The forever changing West Side of Buffalo is becoming more gentrified everyday with new business popping up constantly. New money is being put into the city, and from Elmwood Avenue to Niagara Street, people can see the constant construction.

One focus is on what many people are calling the “Revolution of Niagara Street.” It is drawing businesses, bringing back jobs and changing the way people view the West Side, from the recently opened Resurgence Brewing Company to the new $7 million apartment complex that’s happening to bring affordable housing to the area.

Sports City Pizza Pub, a new restaurant that recently opened on Niagara Street and W. Delevan Avenue is a part that renaissance. Owner Michael Rizzo is a family man originally from the West Side who is bringing his successful shop from Kenmore to this location.

“The other shop was more convenient to my family at the time but my intention was always to come back to the West Side, this is where I’m from,” Rizzo said. “The old shop was better for me at the time, I had a young family, but I brought this place back in 2013 because I wanted this shop to be a part of this changing more modern Niagara”

Sports City is designed to be a place that provides people with a wide variety of pizza and wing combinations, adding over 20 local craft beers that change depending on the season. The place also holds 13 flat screen television sets that leaves no bad seat in the house.

They are building to become a new gathering place for everyone that loves the smell of pizza and wings. Adding sports is like the icing on the cake, especially with college students in the area looking for entertainment. During most study weeks, going out for a quick bite on Sundays is key to relieve stress, so anything within walking distance will do.

“That is essentially why we came here is because it’s a community,” Michael Rizzo Jr. said. “If you look north of here, south of here, anywhere, we are surrounded by a community filled with families, both young and old. Even for new people or tourist coming to the city we know this will be a hot spot and we want to cater to them.”

The blend of different races and ethnicities on the West Side provides new businesses like this with an opportunity to thrive. Rizzo talked about one of the main reasons coming to the area was what he calls the big five: manufacturing, residential, downtown, campuses and Canada. Sports City already has plans to add an outdoor patio to the location that will be open in time for Spring 2017.

The kitchen is large as well, they are looking to be able to handle big crowds on gamedays as well as dealing with deliveries. The menu is evolving but currently has your mixes of specialty wings and pizza combinations. Their food is all made with organic and local products, the most popular is their famous Stuffed Hot Pepper Pizza and their self-proclaimed “best barbeque buffalo wings in Buffalo.”

“What we want the public to know is that we are here and we specialize in pizza and wings, and we have a nice blend of local and regional beer. But we can go as far west as Colorado, California, and Oregon,” Rizzo said. “We got everything.”

In Buffalo, nothing is better than a plate of hot wings and nice sheet pizza with all the toppings. The only thing that could make that better would be a beer with a nice flat screen TV. Sports City Pizza Pub is a place that looks to provide that environment. A place where you can sit down to enjoy the food and forget about studying.

This story originally appeared in Bengal News West, an online news website dedicated to exclusive coverage of the West Side of Buffalo. For more stories like this one, go to bscbengalnews.blogspot.com.

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