I've been pimping
New York Richie's pretty hard lately, and there's a reason for it. I love the place, or at least I loved their
La Grande location. You see, almost five years ago at the ripe old age of 30 (oh, it was all in front of me then!) I had a kind of an interesting summer. My family used to go camping at
Wallowa Lake every year when I was growing up, and while they more or less continued the tradition, for one reason after another I didn't go along for about a decade. Then one of my loved ones had a successful battle with cancer and a bunch of us decided to go celebrate. As a bonus, my mother and I decided to quit smoking on the trip. Since the family comes from two separate directions for the camping trips, we tend to meet in La Grande to hit up Walmart for last minute supplies and groceries, then stop at a restaurant to grab a bite before the last leg of the journey. That was the year we discovered New York Richie's. We liked it enough that we stopped again on the way back home, partly so everyone could have one last meal together before going their separate ways home, partly for a couple of us to celebrate making it through the first few difficult days without a cigarette, but mostly because we just loved the food.
Of course, La Grande is a long way to go for pizza, so I haven't gotten to New York Richie's very often. I'm sure you can imagine how pleased I was a few weeks ago when I spotted the "New York Richie's Coming Soon" signs on the old Atza Pizza location on Glenwood Street in Garden City. I drive up and down Glenwood pretty much daily, and I watched intently for any change. Just over a week ago, there were colored flags strung all over outside the restaurant, and a phone call to them revealed that were open for business. By the time they finally did the official grand opening on Friday, I decided I'd waited long enough.
