to an article in the program for the Italian-American Festival in 2000. Hers was made from fresh bread dough with tomatoes, peppers, oregano, basil and grated parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. It was served cold.

She worked in the press room at U.S. Quarry Tile in East Sparta, beginning in the 1940s. She would often bring in baked goods and cold pizza for her co-workers, something that was new to them. When she was laid off from her job in 1953, she began looking into the idea of opening a pizza shop.

With a little investment capital, she began baking pizzas in her kitchen for resale at retail establishments, including Tornabene's Italian Import Store in New Philadelphia, owned by her father, Natale; Navarre IGA, owned by her brother, Joe; and Stallard's Market in Dover. She also sold pizza to the students at St. Joseph's High School in Dover for lunch and after school.

As her business grew, she took out an $800 loan to purchase a commercial pizza oven and pans from Ohio China Supply and enclosed her back porch to start Mary Zifer's Pizza Shop on North Tuscarawas Avenue. She also started the first known pizza delivery service in the area. Her husband, Joe, would deliver them to workers at Reeves and Greer Steel and the Shenango and General Electric plants.

Mary Zifer retired in 1976 and died in 1994.

There are still Mary Zifer pizza shops in operation in Dover and New Philadelphia.

Grandma Zifer

Josephine "Grandma" Zifer (no relation to Mary) had a strong work ethic. She could be found at her pizza shop from 6:30 in the morning until almost midnight every day.

A native of Italy, she came to the United States in 1916. She married Anthony "Tony" Zifer and they opened Mama and Papa's grocery store in 1922 in a building on the Boulevard in Dover now occupied by Pam's Posies.

When Tony died in 1966, she took over the business with the help of two grandsons. The original Grandma Zifer's pizza shop opened in 1967.

When youngsters would come into her store, she would always tell them, "Eat, honey. You skinny."

She never objected to people calling her Grandma. "People who's older than me, younger than me, they all call me Grandma. It's crazy, you know," she told The T-R in a 1981 interview.

Grandma Zifer worked into her mid 90s and died in 2002 at age 104.

Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Pioneers of pizza made Tuscarawas County a mecca for Italian food