Someone found evidence of property owned by Alefantis and David Brock in or around Roanoke, VA. Check out Alefantis pig farm posts? Here is the property info back to 2007.
https://i.sli.mg/sLsV1y.png
If I canned tomatoes into 1 gallon jars, that would be about 8 pounds per jar. 10 tons would be about 2,500 jars. Just of tomato sauce. Where is this operation done and stored? Remember that he said he does this with all his ingredients. Fresh Ingredients all have narrow windows of crop harvesting. This canning would go on all year long. Does the kitchen at Comet can stuff while shows are going on? where are the fresh ingredients stored while the canning is happening? It would take a pretty big kitchen working around the clock to do that quantity before it went bad.
I appreciate your skepticism, however, my point is that there should be a picture of a rather huge room full of jars, not cans, and a kitchen fully staffed running around the clock to handle the various ingredients and the slow process of canning. I haven't seen that. Up vote for you, though.
From the article:
Like Pastan, James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong in D.C., doesn't build his pizza sauce with DOP San Marzanos. For seven years, he has been buying late-harvest tomatoes from Toigo Orchards in Shippensburg, Pa., and canning them at nearby Stello Foods for use at Comet. Last year, Alefantis estimates, he bought 12 tons of Toigo tomatoes, which Stello turned into sauce and canned before trucking the jars to the basement at Buck's Fishing & Camping, Alefantis' other restaurant nearby.
So, some of my questions answered. He speaks of a basement that is not Comets.
So, I was wrong.
SimonBarrow was right.
I've changed my mind about the location of the two photos showing building excavations. The first photo shows two ping pong tables
identical types to those used at Comet
standing up against the wall (far left. above the wheelbarrow). I think that proves to a 99% certainty that this place is Comet.
I don't know where the originals of these photos were posted.
I think this lead might go nowhere, though. I looked at Toigo Orchard on Google Maps and the buildings don't appear to be made of brick. From the outside, they are clearly wood.
What IS interesting is that Alefantis wasn't giving away the location of the brick building.
Kanter also says that the tinned tomatoes are canned and stored at Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania! The precise location is given in the below report as Stello Foods:
judging by the way the walls are built (going almost half a meter under the ground) as well as the roof construction it's safe to assume that'S a rather old building.
I'm not sure about the stone ground tho... that might indicate it wasnt used as a room for living in the first place but rather a farm or industrial building (reminds me of other places i've seen where you keep horses or pigs...)
These information should probably help us sort out a number of possible locations.
We also have grafitty on the walls (--> that location was obviously not used//abandoned for some time) saying JKB//JMB and ROX (cant really read it).
Most likely these are the names of sprayers living around that area? MIGHT help us, but also rather unlikely
Edit: The photos seem to be from his private INstagram account that is set PRIVATE:
https://www.instagram.com/jimmycomet/
So no chance to get any forther pictures unless we had an insider... :/
Update: Checked all accounts mentioned in the pictures:
jimmycomet
: account is private
alfredo_alcapino1
: account is private
mhollamby
: account is private
ralphindc
: account is public
posted only one photo of a brick building: a famous coffe shop thing
https://www.instagram.com/p/j4pe_jmoxl/?taken-by=ralphindc
But as he asked where it was, he obviously doesnt know the place. So nothing here either.
jacoplen
: account is public
posted numerou pictures wihth brick buildings
so the only so far known location ("tops unlimited" building) from any of the accounts involved is about 90miles away from Toigo Orchard. The other pictures look more promising but we dont now their locations yet.
Anyways I have very little hope of any of these locations to be it, I think what we're actually looking for is a single house somewhere off the big cities...
interesting: there seem to be two posts containing "#ccwoolman" but no account by the same name. Was it deleted?
You're right - it says in Beth Kanter's book
Washington, DC Chef's Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Nation's Capital
that the tomatoes are grown at Toigo Orchard in Pennsylvania 'just for the restaurant' and that the people from Comet help harvest them. This is presumably in mid-summer. Notice that Alefantis writes, 'holiday joy.' Could the location of these photos therefore be Toigo Orchard?
▼ HampdenPItbull
Someone found evidence of property owned by Alefantis and David Brock in or around Roanoke, VA. Check out Alefantis pig farm posts? Here is the property info back to 2007. https://i.sli.mg/sLsV1y.png
▼ GrislyAddams
If I canned tomatoes into 1 gallon jars, that would be about 8 pounds per jar. 10 tons would be about 2,500 jars. Just of tomato sauce. Where is this operation done and stored? Remember that he said he does this with all his ingredients. Fresh Ingredients all have narrow windows of crop harvesting. This canning would go on all year long. Does the kitchen at Comet can stuff while shows are going on? where are the fresh ingredients stored while the canning is happening? It would take a pretty big kitchen working around the clock to do that quantity before it went bad.
▼ SIMONBARROW
The answers to all these questions have already been posted elsewhere in this thread.
▼ GrislyAddams
I appreciate your skepticism, however, my point is that there should be a picture of a rather huge room full of jars, not cans, and a kitchen fully staffed running around the clock to handle the various ingredients and the slow process of canning. I haven't seen that. Up vote for you, though.
▼ SIMONBARROW
It's apparently done for them by a cannery in Punxsutawny. The cans stay there until moved to the basement of Buck's.
▼ GrislyAddams
From the article: Like Pastan, James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong in D.C., doesn't build his pizza sauce with DOP San Marzanos. For seven years, he has been buying late-harvest tomatoes from Toigo Orchards in Shippensburg, Pa., and canning them at nearby Stello Foods for use at Comet. Last year, Alefantis estimates, he bought 12 tons of Toigo tomatoes, which Stello turned into sauce and canned before trucking the jars to the basement at Buck's Fishing & Camping, Alefantis' other restaurant nearby.
So, some of my questions answered. He speaks of a basement that is not Comets.
So, I was wrong. SimonBarrow was right.
▼ SIMONBARROW
I've changed my mind about the location of the two photos showing building excavations. The first photo shows two ping pong tables identical types to those used at Comet standing up against the wall (far left. above the wheelbarrow). I think that proves to a 99% certainty that this place is Comet.
▼ dindonufin
Bricks and steel beams... what kind of farm you been on??
▼ SIMONBARROW
Yes, it's more like an old warehouse or factory, isn't it?
▼ dindonufin
yeah or any 100 year old building in downtown
▼ SIMONBARROW
No, it's Comet. I was just trying to explore possibilities it was somewhere else. They didn't pan out.
▼ KaliPhobos
looks like they're working on getting pipes underground... but why on earth would you need pipes underneeth your house??
worst case scenario: tomato farm with children in the cellar... I guess that will be worth taking a closer look at.
do you have links to the original pictures?
I think twitter filters out metadata so that point can't help us sadly... (but I might be mistaken ofcause)
▼ SIMONBARROW
I don't know where the originals of these photos were posted.
I think this lead might go nowhere, though. I looked at Toigo Orchard on Google Maps and the buildings don't appear to be made of brick. From the outside, they are clearly wood.
What IS interesting is that Alefantis wasn't giving away the location of the brick building.
Kanter also says that the tinned tomatoes are canned and stored at Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania! The precise location is given in the below report as Stello Foods:
http://www.philly.com/philly/food/restaurants/20130822_San_Marzanos_vs__juicy_local_heirlooms.html
But isn't that a kind of long way from DC? Why would you store them so far away from your restaurant?
Anyway, I had a look around this town on Google Maps and noticed there are a lot of buildings made out of red bricks there. Just saying!
How about the possibility that the location of these photos is a disused building in Punxsutawney?
▼ KaliPhobos
judging by the way the walls are built (going almost half a meter under the ground) as well as the roof construction it's safe to assume that'S a rather old building. I'm not sure about the stone ground tho... that might indicate it wasnt used as a room for living in the first place but rather a farm or industrial building (reminds me of other places i've seen where you keep horses or pigs...) These information should probably help us sort out a number of possible locations.
We also have grafitty on the walls (--> that location was obviously not used//abandoned for some time) saying JKB//JMB and ROX (cant really read it). Most likely these are the names of sprayers living around that area? MIGHT help us, but also rather unlikely
Edit: The photos seem to be from his private INstagram account that is set PRIVATE: https://www.instagram.com/jimmycomet/ So no chance to get any forther pictures unless we had an insider... :/
Update: Checked all accounts mentioned in the pictures:
so the only so far known location ("tops unlimited" building) from any of the accounts involved is about 90miles away from Toigo Orchard. The other pictures look more promising but we dont now their locations yet.
Anyways I have very little hope of any of these locations to be it, I think what we're actually looking for is a single house somewhere off the big cities...
interesting: there seem to be two posts containing "#ccwoolman" but no account by the same name. Was it deleted?
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ccwoolman/
https://www.instagram.com/ccwoolman/
▼ SIMONBARROW
Sorry to have wasted your time. The photos are almost certainly of Comet. Check out the ping pong tables up against the wall in the first photo.
▼ KaliPhobos
probably, idk. do you have pictures of PPC's inside that looks just like the place?
At least the iron things holding the roof should still be the same then.
▼ SIMONBARROW
Compare the brickwork that can be seen here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2671/3915718559_635d43749f.jpg
I'm starting to think that this entire room was reconstructed at some stage before it became the present ping pong / band area.
Ceiling seems to be the same in this photo:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/631/22804255420_a8df7575dc_o.jpg
It's Comet!
▼ KaliPhobos
ok at least I am convinced, too, now.
The photos are pretty old and seem to be trom the days when they built the PingPongComet...
So I guess we can close this thread // use it to investigate TOIOGS?
▼ SIMONBARROW
Yes, they must have been taken when the building was being transformed into Comet.
▼ 28leinad82
they dont grow them, they get them from Mark Toigo's orchard in Pennsylvania.
▼ SIMONBARROW
You're right - it says in Beth Kanter's book Washington, DC Chef's Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Nation's Capital that the tomatoes are grown at Toigo Orchard in Pennsylvania 'just for the restaurant' and that the people from Comet help harvest them. This is presumably in mid-summer. Notice that Alefantis writes, 'holiday joy.' Could the location of these photos therefore be Toigo Orchard?
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=si2PBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56&lpg#v=onepage&q&f=false
▼ addicted2pizzagate
Toiogs logo is a naked women and a naked child gathering produce...just sayin.
▼ KaliPhobos
Indeed, that looks a bit odd.
http://www.toigoorchards.com/wp-content/uploads/Toigo-logo-circle-ribbon-Title.jpg
But despite that I cant find anything else on their site that looks odd. Anyone willing to put some work in it and check them?
▼ SIMONBARROW
Wow, you're right:
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1831852789/logo.jpg