The Pursuit of Perfect Pizza

How far would you drive for your favorite food?  Would you drive to Penn State to have one of those famous sticky buns at Ye Olde College Diner?  Would you drive to Pat's in Philadelphia for a famous Philly Cheesesteak?  How about driving to Pittsburgh for a Primanti Sandwich?

While growing up on Slocum Street in Swoyersville, I ate a lot of Bingo's hoagies.  I can lay claim to having eaten the very first one.  Bingo was looking to do something a bit different and he figured making a hoagies would be something out of the ordinary for a grocery store.  He made a small sandwich for me with ham, salami, lettuce, tomato and cheese and asked me how I liked it.  This was marketing research at its finest.   Although I didn't fall in love with the sandwich when I first tasted it, but I liked the way it made me feel after I ate it.  It was nutritious, unlike most of the other food items he offered like potato chips, Tastykakes, and soda which, like all junk food, only make you feel good while you're eating them and not so good later on.   My mom told me that I might have turned out to be a scrawny kid had it not been for the Bingo's hoagies because I was a picky eater.  And what I ate was mostly junk food.  I eventually fell in love with the his hoagies as did a lot of my friends and other people from around Wyoming Valley.  Bingo's idea of selling hoagies at his store really put him on the map.

Bingo's store was busy all day long.  Lots of truckers and locals stopped and picked up a hoagie or two for lunch.  And, of course, they bought the chips, soda, and Tastykakes which is probably where he made most of his money because his hoagies were less than a dollar.  They started off at $.65 in the early 70's.

In the summers I sometimes got to help Bingo shop for his goods.  As some of you may know, Bingo was missing a leg, the result of an accident involving a train when he was just a boy so he appreciated the help.  Right around sunrise, we'd drive over to Wilkes-Barre in his station wagon and visit the fresh fruit and vegetable stands.  I recall one of them was operated by Stanley Tarutis.  There were actually two Tarutis fruit stands operated by brothers who competed with each other in the business located on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard which looked a lot different back then than it does today.  Then we'd head over to a multi-storey warehouse where we'd load up on canned goods.

After that we'd go to Robzen's slaughterhouse which, at the time, was over in north Wilkes-Barre.  I thought they had shut it down, but it appears they've moved part of that operation to Main Street in Swoyersville.  We'd watch the cattle being led into the back door.  They wouldn't let us kids see the kill floor, but just after that was an overhead conveyer where the carcasses would get 'disassembled' by men working with cleavers and sharp knives.  It was like that scene in Rocky except these carcasses were constantly moving.  It was refrigerated and the men had heavy clothes on under their white coats.

As you know from my posts, I am fascinated with pizza from Pennsylvania, and I look forward to having some when I am at the reunion ice-breaker in July.  It's hard to find good pizza in Colorado.  The market is dominated by the national brands like Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Old Chicago, etc.   We have a few mom and pop pizza shops around, but we've yet to fall in love with any of them.

However,  there is this place up in Breckenridge, CO called  Gianpietro's Pasta and Pizza and it is great, the best pizza we've had in Colorado.  So great, in fact, that we made the trip up there yesterday and it's 140 miles from where we live.   It was a beautiful day for a ride through Colorado's Rocky Mountains, so our trip wasn't just for the pizza.  And Breckenridge is a beautiful town for a walk.  It is an old mining town turned ski resort, so there is a lot to see and do around town.  It's become one of our favorite places in Colorado.

Even in mid June, the mountains near Breckenridge still are covered with snow.

And speaking of mining,  I like to watch the reality series Gold Rush and this season, the Hoffman crew is mining not far from Breckenridge over in Fairplay so we decided to go over there and look around to see if we could find their operation.   There wasn't much happening, maybe because it was Sunday.  I may have to go back on a weekday to see if I can spot any of the crew or watch the proceedings.

The Hoffman crew of Gold Rush have their mining operation set up near Fairplay, CO

So it turned out to be a pleasant day of walking around Breckenridge and taking in the sights.

And the pizza was great!