Vacations 2009: Monday, June 8, 2009

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s Amore!”

Today was spent touring St. Simons Island. We had a history lesson, a lighthouse experience, an ocean view, and a special treat that there are literally no words for (if you tuned in earlier and tried to read the June 8th post).

Over a year ago, one of Bev’s pizzeria secrets DVDs was purchased by a Salvatore Cenicola. Bev and Sal had many email conversations after his purchase prior to his opening his own pizzeria last January—one of those communiqués included Sal extending an invitation to Bev to visit his Neighborhood Pizzeria if she was ever in the St. Simons Island area.

So…our lunch was at Sal’s Neighborhood Pizzeria with Pie Guy, Sal Cenicola. We immediately fell in love with Sal, the pizzeria, his pizza, and his enthusiasm. Walking into his restaurant, the heavenly aroma of the cuisine, the music and décor all made it feel like we’d stepped into a New York Pizzeria or a quaint café in Italy. There’s a mural depicting Venice on one section of the back wall, red and white checkered cloths covering the tables, and a wood bar enclosing the pizza making area and brick oven. On the other walls painted a deep rich red hung different photograph displays. Behind the cash register are all the pictures of Sal from his youth during his 18 year boxing career. Sal is pictured with Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Marciano, and Don King, to drop just a few names. As we exclaim over the pictures, Sal shows us some of his fancy footwork jabbing and dodging imaginary blows. As Bev moves over to look at another grouping of pictures, Sal starts shouting from behind the bar where he’s tossing our pie in the air that the pictures there are of his parents when they got married and his dad as a young boy, and Sal’s two boys ages 7 and 9 with his wife Lisa.

Meanwhile, I’m reading a framed article on another wall from a local publication tracking Sal’s life from boxing, to salon owner, to paratrooper, family man, and finally pie guy! His resume is just as impressive as his personality. As he pats out and tosses the pizza dough, he sings to the music playing and never misses acknowledging every customer coming or going. I could come up with a hundred adjectives to describe Sal, but until you actually experience his southern New Jersey hospitality, it’s an experience you couldn’t possibly imagine! We had such a good time at lunch that we went back for dinner. Over the course of two meals, we got to sample several of his dishes and a couple kinds of pizza. We also had the privilege of trying items from the dessert menu—New York style cheesecake, gelato, and cannoli. Again, adjectives like rich, creamy, heavenly don’t even come close to describing the desserts. Beth even has a video of me licking my dessert plate clean that she won’t delete in the event she needs it for blackmailing purposes at some point in the future.

Our history lesson was learned at Fort Frederica. In the early 1700s, Georgia was the epicenter of a centuries-old conflict between Spain and Britain. In 1736, James Oglethorpe established Fort Frederica to protect his southern boundary. Colonists from England, Scotland and the Germanic States came to Frederica to support the endeavor. Today, we stopped to explore the archeological remnants of Frederica which are protected by the National Park Service.

The St. Simons Island Lighthouse is one of only five surviving light towers in Georgia. Beth, Bev, and the boys climbed the 129 steps to view neighboring Jekyll Island, the mainland Glynn County, and the south end of St. Simons Island. The current lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s dwelling were built in 1872.

After the lighthouse tour, we walked to East Beach at the historic Coast Guard Station which is St. Simon’s most popular beach location. We played in the ocean, watched the dolphins, walked out on the pier, and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze during an afternoon shower.