“It was a rough battle at first – more losses than wins for a while, but I never stopped trying to get better.”
Brian DiMattia grew up in Old Forge. One of his earliest and possibly fondest memories is of his neighborhood just off Main Street always smelling like pizza. Well, that and pickup football games in the Rectory yard or marching into the stadium behind the High School band on Friday nights or running home with a fresh tray from Ghigiarelli’s. Life was so much simpler for a kid in the Pizza Capital of the World.
Then, Brian and his buddies moved from the sandlot to the stoops of Main Street. One by one, they started driving and graduating and growing up. Soon, pizza debates and paper routes existed only in distant memories. And as the safe, quiet town of his youth shrank in the rearview of his old Eagle Talon, Brian headed off to the school of hard knocks, aka the restaurant biz. He bounced around from front of house to kitchen, from local spot to chain. Soon, he discovered a passion for marketing and enrolled at Lackawanna College and went on to finish up his Bachelor’s Degree at Penn State Scranton.
And with the ink still wet on his diploma, Brian set out to make a name for himself in NEPA’s business world. But life, as it often does, derailed a bit. And Brian, as he often does, bounced back. He moved down the valley to Kingston and found purpose again with the launch of his Food Fight podcast. Since, he’s become one of NEPA’s most followed social media influencers. He also found peace in a rather unlikely spot – an MMA gym. Now, along with his budding social media/podcast empire, Brian also trains, competes and teaches at Good Tree MMA in Wilkes-Barre. On most days, you’ll find him wrangling a roomful of 5–8-year-old grapplers. And enjoying every minute.
We caught up with Brian at his Food Fight Podcast studio inside ConversionWorx Media in Wilkes-Barre. And while the conversation bounced from combat sports to sweet sauce to the love/hate relationship with our first cars, we brought it back around with the ol’ Why NEPA?
How long have you lived in NEPA?
44 years. My whole life.
What do you love about your town?
Well, I grew up in Old Forge. So, I’ll start there. I love Old Forge – super tight town, tight community. It smells like pizza all day. You can’t beat that. And I was lucky enough, for 16/17 years living on George Street, to live around all of my friends. We were all within walking distance. I loved that. It was the best. I had maybe 80 people in my graduating class.
Now, I live in Kingston. It’s a little busier. Still quiet but sometimes it has a little more activity, but I also like having that activity in my life. It’s always clean. I love all the trees. There are a lot of great, local places in Kingston. I live near Tirado’s and Goldstein’s Deli. I go to Sizzle Pi right down the street or Lino’s around the corner. The people here in Kingston really take care of their town. I feel like I’m more in the center of things down here in the valley.
What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?
I like this question. I like being put on the spot like this. I’m just going to go with two. I’m going to give you my favorite spot for dinner and my spot for pizza, if that’s ok. If I have to choose a place to go to dinner tonight… First, I’ll say that The Stegmaier Mansion was quite an amazing experience, however, for me, it’s gotta’ be Café Rinaldi in Old Forge. I’m also a big fan of Mia Via down this way.
When it comes to pizza — Old Forge style, it’s Arcaro & Genell. For New York style pizza, it’s Dino’s or Luca because the Recchia family just makes the best pizza in the state. And if I’m forced to choose a style to eat for the rest of my life, I’m sorry, it’s not going to be Old Forge. I love it, but I’m going with New York style. There’s just nothing like that perfect slice. Of course, if Ghigarelli’s ever reopened, I’m swapping that. That’s my childhood pizza.
What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?
This is harder than the restaurant question. I love going for walks. I love walking around in Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. I’ll walk for hours. Sometimes, I walk the Levee. It’s very peaceful. I used to go to McDade Park a lot when I lived up that way. That’s a great park. I guess the easy way to put it is that I do take advantage of the NEPA scenery. That’s probably my favorite thing about the area. We get these 65–70-degree nights in the summertime when the sun is going down and there’s all these colors in the sky. It’s amazing. But I also love the people in NEPA and the food scene.
What’s next for you?
On a personal level, it’s all about just keeping things going the way they’re going for me right now. Keeping it positive — branching out more, trying new and different foods, meeting new people. I’m at a point where I’m not afraid to try new things or put new ideas out there even if they don’t work out. It’s ok. I love to hear positive feedback and meet positive people.
Professionally, I want to continue to grow Food Fight and grow my podcast. One of my main goals is to have Food Fight pay for itself. And regardless of whether that happens or not, I’m still going to be working at the gym and teaching MMA and possibly owning my own gym one day. Honestly, I feel like I’m still cooking everything up. I just got started finding my career and my future.
Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?
I certainly feel that the way we have attracted all of these incredible business developers to the area can only be a good thing. I just met John Basalyga, who owns The Stegmaier Mansion. What a great guy! We worked on a video for the place. We did a private tour. It’ll be coming out soon. But just look at Scranton. I grew up around Scranton. I remember going to the Steamtown Mall as a kid and it was like wow, you know? We used to go to the Wyoming Valley Mall, too. I remember the whole culture around the malls in the 90s and early 2000s and I watched it slowly go away with online shopping and all that. Now, it’s coming back to life with these developers. They’re bringing that culture back. And, of course, the food scene just keeps getting better and better. People are leaving cities like New York and coming here and there’s a reason they’re coming here. It’s because we’ve got it all.
Why NEPA?
Years ago, when I was at Lackawanna College, I was dating someone and she was getting ready to go to Temple University in Philadelphia. She asked me if I’d ever consider moving out of the area, and I immediately told her no. Well, she dumped me shortly after.But I’ve thought about that ever since. When I was younger, it was basically about security. I had no money. How was I going to go live in a big city?
Then, as I got older, I moved down the valley to Kingston, and I realized that there’s still a lot of NEPA that I haven’t even experienced yet. And I don’t mean just driving through. I mean like living here, living in it and really experiencing the region. I go to all of these new places for Food Fight. Growing up around Scranton, I knew it well. But now when I go, I’m like this is a whole new city. It’s all developing and changing more every day. The whole area is. Look at Scranton. Look at Wilkes-Barre. These are great cities with all this history. We’ve got all this unique food. And the people… Why not NEPA? I just love it here.
