![\"Owner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5d6a620de8a14d51eb99b852bc94edf0c1ef9d492e6e52dfa40bd76cdce3e8d7.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Greek, it\u2019s good and, as a bonus, it gets under the crust of the CFL team that Saskatchewan fans love to hate \u2014 the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
On Sunday in Regina, the two teams start their annual Labour Day weekend back-to-back clash, culminating in next week\u2019s so-called Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
The Bombers recently went on social media to trash talk Regina\u2019s signature dish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like someone took a three-week old lasagna and slapped it on a piece of dough,\u201d the team said.<\/p>\n
Asked about the comment this week, Riders head coach Corey Mace shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how you hate a pizza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The pie has been a staple in Regina dating back about a half century when, in 1970, Greek immigrant brothers George, Gus, John and Tony Kolitsas opened their first Houston Pizza restaurant on Hill Avenue.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s known by its thickness: a base of fluffy dough heaped with a healthy portion of tomato sauce, vegetables and deli meat before being topped with a pile of cheese.<\/p>\n
Jim Baiton, owner of Tumblers Pizza, says the pies should be baked until golden brown and served in square pieces to keep the filling from falling out.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as thick as Chicago deep-dish, nor is it wide and pliable as the pies in New York City.<\/p>\n
Baiton\u2019s employees crank out hundreds each week to be shipped frozen to various grocery stores in the province. They\u2019re also baked fresh for pick up and local delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201c(This style of pizza) started in Regina,\u201d Baiton said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegina is the Bible for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baiton said the Kolitsas brothers created the signature pie to go against the grain.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was doing (thinner crust) pizzas at the time,\u201d Baiton said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Owner and founder of Tumblers Pizza Jim Baiton stands inside a freezer surrounded by boxes of pizza in the kitchen in Regina on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Kayle Neis)<\/p>\n
Pizza sauce is in Baiton\u2019s DNA. He got his start in the industry when he was 14. He skipped church one day with his brothers to go work for Houston Pizza.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s where he learned how to make pies the Regina way.<\/p>\n
Baiton later left Houston Pizza and became a franchisee of Western Pizza \u2014 another restaurant chain that has made Regina-style pizza for decades \u2014 before opening his own shop, Tumblers Pizza, in 1979.<\/p>\n
He said the Regina pie has its detractors, those who think it\u2019s too cumbersome, too soggy.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people, when they first see it, they go, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t know,’\u201d Baiton said. \u201cYou need two hands to bring it up to your mouth and bite it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over at Western Pizza, Regina-style runs in the family. Spiro Bonis, company\u2019s president, said his father is a first cousin of the Kolitsas brothers.<\/p>\n
He said the pizza\u2019s thickness may have to do with Greek culture, with grandmothers and mothers making sure families are well fed.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan\u2019s roots in agriculture, along with its cold winters, may also be part of it, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need hearty meals, you need to keep everybody warm and fed,\u201d Bonis said.<\/p>\n
Regina\u2019s best kept secret is now scaling up.<\/p>\n
Tourism Regina, the city\u2019s booster agency, recently launched new merchandise, including key chains and T-shirts, displaying the four-sided pizza slice.<\/p>\n
Teale Orban, the agency\u2019s director of destination stewardship, said the pizza is a natural fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re from Regina, you just know it. It\u2019s kind of like it\u2019s born and bred into you,\u201d Orban said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really just brainstorming ideas. And in one conversation, it came up that, \u2018Hey, we should really get behind Regina-style pizza.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Baiton agrees Regina pizza is the great cheesy goodwill ambassador.<\/p>\n
\u201cI served five people from Manitoba yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Greek, it\u2019s good and, as a bonus, it gets under the crust of the CFL team that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-885336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}