Original Review: 08/14/13
PIZZA SNOB RATING ***** Sets the Standard

Whenever I am back in my hometown of Bayonne, I feel obligated to cruise around town to check on the status of all the pizza joints. While heading down Broadway on this sunny winter Sunday afternoon, I pulled over on the corner of 46th Street to snap of photo of one of the city’s best, Joe’s Pizzeria.

Imagine my surprise when five blocks later I spotted this on the corner of Broadway and 41st Street.

Well, the phone number and vintage (1968) match, so conventional wisdom has Joe’s moving south to a new location with a slight change to its name. It looks like work is being done inside the new room, and I’ve got no word on timing.

NEW PIZZA SNOB RATING ***** Sets the Standard
Joe’s Pizza & Restaurant
876 Broadway (corner of 41st Street) Bayonne, NJ 07002
201-437-6677
[No website]

Growing up in Bayonne, my family ate so much Italian food at home and in local restaurants, that you would have thought we were from Roman rather than Russian ancestry. Mom made the best lasagna in Bayonne, and along with veal parm and plenty of pasta, our kitchen always smelled pretty good. Over the last 25 years, when Mom didn’t cook so often, for outside dining, it was hard for us to go anywhere other than the superb casual dining of our fave place, San Vito Restaurant. But, every so often, Mom and Dad felt an urge to go a bit upscale, and that usually meant Café Bello.

Since 1992, Café Bello has been on the corner of Avenue C and 50th Street. Recently, I learned that they have the same ownership as Bayonne’s Pizza Masters. Upon hearing this, I remembered seeing a small brick pizza oven at the end of their bar. Putting these facts together, I propositioned that we make it the subject of our next extended family outing which we did as the summer of 2017 was coming to a close.

My usual rules are to not review places where pizza is just a sideline. However, Café Bello’s kinship to Pizza Masters made them fair game. The plan would be to have one of their brick-oven pies served as an appetizer to our full course Italian meals.

Aside from always loving their food, I find this place to be one of the coziest and classiest restaurants in Bayonne. Entering through the upscale barroom, you could easily think you were in a fancy Manhattan eatery. And, as you take the right turn into the large dining room, there sits the small wood-burning brick pizza oven with the glow of its flame inviting you to sample its output. The beauty of the dining room is captured by the full-wall mural of an Italian seaside scene. All this leads up to an exquisite dining experience.

But, this is supposed to be about pizza. The Bello menu lists about a dozen different variations on its pizza. Oddly, your basic Margherita which the Snob targets, was near the bottom of the listing: a 10-incher for $9.75.

Our appetizing pie came out first as planned and was truly remarkable just to look at. The brilliance of colors coming from the tomato sauce and Mozzarella cheese was simply mouth-watering. The heat from the bricks toasted the crust with a strong solid char that came through to the top of the slender end crust. Although labelled a Margherita, this one was not of the softer Neapolitan variety. Excitedly, this reminded me of the crisper Roma style which was my favorite pie when I visited Italy. The cheese although blotched, managed to cover the entire pie which was cut into small slices. I quickly dove in immediately thinking that we should have ordered two pies for our group of six.

Man! It was fantastic, tasting so good and delicious. Fortunately, not everyone at the table was interested, so I managed to eat three of the six small slices! The tomato sauce took the prize with its rich dark flavor with the vibrant taste of the cheese a strong second. Mixed with a full jolt of olive oil, the overall flavor was magnificent. It was thumbs up by everyone at our table.

Who would have thought that such a magical pizza could be found in Bayonne as a mere sideline to a wonderful Italian dinner? If you want to treat yourself to something special, a dinner at Café Bello is in order. But, by all means, don’t forget this great pizza!

PIZZA SNOB RATING ****1/2 Nearer Perfection
Café Bello
1044 Avenue C (corner of 50^th Street)
Bayonne, NJ 07002
201-437-7538
www.cafebellobayonne.com

Is this for real? Despite being one of America’s greatest pizza cities, believe it or not, there is still a Domino’s in my home town of Bayonne, NJ. With all the great slices available around town, who would eat here is a mystery to me.

Here’s a brief recap of the year’s pizza news in the Peninsula City with links to the Pizza Snob’s original stories:

The old vacant Broadway location of the legendary Tony’s Pizza was taken over by 3 Brothers from Italy who moved downtown from their former home on the Boulevard.

The former Cottage Street home of the Venice reopened as Bayonne Patio & Grille, but it just wasn’t the same. With a former Venice chef at the helm, The Starting Point now seems to serve the best thin crust bar pie in town.

As the year closed, we were still waiting for the resurrection of the thin-crust and chicken wings specialist the Big Apple. It is slated to become a part of the El Aquila Dorado Mexican restaurant moving from uptown into the old Big Apple Broadway location. Originally planned for March 2017, activity is underway, but for some unknown reason this move has been long delayed.

Likewise, the famous Joe’s Pizzeria has been readying a move to a new location a few blocks south of its current one on uptown Broadway. Again, this one was started months ago, but was still in the works last time we checked.

Well, here’s to a great “Two-Oh-One-Eight” and a big thank you goes out to all the current and former Bayonne residents who supported the Pizza Snob in 2017.

By now, I think I’ve been to just about every pizza joint in Bayonne. I’m sure there’s one hiding somewhere that I’ll find in 2018! If I’ve missed one, please let me know!

Since I spend a lot of my pizza time in my hometown of Bayonne, NJ, I closed out 2017 with a recap of the Peninsula City’s year in pizza. As fast as you can say Mozzarella, I was bombarded by the Bayonneites on Facebook with the fact that I left out the reemergence of The Vic.

I grew up just a few blocks away on Isabella Avenue and was no stranger to the place, although of course I remember it as the Victoria Tavern. Owned by the same local family that once owned Victoria TV & Appliance on Broadway, I spent a lot of time there following the exploits of my dad’s softball teams and attending many after-game gatherings they had at Victoria.

But, this is more than just a simple reopening. The word I heard was that they now had the guy that made the pies at the late Big Apple! The long-awaited move of the uptown Mexican restaurant to the former Big Apple Broadway location (along with adding pizza and wings to the menu alongside tacos and enchiladas) is still caught up in construction snags. I guess that old cook just couldn’t wait around without a job forever.

Well, as I had promised my Bayonne readers, I got to The Vic as soon as I could and went there for a late Saturday afternoon lunch with my dad.  Wow, was it a trip back in time. The corner location and entry barroom hadn’t changed much, and that old retro wooden bar brought back a lot of memories. The back room however had been redone and was now functionally set for both sports television and live music. The outdoor backyard area where the softball players spent a lot of summer nights with their beers and tall tales was now long gone with a house built in its place.

At this time of day, there was just a handful of folks in the front room discussing politics. We had the back room all to ourselves and without hesitation ordered a house salad and a large cheese pizza. I asked our hostess about having the Big Apple pizza guy on board. She then pointed to a fellow who had just peeked his head out of the rear kitchen door and said “That’s him. He’s ours, and we’re keeping him!”

After a finishing our loaded salad, the pie arrived. It was the Big Apple pie that we all know and love. I could have picked it out of a pizza lineup. We ate it and enjoyed it as you would expect. As I have previously written, its bar pie paper thin and delicious. Nothing more needs to be said other than like I had said, I prefer my pies a little crisper.

Being one for tradition, I’m quite happy for both The Vic and the Big Apple pizza to be back in business. What this says for the future of the old Broadway location of the Apple, I don’t know. But, for now, go visit The Vic and enjoy the tradition of one of Bayonne’s best pies.

PIZZA SNOB RATING ****1/2 Nearer Perfection
The Vic
107 Hobart Avenue
Bayonne, NJ 07002
201-339-7900
www.facebook.com/TheVicTavern/

Original Review: 08/14/13
News About Move: 03/19/17
PIZZA SNOB RATING ***** Sets the Standard

I know that this is probably old news to most, but the Pizza Snob finally got to visit the new Joe’s Pizza location in his hometown of Bayonne, NJ. Making a move from an old place that was a bit dated, for some reason, the new space sat unoccupied for some time. But, the brand-spanking new spot is open for business and sure sparkles and shines. And Joe’s still serves one of the best slices in a town full of great pizza.

Here’s some photos of the new Joe’s and the two perfectly delicious slices ($2.25 each) I had while I was there. Joe’s slice is so full of flavor that its hard to beat. Can’t wait to go back to Bayonne.

NEW PIZZA SNOB RATING ***** Sets the Standard
Joe’s Pizza
876 Broadway (corner of 41st Street)
Bayonne, NJ 07002
201-437-6677
http://www.joespizzeriabayonne.com/menu