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WPCNR MILESTONES August 13, 2019:

Last night, the call went out. The call for the last combo.

Angelo Magnotta picked it up with his trademark “Magnotta”s and I said, “This is Bailey here.”

“Hi John what can I do for you.”

” I’d like a large pizza, two slices plain, 2 slices mushrooms, two slices pepperoni and two slices, sausage, onions and peppers.”

Though in the old days (when Brenda Starr was not a vegannette), I’d order the CitizeNetReporter special “Sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers and onions,” the “New York Philharmonic of pizza” where every piece was elegantly cooked, not overdone, the onions succulent, the pepperoni not blasted or burned, and just right and played their parts perfectly to the mouth’s audience.

And Angelo answers as always, “You got it, John 10 Minutes.” Magnotta’s is that place everyone knows your flavor, and your name.

So I vaulted to the CitizeNetReporter Red Rider I went to pick up the last combo I’ll get from the Maestro Angelo Magnotta, conductor of the ultimate pizza concerto.

The combo in a hurry.

Hot and piping, perfectly separated by Angelos signature clean cut with an authority Roll-o-Chop, and not one unspecified ingredient out of place on a piece where it is not supposed to be! You could get it delivered or pick it up.

The cardboard carrier is secure, the pizza beneath just the right fit, with no curl-up edges or melt on the inside top of the carton. On the way back in the dispatch car, the aroma of the sizzling ingredients simmering for you to anticipate taste buds’ delight.

It became a tradition in our family on Friday nights. A tradition that waned in the days after the children left home. But Monday evening we made it a must to have the children back for one last combo. I opened it to the glory within:

Good God almight which way do I steer? Brenda Starr lifted out the pieces one by one, impressed by the master conductor’s touch! Each piece lifted out clean and structurally secure. The combo pieces high piled with just the right even layers not top heavy and descending luxuriously into the mozarella, mushrooms thinly sliced vying for your attention (“Eat me! Eat me!). Peppers mingling with the peppers like a party you’re late to and you’re in a hurry to mingle and score. My God.

Angelo is retiring this week after 47 years of service to the pizza aficianados of White Plains and he and the whole Magnotta’s atmosphere will be missed. Fred the Postman, who always was there on Friday’s when I picked. Angelo’s wife and then his own son. And Angelo would greet you and say “Hi John, How are you? What’s happening?”

You should stop on by tonight and pick up you own last combo.