This week the

reason for the letter is food.

The food here

is a special sore point for those of us who come from the Northeast, north

central states and the West Coast. That is based on conversations with

the majority of customers over the last couple of years.

I opened a

restaurant in Peachtree City which made Atlanta Magazine three times in

its first year and was reviewed by the Atlanta Constitution favorably

after nine months of existence. We were selected as "The Best of

Peachtree City" by Atlanta Magazine the first two years of our existence.

I say this not to brag but to establish my credentials.

I find it highly

ironic that pizza should finally trigger this letter. I decided to locate

here because friends we were visiting took us out to eat four times, and

each time the food was at best acceptable, but usually mediocre. Pizza

was especially bad because it was mainly pizza chain restaurants.

I was told

'You can't get good pizza because "the water is bad." I went

to the local supermarket, bought all the ingredients, and came back and

baked an excellent pizza from scratch. What that proved was that the local

pizza places were just poor quality.

Now that we

have sold the restaurant and our home and are scheduled to move in June,

a new pizza restaurant has opened on Ga. Highway 54 between Peachtree

City and Fayetteville. Ventura's Pizza sells the first authentic New York

style pizza I've tasted down here. This pizza tastes like you are up in

New York or New Jersey; it's the real thing. Since I found it two weeks

ago, I've tried it for lunch two or three times and taken a pie home for

dinner. It's for real.

I was glad

to hear that they were going to be in the "Taste of Fayetteville"

celebration so I was greatly surprised when I walked into the store yesterday

to get a late dinner pizza. Long faces announced that they had placed

second to a "national pizza takeout chain."

I will not

mention the name of the chain, but I will tell you that this chain opened

a store in the town we came from in New York. It lasted two months and

died because where we came from and where we are going