Pizza sauce.  Dough.  Mozzarella cheese.  Pepperoni. 

Essential items for any pie joint, right?  So you can imagine my momentary expression of shock when the South Charleston Graziano’s staff told me they were out of pepperoni.  Yes, it was late evening.  Yes, they were closing soon.  But a pizzeria running out of pepperoni?  Surely you jest!  That’s the kind of thing you don’t keep in short supply.

Now I’m not dissing Graziano’s.  It’s simply the best pizza in the valley, barnone.  And the waitress who magically appears next to your head to rave about various menu items, that she herself didn’t expect to taste as good as they do, is a hoot.  (Yes, I have tried the eggplant, and yes it is delicious; and I’ll get to the Sicilian pizza eventually, already!)

All was not lost on this most upsetting of visits.  I finally ventured beyond the pepperoni pizza (a staple I’ve never been able to veer from) and tried the Italian sausage, which according to the waitress is flown in from New York and much better than “that old pork sausage.”

It was good, of course, but maybe next time I’ll bring a stick of pepperoni with me just in case.