Family, Friends, Pizza, Pasta, Cheesecake & Hockey

Family time, friends and food. Yes indeed, we had a great time in the Salt Lake Valley during a week-long visit. In addition to spending time with Lori, my daughters, their husbands and their combined six fun-loving kids/cousins, I also got to hook up with a couple of longtime friends with ties from the other side of the world that date back more than four decades.

John Stabler and I became friends when we entered the Utah Missionary Training Center. We quickly found out we had a lot in common and became friends before leaving the U.S. together with other missionaries in 1982 for southern Italy and Sicily to serve a year and a half in the Italy Catania Mission. And when we finished our service, we capped off our time abroad by touring Europe for a couple of weeks in northern Italy, Austria, Germany and France. After some post-mission racquetball as BYU students, our encounters were few and far between over the years, so it was great to catch up for an extended lunch.

John suggested we hook up at the Garage Grill in Herriman. What a cool, cool ambience! It's the brainchild of Steve Pruitt, former race car driver and owner. Motorsports memorabilia covers the walls and hangs from the rafters. Though not a gearhead, I do have a bit of exposure to professional racing due to a past career as a sportscaster covering NASCAR, the National Hot Rod Association, IMSA, SCCA, Super Trucks and other racing circuits. Our table was underneath a Formula One car on a rack. Just cool!

John hooked us up with an appetizer plate of onion rings. I mean, can you ever go wrong with onion rings? There were t-a-s-t-y. I ordered the apex BBQ brisket - a home-smoked brisket, coleslaw and pickles on a toasted brioche bun with Salt Flats Bonneville Bourbon BBQ Sauce. Was it great? No, but it was good? Yes, and you bet I would return. In fact, I was snapping photos and texting them to my gearhead son-in-law who has it on his bucket list to visit.

Twenty-four hours later, I had the opportunity to get together with another buddy from Italy. Ron Smith and I served as missionary companions in Catania in the summer of 1983. I had been in Sicily about nine months at that time and he arrived fresh from the United States. We served together three months, became good friends and were later roommates at BYU before he got married. Fast forward to 2023, Lori and I met up with Ron and wife April in Rome for two wonderful weeks touring together!

Ron suggested we meet at Pizzeria Limone in South Jordan where he said the pizza is, "Okay." That made me chuckle because Ron is the first to tell you he's a bit of a "food snob" when it comes to Italian food. I mean, why not? When you've had the real deal from the motherland, nothing in America really compares. 

Pizzeria Limone has a pretty robust menu but a placard at the head of the line caught our attention so neither of us gave the menu much of a look. The poster featured a large image of a caccio e peppe pizza. Wait, a caccio e pepe pizza? Ron and I and our wives discovered caccio e peppe (translation: cheese and pepper), the regional pasta of the Lazio region, during our visit to Rome. Having that same peppery flavor on a wood-fire pizza could only be great, right? So, we both ordered the same thing.

Once delivered to our seats and placed in front of us, we both got a little giddy. It looked and smelled oh so good. Our first bites were unexpected. We both said the same thing: "This isn't caccio e pepe!" According to the menu, pizza ingredients were five cheeses, arugula, pepper and lemon. The pepper wasn't near as biting as the traditional pasta dish so I sprinkled more pepper on mine. But it was Ron that hit the nail on the head when he said, "I don't taste the percorino." It's the pecorino Romano cheese that makes caccio e pepe what it is with a most distinctive taste. So, that was lacking but let me be clear: this pizza was delicious! It was just different than both of us expected. The white cheese mix was flavorful and the crust was incredible. I could've eaten an entire pizza of just that crust. Would I return to Pizzeria Limone again? Yes! Would I order the same thing? You bet!

Oh yeah, both Ron and I also ordered aranciata (orange soda) to wash down our pizza. Sanpellegrino is one of the Italian brands we used to drink as missionaries in Sicily. And this particular drink was of the aranciata rossa variety. That's orange soda made from blood oranges - the absolute best oranges on earth. 

As good as the food was, it was even better to get together with Ron, like with John, to catch up and talk about our families and our shared Italian past.

As for the extended Holyoak family, we spent time playing games, putting together a puzzle and just plain being together. It was a great week. 

My stuff-loving granddaughter at Ikea

We also went on walks, played with kids in the park and visited local sites like Temple Square, where the kids went on a scavenger hunt, we got a tour of the Conference Center - just an amazing architectural building, watched a rocking organ recital and checked out some artifacts and other historical items. We talked with a bunch of sister missionaries from all over the world. One of them was from Rome so it was nice to speak in Italian with her for about five minutes or so. (Good thing I have been doing Duolingo to practice.) She said it made her day. It made mine too. 

Preaching the good word

The Italian theme carried over to the next day when we our pack of 13 visited the Cheesecake Factory for my son-in-law's birthday, a favorite restaurant of mine and one we do not have in western Montana. I went with the four cheese pasta. Man oh man! I mean penne pasta with mozzarella, ricotta, Romano and parmesan cheeses in marinara sauce and fresh basil. I'm just a sucker for pasta from my time spent in Italy and this dish hit home in a big way. Succulent with plenty of sauce. The healthy dose of ricotta in the center of the plate was just like having a cup of ranch dressing to dip veggies into only I was dipping pasta by the fork full. Yes, I'd call it one of the best pasta dishes I'd eaten in quite sometime.

And then there's dessert, the coup de gras of the Cheesecake Factory. The post-meal menu alone features 38 different cheesecake offerings. That's right, three dozen choices, plus two more. I was already full but hey, we weren't there to not have dessert. The last time I was there, several years earlier, I went with two - lemon meringue and something with peanut butter and chocolate. This time, it came down to Reese's peanut butter chocolate cake or Adam's peanut butter cup fudge ripple. I chose the latter because of the combination of creamy cheesecake swirled with caramel, peanut butter Butterfingers and Reese's peanut butter cups. As soon as I ordered it, I had second thoughts and wished I got it to go so I could eat it later. But as soon as I dug in, I knew I made the right decision. I plowed right through it in no time. Mm, mm, great!

After a couple of hours to digest back at my daughter's place, and intentionally skipping dinner for obvious reasons, six of us headed downtown to the Delta Center to watch the Utah Hockey Club host the Buffalo Sabres. It was something we were all looking forward to. It was my third NHL game after previously attending others in Las Vegas and Seattle, but the first for everyone else in our group, including my grandson Paul who, like me, plays hockey.

This was the team's first season in Salt Lake City after moving the franchise from the greater Phoenix area and it's a hot ticket. Plus, they were in playoff contention so it was a big game. We got there early and enjoyed it from start to finish. Utah won 5-2 in a great atmosphere, which made it even better because the home teams lost both of the NHL games I went to before. What a great visit - family, friends, pizza, pasta, cheesecake and hockey!