Last week, I ordered pizza for dinner for probably the fifth, maybe the fourth time in the last ten years. I really don’t get pizza delivered very often. There’s enough pizza places within walking distance that delivery makes no sense.
This time, however, I ordered from Panago, which doesn’t have a location close to where I live. This was the first time I ordered from Panago in years, maybe more than a decade. If you’re not from this province, Panago started out as a local pizza place, which grew in popularity enough to have close to 200 locations.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Panago was pretty much the only place I ordered pizza from. At that time, I was still living with my parents at their detached house. There was a Panago location about a two minute drive away. To save on delivery fees, I’d pick up my pizza from the store. I went there often enough that the people working there started to recognize me. The owner of this franchise was there a lot and he often cooked many of the pizzas I ordered. He was very friendly and once in a while, he threw in a side order of something for free. When I was lazy and did order delivery, it was common for him to deliver the pizza himself. Those pizzas were always delicious and kept me satisfied, chubby, and well-fed.
Eventually, my parents moved slightly farther away to a smaller townhouse and I left for UBC to go to grad school, so the orders for pizza were much less frequent. When I ordered a pizza and a salad last week, it brought back a lot of memories. It also reminded me that I still like Panago pizza and their salads are fresh and actually well-made. Everyone jokes that salads from pizza joints are terrible, but this salad was better than any pre-packaged salad I’ve had from Safeway (and cheaper too).
I’m not sure if I’d order Panago every week (like I almost did way back when), but I sure am gonna consider it more now.