The LuLac Edition #3618, October 18th, 2017

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VICTORY PIG @ 75

This past Sunday The Citizen's Voice did a wonderful story on the famed pizza restaurant Victory Pig in Wyoming. I first went to "The Pig" in 1965 when neighbors who used to live in Pittston moved to Minnesota. On a visit back home, the family ordered a lot of pizza and even took some home with them.
Through the years it was a stop for my friends and me.  Especially when one of us had a crush on one of the waitresses. Thankfully she didn't have anything to do with us because one of the guys would be married to someone who is closing in on 80 now.
Mrs LuLac and i go there occasionally and it is the go to place for out of towners in the summer.
The business stuck to its roots and stayed open only three days. But now at 75 and running, changes are afoot. Here's Denise Allabaugh's article (partial) and then the link from the paper to see the full story.

VICTORY PIG MARKS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

Victory Pig, a little mom and pop business on Wyoming Avenue, has been a landmark for pizza lovers across the United States for decades.
The old-fashioned business, which has been owned by the Ceccoli family since 1942, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
Victory Pig began in a time before chain restaurants and fast-food franchises dominated the landscape of the area, the Ceccolis said. The pizza recipe has been passed down through four generations of their family.
Italian immigrant Louis Ceccoli and his wife Lee founded Victory Pig and it began as a little shop specializing in pork barbecue sandwiches. That’s where the “Pig” in the restaurant’s name came from and pork barbecue sandwiches are still a staple on the menu.
The restaurant was later operated by their son, the late Robert Ceccoli. His wife, Mary Ceccoli, 92, retired five years ago after working at the restaurant for 68 years and lives on the property near the restaurant.
Today, her son Rich Ceccoli operates the family business and his sons, Richard, Robert and Randon work there.
Paul Pearson, 63, who has worked at Victory Pig for 48 years, is like family, the Ceccolis said.
The business was always called Victory Pig, said Rich Ceccoli, while showing an old photo of the restaurant.
“There was a big barbecue pit in the back and a guy used to cook pigs on a spindle,” he said.
He said the pizza craze began when his grandmother made his grandfather four cuts of pizza to eat at the restaurant.
Forty Fort residents eating in the restaurant did not know what pizza was then, he said. When his grandfather explained it was pizza and they asked how much it was a slice, he charged them a nickel each.
“He sold his supper to four people and they wanted more,” Ceccoli said. “He put a nickel in the pay phone, called my grandmother who lived a quarter of a mile up the street, and told her to make more pizza, bring it in through the kitchen and send it out the window.”
The next night, he said the people from Forty Fort brought in more people who wanted pizza. Louis Ceccoli called his wife again and said she needed to bring in 12 more slices.
As the demand continued, Lee Ceccoli told her husband they needed to put an oven in the kitchen to make the pizza there.
“We still operate like it’s the 1940s. People come in and say, ‘I hope the pizza hasn’t changed. The building didn’t.’ I say it’s the same,” Rich Ceccoli said. “There always has been a Ceccoli in the kitchen and there always has been a Ceccoli behind the cash register.”
For 75 years, the business also has continued curbside service.....
http://citizensvoice.com/news/victory-pig-marks-75th-anniversary-1.2255463