ColumBucket List: pizza with Pizza

My goodbye tour of Columbus kicked off a few weeks ago, when my amaaaazing bestie threw me the most incredible surprise bash with all my friends at our favorite local watering hole, Zeno's. Since then, I've been trying to mentally wrap my head around the fact that each time I do something I love around this town, it will most likely be for the last time! (Of course I'll visit...but for now, it's time to say goodbye!) While I'll certainly miss friends and co-workers, I'm confident that we'll stay in touch. So the thing that is hitting me the hardest is leaving behind some of my favorite quintessential Columbus foods!

If you were ever lucky enough to be a South campus student at Ohio State, you know perfectly well that the best pizza in this entire town comes from Adriatico's. It claims to be New York style, so I'm praying I'll find something comparable, but who knows!? I've been an avid customer since freshman year when their friendly door was just a block or two away from my dorm. The number has been programmed into every cellphone I've had since I was 19. I have to say, it will be pretty weird to not see it located as #2 on my contact list... Cate and I have our order down to an absolute science. A Medium thick-crust pizza, always covered with green & red peppers and onions. Half with black olives for me, and the other half with pepperoni for my non-vegetarian pal. And, of course, an order of breadsticks with garlic sauce and pizza sauce and a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.

Then, last halloween, we met a lovely man (pictured above, mid-chew) named Will, who, as luck would have it, happened to be dressed like pizza! I'm serious. He was dressed like a slice of pizza...if pizza happened to accessorize its look with a worn out, blue Kentucky hat. And, very unfortunately for him, we kept making him hang out with us, and the nickname "Pizza" just stuck! Now, over a year later, I can honestly say I love Pizza almost as much as I love pizza. See what I did there? The proper noun and all? So I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last evening together (before he jets off to his medical school interviews tomorrow and misses the opportunity to help me lift heavy boxes into my Uhaul truck...) than by splitting an Adriatico's pizza! A farewell to both the #1 pizzas in my life!

Note: Pizza happens to like his pizza with pepperoni and green olives, which I will just never understand...I'm willing to overlook the blatant cannibalism, but green olives? Never. 10 more days!!