A Calzone Memory

When I was working at the World Trade Center - a place I called home for 10 years, I frequented many restaurants, cafes and eateries.  There was a sushi place on John Street that Ronna and I would lunched at every paycheck week.  Kathy & I met at Burger King on Liberty once a  week when she was also employed at the WTC.  Winnie & I would dine at Wolf Delicatessen.  I would meet friends at "The Corner" inside 5 WTC.  Or The Greenhouse located in the Marriott.  There were Chinese fast-food, salad bars and burger joints.  Even a regular hot dog stand that I knew so well, he would give me two hot dogs in one bun. It was literally a smorgasbord.

One place that remain in my memory is Majestic Pizza on Cortlandt St. - right next door to Century 21.  It is basically a hole in the wall.  No tables and chairs - just some counter space.  On a nice day, people would just take out and sit in Liberty Plaza Park or what is now known as Zuccotti Park.  My co-workers at Home Lines would buy the delectable spinach sausage calzone or slices of cheese pizza and bring it back to the office. The spinach calzone was a huge hit.  The filling was a stuffing of creamy spinach and melted cheese and bits of Italian sausage.  It was also not always available.  If you arrived too late, it would be sold out.  And with a set lunch hour, there wasn't always time to wait for the new batch.  That would be disappointing especially if you had your heart set on it.

Yesterday, when I needed to deliver something to Nikki who is now working in the Wall Street area,  I took the opportunity to stop at the pizzeria and after 25 years, to have that calzone!  It was early...11am and so I took it unheated and to go.  I could smell the pizza dough wafting from my tote and hoped that it would be as I remembered.

The place looked exactly the same.  Exactly.  Amazing.  Since everything around it is different.

When I got home, I cut the calzone in half and heated it up in a toaster oven.  I know...not the same as a pizza oven.  As I looked at the filling, it didn't quite look the same.  And in all honesty, it isn't.  But my memory could also be fuzzy.  It is 25 years ago, after all.  But my my, it was still pretty tasty and satisfying and although the price doubled from the last time I ordered it, it was nice to know, some things change but can still taste the same.