GOOD TIMES AS PIZZA JOINT RETURNS

Hallelujah - the Annex (and points west, such as our house) can eat
again.

Pizza Gigi, a fixture on Harbord Street since 1973, unceremoniously
shuttered after a police raid on Feb. 13. Police arrested the founder
and owner, Salvatore Crimi, 57, charging him with 15 counts, including
possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine and trafficking. A news
release said, "police seized a quantity of marijuana, valued at
$1-million, 1/2 ounce of crack cocaine, Oxycocet, Oxycontin, MDMA and
$8,000 in cash."

On Thursday, Mr. Crimi was back behind the counter, smiling, looking
none the worse for wear.

"The police, they made a mess," he said. "They break all the ceiling.
They were looking for something. We decided we might as well renovate
a little bit." So they put new drywall on the ceiling, repainted the
walls and put in a new front door."

After Gigi's closed I received an email from a worried mother on the
parent council at Central Technical Institute, just across Harbord,
concerned that the pizzeria was supplying something other than slices
to their kids.

"They blame everything on me," Mr. Crimi said. "I don't sell drugs to
kids. I never sell drugs to kids. They are just bullsh--ing."

I let that hang a bit and had to ask, "So do you sell drugs to
anyone?"

"I don't sell drugs at all." He declined further comment on the
charges.

On the first day of reopening, Gigi's was a bit quiet, so Mr. Crimi
dug out a tall stack of old receipts, on which he had written their
phone numbers, and began to call his clients to tell them the news.
Some ordered pizza on the spot, he said. One woman sent a card back
with the driver who delivered her pizza, now displayed at the shop. It
reads: "Keep out of jail. Some people care. So happy! Lisa."

Marlene, another customer, sent a purple orchid with a note: "To the
Crimi family. Very best wishes and a new start."

A professor at the University of Toronto told me, "There are very few
things I know well. I think I know a good pie. I respect the superior
craftsmanship."

And I won smiles, too, when I appeared at home Thursday night with two
medium pizzas. Everything is right in the world again.