Mama Mia time in D.C.

Pepperoni rolls, born in West Virginia, have emigrated to the nation’s capital.

Karen Shannon, who was born and grew up in a Fairmont Italian-American family, is “honoring her roots” with Pepperoni Chic, a pop-up restaurant, in Washington, D.C.

Shannon said her customers “love the story of the coal miners and the invention of the pepperoni roll” by Joe Argiro at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont in 1927.
Click on the blue http://www.timeswv.com/news/pepperoni-rolls-pop-up-in-d-c/article_4ac453ac-3ed2-11e8-b4a4-d780f4a5e0f6.html to read the Fairmont Times article.

Pepperoni rolls follow Mountaineers everywhere

You can take a girl out of West Virginia, but you can’t take West Virginia out of a girl.

Proof: Pepperoni rolls, the official food of West Virginia, where it was born at Country Club Bakery in Fairmont.

Kim DeMary Clowers, Class of 1979, who lives in Red Bank, Tennessee with husband Earl Lee Clowers, is delighted by the home-made peppersoni rolls made by Lee Hustead, who also lives in Red Bank.

Lee and Laurelle  Hustead

Kim is a daughter of Joe DeMary and Laurelle “Lou” Costello Hustead. Her siblings are Joe Jo-Jo DeMary, Julie DeMary and Joanne DeMary.

Kim DeMary Clowers

Quips Brenda Manzo about Lee:

“I knew there was a reason he stole Laurelle's heart all those years ago. Looks like a keeper to me.”

Laurelle is in a wheelchair, but that doesn’t keep her from joining Lee for sunning at Gulf Shores, Alabama. Laurelle is a Chattanooga State graduate.

Kim became a Registered Nurse after her graduation from Chattanooga State Community College in Tennessee.

Patti DeMary Evans, Class of 1972, and her husband, retired coal miner Brian L. Evans, Class of 1969, live in Fairmont. Patti is a retired nurse (1987-2006) and graduate of Fairmont State.

Lee is a WVU graduate and former program leader at WVU. He’s from Cedar Grove, West  Virginia.

 

King of pepperoni rolls!! 

#1 pepperoni rolls in West Virginia?

Onlyinyourstate.com  web site says Fairmont’s Country Club Bakery Country Club Road, birthplace of the pepperoni roll in the 1920’s.

But my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, prefers Colasessanos in Fairmont, #4 on this list. She used to bring me Country Club rolls to Mountaineer Field but, after CC spiced up its pepperoni rolls too much for my body to handle, switched to Colassessanos.

The top 13 on this PR list:

1. Country Club Bakery, which turns out 250 to 900 dozen rolls a day.

2. Chico Bakery in Morgantown, which sticks to the recipe that Julia used in 1925.

3. Health Bread Company in Clarksburg.

4. Colasessanos World Famous Pizza and Pepperoni Buns in Fairmont, which ships anywhere in America for all those West Virginia ex-pats who might get a craving for home.

5. Kitchen Creek Bakery in Gap Mills, a Mennonite-run Monroe County bakery.

6. Tomaro’s Bakery in Clarksburg, the state’s oldest Italian bakery (since 1914).

7. The Donut Shop in Buckhannon.

8. Greco’s in Wheeling, an Italian restaurant.

9. Wild Flour Bakery in Fayetteville.

10. King’s NY Pizza Italian Restaurant in Martinsburg.

11. JR’s Donut Castle, a Parkersburg institution also known for its donuts.

12. The Irish Pub in Lewisburg. Swill it down, sure and begorra, with fine Irish whiskey.

Pepperoni rolls started as a lunch option for coal miners during the first half of the 20th century. They don’t need to be refrigerated for storage, so miners could easily pack them in their lunches.

Italian immigrant Giuseppe “Joseph” Argiro, who is credited for inventing them, first sold them at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont in 1927.