A few years ago, word began to spread of a new pizza place in town. Located somewhere along the rather nondescript 161 corridor, it was said that this pizza transcended its unassuming surroundings. Those in the know, well-versed in Columbus’s other pizza offerings, said that this pizza was special; that it stood out. Eventually, the trickle became a flood, and it became accepted as common wisdom among a certain set that Borgata Pizza Café made some of the best pizza in town.
Despite all that, despite the recommendations from numerous reliable sources, it took me years to finally make the trip myself. Every time I thought about getting pizza, my thought was “Oh, that’s too far away. Let’s just go to [closer pizza shop]. I mean, can the pizza really be that good?” You know how, as you get older and wiser, you look back and think “If only I could go back in time and tell my younger self what I know now”? That’s how I feel about my pre-Borgata self.