WEST JORDAN — Of all the places Tony Nevole expected his pizza ovens to wind up, this wasn't one of them.
On one side is a clothing outlet, on the other a coffee house. Out front are about a hundred free parking places. Across the street is a bowling alley.
In the midst of them, there it is: "Nevole's Pizzeria."
Yeah, that's right, the one that used to be just off the corner of 37th and Broadway in midtown Manhattan. The stand-up, grab-a-slice place Tony opened not long after emigrating from Italy; the place where three generations of Nevoles worked and served their fellow New Yorkers some of the most mouth-watering slices this side of Original Ray's. The place where the nearest parking was Vermont.
When Tony retired recently and shut down the one and only Nevole's, who'd have thought it would find an afterlife out here, at the foot of the Rockies, at 1781 West 7800 South, in West Jordan, Utah?!
A few months ago, Tony Nevole and his girlfriend, Kay Delesio, traveled here to Utah to visit Tony's grandson, Randy Will, so they could settle a bet.
Randy, a three-time Olympic bobsled champion who moved to the Salt Lake Valley to be near the new Olympic track, had bet his grandfather — Pop, he calls him — that he could make real New York pizza in Utah. Pop bet he couldn't. The water wouldn't be right, for one thing, Pop insisted. Randy said he'd make the water right. Pop said he couldn't get good cheese. Randy said he could. Before the debate was over, $500 was on the line.
They're Italians. What're you gonna do?
Randy had Pop and Kay over to his home in West Jordan, and he mixed together all the ingredients he remembered mixing together so many times back in New York when he worked in the pizzeria run by his mom's dad.
As the coup de grace, he topped it all with Tony's sauce, a recipe so secret he could tell you what's in it but then the Nevoles would have to kill you (and they might not be kidding).
Randy mixed, he baked, he served, he waited.
Pop and Kay both put away a couple of slices, just eating, not saying anything.
Randy is getting more nervous by the second because not only does this decide the $500, but it's going to have a large bearing on whether Pop is going to let him use his ovens and put his name on the new place in the strip mall.
Finally Pop wipes his mouth, motions to Kay and says, "Pay 'im."
Italian for "High praise."
So that's how Randy Will came to haul his grandfather's ovens, once the pride of Broadway and 37th, into position at his new place in West Jordan and started making New York pizza. He's decorated the place with plenty of New York stuff and Olympic memorabilia. He's got signed pictures on the walls from presidents Bush and Clinton and vice presidents Quayle and Gore. His bobsled career spanned two parties and three terms.
Now, he keeps close to the mountains and the ice by coaching skeleton champion Jim Shea and by still jumping onto a bobsled every now and then. He was the first person ever to go down the track at the Winter Sports Park. At 34, he doesn't discount mounting a comeback for the Salt Lake Games of 2002.
In the meantime, he's got a pizzeria to run. Already, he's attracting New Yorkers from across the valley. Randy guesses they can smell the cheese. Curious natives also keep dropping by. Business is so encouraging Randy is planning to open a Nevole's in Kearns and another just across the border in Evanston, Wyo.
New York pizza in Wyoming! Isn't that Pop, reaching for another $500?
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.