Ceiba pizza with New York flavor and Puerto Rican love

Source: El Nuevo Día

Ceiba. -- The flavor and service that have set Chey's Pizza apart for more than 50 years have been carefully preserved from generation to generation to ensure they remain intact. So it is no surprise when one enters the establishment that delicious aroma emanates from the stone oven and one feels that sense of familiarity.

Cesáreo "Chey" Velázquez Placeres, 74 years old, is the owner of this popular pizzeria in Ceiba. He has entrusted his grandchildren, César, Edwin, and Edmarie Velázquez, with the task that he has been carrying out for five decades -- a dream that began when he worked as a pizza maker in New York. When he returned to the island, he invested in a stone oven to bring that unique New York-style pizza to the area.

"What motivated me at that time was to succeed, to give my family a good quality of life. I founded the pizzeria 50 years ago with my wife, Julia Mendoza, and it fills me with pride to know that my children and grandchildren have continued the tradition... that they too have been able to provide for their households," said the humble patriarch. He remains active in the business, arriving at 8:00 in the morning every day to prepare the dough and fire up the oven.

The house specialty is thin-crust pizza and calzone, although the menu also includes lasagna and the "pizzacalzone." However, the favorite among customers is the traditional pepperoni pizza.

"We make everything ourselves; the sauce, the dough, and, well, the love and charisma that each of us puts into it," says Edmarie about the secret of "Chey's" recipe, with whom she began working eight years ago.

We do our best here, we provide a five-star service. If we get a customer that's short a dollar or two, I'll give them the food anyway, as long as the customer is taken care of," adds César, who has been working here for 15 years with the same enthusiasm he inherited from his grandfather.

Even in the toughest times, this family has found ways to keep the business running. For example, in 2017, they opened the shop just three days after Hurricane María, providing a food option for the people of Ceiba. They even received orders from the islands of Saint Thomas and Saint Martin.

Chey's Pizza is so well-known in Ceiba that it is one of the places where you can get the town's stamps for the Una Isla, 78 destinos ("One Island, 78 Destinations") passport campaign created by the Tourism Company.

The mission of Chey's grandchildren is to continue strengthening the business while always maintaining the vision of a family-owned enterprise. "We want to uphold the same tradition that he left us. If he could be here for 50 years, I want to be here for another 50 years," stated César with emotion.

Chey feels satisfied and "happy to have brought joy and flavor to so many people for so many years." So he confidently says that "if I were to be born again, I would still be a pizza maker."