I miss Santa

This pizza chain, Abitino's replaced everyone's favorite down and dirty West Village slice, Joe's, on the corner of Carmine and Bleeker. I once saw a celebrity there, but I can't remember if it was Tobey Maguire, or Lukas Haas or Elijah Wood. That Joe's closed in late 2004, and I wasn't that upset because the Joe's a few stores down is still open and at the time, my Joe's (different owners) in the East Village was still open. Mica and I always planned to do a segment asking people why they went to the corner Joe's instead of the one at 7 Carmine, just another regret.
Anyway, another one of these Abitino's opened on 2nd Avenue (and E.10th St.? ) in December in the old space that was tea house turned pan Asian restaurant no one ever went to. I actually sampled a slice one night before we went to see "Brokeback Mountain." The plain slice wasn't terrible. I'm not saying it was fabulous, just that it was fine. The strange thing about this place is that it hasn't been open since. I looked the place up online and they list "strategic partners" like Coke and Ferraro Foods. There's also some story about a family opening their first store in Brooklyn in 1974, blah blah blah, but I'm not buying it. I think Sbarro's from the mall just changed their name to Abitino's. It's easier to pronounce. And there's another pizza place opening on Second Ave., a place called Singa's Famous Pizza. I did the online thing and it's not Indian fusion pizza. It's another localish franchise. There's a bunch in Queens. I guess I'll try it, but I'm not going to like it.
I miss Joe's near my place. I wish I had a picture to show you. Yet another regret. His huge belly was really something impressive. It was like Santa, but instead of a bowl full of jelly, it was probably full of pizza.