News
Red Bank's Pizza Boom!
By John Burton
RED BANK - Whaddalya have? A slice of Sicilian? Neapolitan? Maybe you'd like to try the new coal fired variety with an array of imported toppings? Or how about an old standby from one of the locations that have been serving it hot out of the oven for decades.
It seems like whatever the taste, Red Bank has a pizza offering.
In the last few months a number of new restaurants catering to the pizza-loving crowd have opened in town, joining a number of long established eateries that have been serving up slices for generations.
Among the new set is Tommy's Coal Fired Pizza, 2 Bridge Avenue. Located in the Galleria complex, Tommy's offers ornate décor and a liquor license for those ordering their specialty pizzas.
"There's a pizza craze," noted Tommy Bonfiglio the Tommy of Tommy's.
Bonfiglio, Monmouth Beach, is a lawyer, but also owns the Dockside, in Sea Bright, and admitted, "Pizza's my passion."
His pizza, as the restaurant's name implies, is cooked in coal fired ovens. "I'm the only guy in town doing that," he said.
Coal fired cooking was first done in Pennsylvania and cooks the pizza at a 1,100 degrees. "So it's a very crispy, favorable process," he said.
Bonfiglio said in the five weeks his restaurant has been open, the broccoli rabe pizza has been very popular Another popular choice, he said, is the "Don Gregorio, which has fresh mozzarella, sausage, peppers, meatballs and plum tomato sauce, and like his other selections the pies are in the Neapolitan style, meaning a relatively thin crust, as opposed to the thicker Sicilian-style, he explained.
Pizza came to America about 100 years ago, with the wave of Italian immigrants, and was seen in mostly urban areas. Then it was primarily cooked in wood burning stoves, with the coal burning era beginning later in Pennsylvania, Bonfiglio said. The difference between wood- and coal-cooked would be the taste, a debate that still goes on among aficionados, he said.
Today most pizza ovens are fueld be gas, like a new restaurant just north of Tommy's on Bridge, Mangia! Mangia!, 15N. Bridge Avenue, a site formerly occupied by Red Bank Pizza, which had been there 52 years. New owners Phil Ferrandino and Todd Bernstein spent nine months renovating the restaurant. They have been open for about six weeks.
Mangia! Mangia! sticks to the basics, Ferrandino said, offering traditional varieties of pizza and other menu items. The key to success, he offered, "A lot of it has to do with the water," used to make the dough. Another factor, he stressed, is consistency.
"You can't make everybody happy," he said, "but if you can keep the happy people happy you'll be successful."
A popular topping is the buffalo chicken, a favorite of kids, and eggplant. For himself, "I like chicken Alfredo," he said. "My wife loves the buffalo." His crust is traditional, not too thin and not to thick for the Neapolitan type, again, which seems to be a crowd pleaser.
Across town, on the east side, Pacini's, 177 Broad Street, just opened in late December. Just north of them on Broad, another restaurant, Pizza Fusion, is preparing to open.
Pacini's manager, Alex Melani, Staten Island, said the recipe for a good pizza is in the sauce and the quality of the cheeses.
Melani has been working in pizzerias since he was 17, 15 years ago. And you know what? "I never heard anybody who doesn't like pizza," he said.
He figures he'll do well because the borough is a good location for business even in these difficult times. "And as long as you make a good sauce and keep it fresh, you'll be alright," he said.
"It's a perfect type of restaurant to open in a recession," Bonfiglio figured. "People always want to go out."
"It's not recession proof, I can tell you that," said John Coccurello, Lincroft, who has been operating New Corner restaurant, 22 East Front Street, with his wife, Angela, for 24 years.
Angela suspects, "There's too many," and time would separate the wheat from the chafe in this business in time.
Angela is from Italy originally - "Right off the boat" - and one would suspect she knows a thing or two about pizza.
The pizza in America is considerably different than in Italy. Italian style is lighter on the sauce and cheeses, where Americans like a lot of it. But however you like it, "You can't get tired of pizza. I never met anybody that didn't like pizza."
It's good simple food," she said. It's even fun to make, unless, of course, you've made about 300 of them on a Friday, she added.
The Coccurellos cook their pies in a gas oven for about seven minutes, at 600 degrees which would makes the crust crispy and melts the cheese, Angela said.
"I think most people have a fascination with the restaurant business," suspected Valerie Aufiero, who has run Front Street Trattoria, 31 West Front Street, with her husband for 25 years.
And depending on the quality of the ingredients used, the profit margin can be decent.
Aufiero, whose business includes a large dose of pizza as a menu staple, said she uses fresh vegetables and imported cheeses "The dough is the key," she confided.
Steve Napolitani has owned and operated Mr. Pizza Slice, 10 Monmouth Street, for 40 years, the longest of any of the places. "I always loved pizzas," he said. "I worked in pizza places growing up, as a teenager."
"I found out, from past experiences, when the economy is bad people open restaurants. They're looking for jobs," he said. But he warned, ""It appears to be easier than it is."
