Friday, May 22, 2020

New Info on Joseph Pelotoni

I thought we knew everything that could be discovered about Joseph Pelotoni, the Italian immigrant who lived in the Delta and tried to promote cycling here in the late 40s, 50s, and early 60s. Somehow his name came up the last time Jay Unver was interviewing me. When he told me that Pelotoni had lived in Lehrton, you could have knocked me over with a cooked spaghetti noodle. 

I made him swear on his mother's grave that he was telling me the truth. He said he was researching something for Dr. Nomann and found some old tax records that showed that in 1955, Pelotoni had a business in downtown Lehrton. He had a bicycle shop/cafe/bait shop.

"Wait, wait," I stopped him. "He had three businesses?"

"One building. He had a bicycle shop on one side, some minnows and crickets on the other, and a griddle behind the counter."

"You're not joshing me?"

"No. And what is even better, I learned about his menu. He sold a . . ."

"Chitterlings Sandwich, or Chitlin sanwich as we would say around here," I finished his sentence.

"How did you know?" he seemed genuinely surprised.

"it's been so long since I found that out that I can't remember. Seems like he once had a cafe in Winona and was famous for that."

"Did you know about the other one?"

"Other one what?" he had me lassoed with curiosity. 

"His best selling item was his pig-ear taco."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, he deep fried a pig ear and filled it with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Every Saturday night, Greasy Street was filled with the smell of frying pig ears."

I was so stunned that my chin was on my chest, and I could not speak. I gnat flew into my open mouth, hit the back of my throat, and gagged me.

"They say it was really good. Some people ate the whole thing; some people only used the pig ear to pour the contents into their mouth." He was trying to stop me from gagging.

I tried to speak but I couldn't. Then his phone rang while I was doubled over about to lose breakfast. It was Dr. Nomann. Unver had to leave right then. He was gone, and I could ask no more questions, but when I get my chance, I'll fire away.

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