Where does alefantis pizzeria keep their fresh vegetables
Executive summary
Comet Ping Pong’s fresh produce and other perishables are stored offsite or in shared equipment with its sister restaurant Buck’s Fishing & Camping rather than in an enigmatic in-house basement: reporting says the restaurant uses a low-slung refrigerator at Buck’s for produce, cheese and proofing dough, and staff have long used Buck’s basement/storage for canned tomatoes and supplies [1] Alefantis" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[2]. Claims that Comet has a hidden basement inside the pizzeria were central to the Pizzagate conspiracy and have been disputed by Alefantis and multiple outlets [3] [4].
1. Short answer — where the fresh vegetables are kept
Available reporting indicates Comet Ping Pong stores fresh vegetables and other produce in a low-slung refrigerator located at Buck’s Fishing & Camping, the adjacent sister restaurant two doors down, and staff also use shared storage in Buck’s basement for bulk items like canned tomatoes and supplies [1] [2].
2. How the major outlets described the storage arrangement
The New York Times reported that Comet “uses a low-slung refrigerator at Buck’s Fishing & Camping, Mr. Alefantis’s other restaurant two doors down on the same block, to store produce, cheese and proofing dough,” a direct description of where perishable ingredients were kept during the period it covered [1].
3. The basement detail, context and conflicting statements
Some pieces of reporting and interviews reference a basement used for storage at Buck’s — for example, an employee quoted about processing and canning tomatoes that were then taken “to the basement at Buck’s Fishing & Camping” — while Alefantis has at other times disputed claims that Comet itself has a basement, a conflation that fueled conspiracy narratives [2] [3]. The difference is material: reporting locates the cellar/storage in Buck’s, not a secret Comet basement, yet some secondary sources and conspiracy aggregators repeat a claim of a Comet basement without clear sourcing [3].
4. Why this became a point of contention and how narratives skewed reporting
The storage facts were amplified and reframed into sinister allegations during the Pizzagate episode: the ordinary operational detail of shared refrigeration and a nearby basement for bulk canned goods was recast by online theorists as evidence of hidden rooms and criminal activity, a transformation that mainstream outlets later debunked while documenting how harassment and even a shooting followed the false claims [4] [1] [5].
5. Operational takeaway and what remains uncertain
Contemporary, detailed inventories or photographs showing daily storage arrangements are not present in the cited reporting, so while multiple reputable outlets describe produce storage at Buck’s and shared-use storage between the two restaurants, this reporting does not provide a full, up-to-the-minute kitchen inventory or floorplan of current practices; therefore, the strongest, sourced conclusion is that fresh vegetables have been kept in Buck’s low-slung refrigerator and in shared storage associated with Buck’s basement rather than in a secret basement at Comet [1] [2] [6].