Big Man on Campus ... er, Not So Much?

I got an email from a friend of mine this morning who told me her mother overheard my name in Union Square when a student -- presumably from my school -- said that he or she had to go see me. (Yes, students do get "sent" to my office from time to time.) I sort of like the idea of being known around school.

The other night a law student approached me on West 3rd Street and said, "Aren't you the supervisor of the Journals?" This was cool, I said to myself -- the students are flagging me down on the sidewalk to talk to me now. This must be important, I thought:

Student: "You gotta see this guy across the street [in Ben's Pizzeria]."
Paul: "Who?"
Student: "See the guy with the hat with feather and the full length mink coat?"
Paul: "Oh yeah."
Student: "Have you ever seen someone so totally pimped out in your whole life?!"

Well, it was nice she recognized me anyway.

My Mouth Waters Just Thinking About It

Eddie's Pizza in New Hyde Park, NY is one of the dining jewels of the New York suburbs. My family started going to Eddie's in 1964, and we've been savoring every morsel of the delightfully thin-and-chewy, yet crispy-still pizza every since. Whenever the ex-patriot Long Islanders in my family return to visit my parents, a visit to Eddie's is almost always on the agenda. Unlike mass-produced pizza indistinguishable from the cardboard box it came in, or the over-the-top yuppie pizzas of today -- do we really need sushi on a pizza? -- Eddie's is straight up good eatin'. Now that I'm living in Atlanta it is an example of the authencity of the northeast that I miss. My father's favorite fact about Eddie's is that it has the distinction in the Zagat restaurant guide of having the widest gap between the quality of its decor and the quality of its food. Atlanta's Olive Garden and "Johnny's New York Style Pizza" will never measure up to the Italian eateries which I ate in growing up. (I still remember the sports radio guys in New York cackling about a Creative Loafing -- Atlanta's version of the Village Voice -- survey in which Atlantans named the Olive Garden as their favorite Italian eatery.)

I was reminded of Eddie's today because my nephew had created an "Eddie's Pizza Lovers" group on Facebook. He had asked me to join a while back, but I had no idea that he was the creator of the group. As of today the Facebook Group has 128 members -- a very good following I think. As one of their chief promoters, he should get a free pizza the next time he goes to Eddie's ... but that'll never happen. From the comments on the message board, I see facebookers who have moved from Long Island are thinking about Eddie's longingly the way I do. I'm even salivating as I write this. I'd trade chicken and waffles for a sausage bar pie and syrupy ginger ale to wash it down with anytime!