“I’m going to tell you, like, the true story. Nobody got the story right yet. We haven’t told any press this whole thing yet,” said Ian Lafkowitz, co-owner of Joe’s Pizza (all five New York City locations and the new Ann Arbor one). This is just what I hoped would happen — just like the pizza, I’d come to Joe’s in search of the true authenticity I knew was there.

I’d let the dust settle between Joe’s Ann Arbor grand opening and my strategic entrance to the Diag-adjacent pizza spot. I knew if I let press go crazy in the first week of business for the sake of the “timely lead” or what have you, I’d afford myself a more meaningful interaction with the new restaurant weeks into the future. I was right.