A Chat with the Positive Pie Guy
In Patrick Timothy Mullikin's recent article on the Montpelier Pizza scene, "Scarfin' Slices in the 802", he quoted a few lines from the now-famous "802" rap video, made by a group of Montpelier teenagers. What does rap have to do with pizza? The snarky rappers, who call themselves X10, did a little restaurant criticism in their song.
Mullikin used their lyrics to introduce each of Montpelier's pizza joints, and the young men didn't pull their punches -- they said that the "dude" at Village pizza "ain't nice," and claimed Angeleno's "pies are overpriced." One place, Positive Pie II, got left out 'cause they didn't have room in their rhyme. To make his story more complete, Mullikin asked them to throw out a snippet off-the-cuff. Their response: "Positive Pie, where the chefs get high."
But Carlo Rovetto, owner of Positive Pie II, didn't find it funny. "It was a big blow," he explained in a recent phone call, "I literally work 100 hours per week...it's such a tight competition, and I'm trying to attract families and business people, and they don't want to go to places with that kind of reputation...if this was New York City an there were a hundred-thousand people per block, I wouldn't even care. But Montpelier is so small..."
Although some people say that any press is good press, Rovetto doesn't share that perspective. "We ride on the edge of success or failure every day...at this point, I wish I hadn't been in the article at all," he explained.
Hopefully, for Rovetto's sake, readers will remember the other comment the young rappers made about Positive Pie II. According to Colin Arisman, one of the X10 crew, "I would say, if you want to go for a pizza with character and dignity — [go to] The Pie...There's this white garlic sauce, and it's one of the most fulfilling experiences one can have."
Get over yourselves, rasta pie dude -- it's a joke. Or is Montpelier too progressive for that?
I am incensed from afar.
Posted by: casey | June 27, 2007 at 07:39 PM