OSJ: Love the pizza

JC: We have more on the menu than pizza you know. Here’s a menu!


OSJ: I like the pizza. Listen, why are you trying to sell this restaurant?

JC: You know, I’ve done this for 20 years. My daughter [Hannah] is 15, I’d like to be closer to my mother in Virginia, who is getting up there is years, and it’s just time for something new.


OSJ: What would you like to do next?

JC: I went to Bali last fall, and I had a chance to see a lot of the post-tsunami rebuilding efforts first hand. One of them was an educational program on permaculture. I’d be interested in something like that.


OSJ: You mean like organic farming?

JC: No. Well, yes, that’s part of it. But it is more about an entire lifestyle of sustainable living.


OSJ: Hmm. What else?

JC: Hypnotherapy. I’m interested in hypnotherapy.


OSJ: So far, you haven’t mentioned anything that you can get rich doing.

JC: I’m not really into that. The money thing.


OSJ: So about this restaurant. You started out as a cook here and eventually bought it, right?

JC: I didn’t know how to cook really when I started here. I learned right here.


OSJ: You bought the place in 1988. You’ve spent time in Venezuela, Venice. Milan, Florence since. What came from all of that travel?

JC: My marinara sauce.


OSJ: What do I get if I buy this place?

JC: You get the equipment, the lease and everything you see here. Employees if they want to stay. And “blue skies.”


OSJ: What’s that?

JC: Realtors use that. Blue Skies means name, reputation, everything that makes it a restaurant.


OSJ: What about the marinara sauce?

JC: Yes, of course. All recipes are also included.


OSJ: So, if you were keeping this restaurant, what would you do differently?

JC: You know, I am a mother and that has always come first. Being a single parent is a lot of work. And that has always come first. A new owner could start with lunch. This place could stay open later on weekends and serve pizza to the late night crowd. It’s air-conditioned. Maybe live music. I admit, the restaurant has not been maximized.


OSJ: What will you miss about St. John?

JC: You can do anything you want here. You can be anything you want to be here. As long as you aren’t hurting anybody, this island and the people here will let you be anything you want. St. John, even today, is very free.


OSJ: My pizza ready?

JC: I’ll go check.