Easy P-Z-O

With beloved New York State Fair restaurant Baker’s Chicken Coop closed and its iconic A-frame building demolished, you may be wondering which food vendor has the longest history feeding Fair crowds. One stand laying claim to the title is P-Z-O’s, just down restaurant row from the former locations of Baker and the also-departed Haddock’s Paddock.

Stand manager Mark Stachurski wears a cap that puts the origin of the P-Z-O’s Fair joint at 1939. It remains a family-owned business with Dave Pizio, son of the original proprietor, at the helm.

Dave Pizio’s sister Doris works alongside Stachurski, who has been at the Fair for 33 years. The current building is one of several newer stands, erected a few years ago to replace the landmark original home of P-Z-O’s that was known for having a dining area within its perimeter counters.

An interior wall at the Fair P-Z-O’s memorializes the business with vintage photos taken during the early years, when the Pizio family was also operating several Syracuse-area locations as well as satellite eateries in Lake Placid and Florida.”Everywhere he went on vacation, he opened a restaurant,” Stachurski recalls.

While local baby boomers nurture fond memories of the restaurant’s popular spots on Erie Boulevard and West Genesee Street, the tradition lives on at the State Fair, where fried specials, grilled meats, pasta, beer and its top-selling steak sandwich, bring back customers every year.

“We see a lot of the same people–repeat customers–every year,” Stachurski says. “This year, with Haddock’s Paddock gone, we’re serving a lot of fried haddock sandwiches.”