Staff photo / Mason Cole Bella Mijavec, left, and Melani Matsouris, right, of Mijavec’s Catering and Concessions in Warren, dish out reuben sandwiches and fair cut french fries to customers at the Mahoning Valley Irish Festival’s Corned Beef Challenge on Friday.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Irish Festival hosted its second annual Corned Beef Challenge at Penguin City Brewing on Friday.

The event allowed customers to sample a variety of corned beef-based dishes from different Mahoning Valley vendors.

“It is for local organizations and businesses and individuals to come out and showcase their talents in creating different ways of cooking with corned beef,” said Shannon Lehn, who organized the event for the Irish festival.

There are two awards at the festival, one for professional cooks, the other for amateurs.

Lehn said last year, Donavito’s Restaurant and Catering Co. of Struthers won the award for professional dishes.

Returning to this year’s competition, Bridgette Donatelli, one of the owners of Donavito’s, said the restaurant was serving egg rolls, reuben sandwiches and stuffed cabbage filled with corned beef.

“We have three smokers on premise at the restaurant, one which is featured outside tonight along with our food truck, which has just been built for more upcoming events,” Donatelli said. “Everything we have is cherrywood smoked. (We put) a lot of heart and soul into it and late nights, but it works for us.”

Lena and James Stefanski of Lena’s Pierogi House in Hubbard said while they were not at the last Corned Beef Challenge, they were invited out this year, so they decided to join the other competitors.

“(We’re serving) our reuben pierogi, we feature it at the restaurant during March, during St. Patrick’s Day,” Lena said. “It has corned beef in it along with swiss cheese, sauerkraut and potato in there.”

Another first-time entrant in the challenge was Warren-based Mijavec’s Catering and Concessions.

Mark Mijavec, who throughout the night made several trips carrying food from the service’s food truck to its table inside the brewery, described what made his cuisine standout from the rest.

“We’re serving smoked corned beef, which is technically pastrami once you smoke it,” Mijavec said. “We put it on reubens and we have a special sauce that we make ourselves. And who doesn’t like fresh cut fair fries which we’re known for.”

Mijavec said he heard about the contest online and thought it would be fun to enter.

“We just thought we’d be a part of it and come down and support our community,” he said.

Along with hosting the event, Lehn also helped out with the Irish festival’s table.

Her table was filled with Irish dishes, including reuben rolls, colcannon, corned beef macaroni and cheese, blackberry crumble and corned beef and cabbage stew.

Lehn said she made the food herself.

The Corned Beef Challenge is one of several fundraising events the Irish festival hosts. Lehn said the organization has seen a lot of support from the community.

“We are a really grassroots organization, we don’t have a lot of money to spend on advertising and stuff like that, but we really had a great response from people buying tickets and wanting to come out and be here with us,” Lehn said. “Anytime we have an event, honestly, it’s like a big family reunion with a family you didn’t know you had. That’s what it’s like here. It’s not just the Irish in the community, it’s everybody.”

mcole@tribtoday.com