I grew up on an island in New York City, Staten Island to be exact.

There are five boroughs that make up NYC and I thought everyone everywhere had to know what they were, even in the south, not so. You have Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island.

There are a lot of good qualities about Staten Island and some not so good qualities, but can’t that be said of everywhere? You’ve got Snug Harbor, the Staten Island Ferry, The Staten Island Yankees, the Arthur Kills Dump [at one time Staten Island claimed to have the largest landfill in the world, it is now on its way to becoming NYC’s largest public park, oh goody!

Two of  my favorites and almost anyone else who grew up on Staten Island know, Denino’s pizza, established in 1937 and has, by far, in my opinion and most everyone else from Staten Island and possibly the planet, ha ha, one of the greatest pizza joints ever! They make an amazing white pie [ricotta, mozzarella, garlic and olive oil, yum!] and a killer garbage pie, for those of you who eat everything and of course, regular pie. They only take cash, so be prepared, but not to worry, there is a cash machine by the front door. This is a Staten Island landmark and I was lucky enough to grow up near it, within walking distance. There are now several locations throughout the NY/NJ area, lucky dogs! I even have Statenopoly, which comes in a pizza box and I bought from Deninos.  http://www.deninos.com/

One of my other favorites on Staten Island, which happens to be across the street from Denino’s is Ralph’s! Ralph’s Famous Ice and Creams. They opened with their first store front in 1949 and it has been a huge hit ever since! On a nice spring or summer day, you can stand in line, 5-10 deep, even waiting 30 minutes, but it is so worth it!  Besides, it’s another NY institution, people come from all over the world to have some of Ralph’s famous ice cream. http://www.ralphsices.com/ 1949

The reason I am telling you this is I was at a restaurant in Charlotte, NC, discussing with two friends, who also happened to grow up on Staten Island and while we were talking about Denino’s, one of my friends hadn’t been in a long time, but you can take the girl out of NY, but you can’t take the NY out of the girl. Then the woman sitting behind us said “They’re talking about Denino’s!” and that sparked an entire conversation, where are you from, what brings you down to the south, stuff like that.

So, how small is the world? Three former Staten Islanders meet up with three more ex Staten Islander in a restaurant in North Carolina! The world is small and keeps getting smaller every day!

Anyone else hungry? Meet me at Deninos!