What’s the 422?

One of my best friends is getting married Saturday in Iowa. He loves pizza so much that we once seriously discussed writing a book about the best pizza spots in the Philly region.

Matt uses phrases like ’swirly sauce,’ ‘good grease’ and ‘best pie ever’ to describe his most delectable carb-laden voyages.

So naturally, I looked forward to telling the groom-to-be about my first slice of Penny’s pizza. The Ridge Pike joint re-opened earlier this fall, much to the delight of many locals. It had teased travelers for months with a sign in front of the building which read: “Guess who’s coming back?”

I was puzzled at the time, thinking perhaps David Kane would make a return run for Limerick supervisor ….

After work on Tuesday, I passed through Phoenixville and numerous pizzerias on Route 724 with the intention of trying Penny’s for the very first time. I arrived at the small shop only to read the business hours on the door: Thursday through Sunday, 3 p.m. To 9 p.m.

I could hear the phone ringing endlessly behind the glass doors. These helpless callers had no idea.

A shop so good that it could voluntarily close Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays? This might be worth waiting for, I thought.

With my stomach growling, I turned to Royersford’s finest – the tried and tested Giovanni’s Pizzeria. Matt has visited Spring City twice since I moved here in 2007. He was so impressed with the Main Street eatery that he annointed it Top Three status; almost unheard of after a one-pie fling.

Our book deal may never happen. But at least I have one more tool to lure him back to western Montgomery County and away from the married life that seems so foreign to both of us right now.