Pumpernick’s Pimps Ferrozza

By CHARLES FERRUZZA

Fame, even on the smallest scale, can be a double-edged butter knife. Last month my friend Rick Hellman, the editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, e-mailed me to say that the Pumpernick’s Restaurant & Deli at 3820 West 95th Street had used a quote (from a Fat Mouth column I wrote last July) on a big poster hanging in its window. But there was, alas, a typo in the copy.

Yes, it would have been more flattering if the very large poster had spelled my name correctly. I mean, I know that Sicilian names tend to have a lot of vowels in them, but Pumpernick’s owner Phil Harbor turned the u into an o. I didn’t get too upset since I’ve had some experience with this problem before: The publisher at another newspaper I worked for introduced me as Charles Ferruggia for more than a decade. I was just thrilled that he got the vowels right!