Shecky

There's a little secret in North Arlington called Italian Villa. Despite the goofy name, they make pizza that is right up there at the top! To start, the crust has some body without being TOO dense (and therefore hyper-chewy), and they always bake it to a very nice crunch. Which makes for good foldability. The sauce has a pleasantly balanced acidity - not too much, which is good for my fiancee, who has a mild reaction to acidic sauces - and is mild but yummy. The cheese (we always just get the plain cheese pie) is scrumptious and plentiful. A large pie isn't cheap ($10.50, if I recall correctly - it's just automatic now LOL) but the two of us together can't finish it - it's VERY satisfying without being leadenly filling. Here's the funny part: I have NO idea what the inside of the restaurant looks like. We've only ever gotten delivery (and it has always been fresh and hot)! I'm pretty sure they deliver to Lyndhurst and Kearny too, or at least parts of them. Maybe. Not sure, really - all I personally need to know is that they DO deliver to all of North Arlington LOL!

I'm personally a fan of Paisano's white pizza and fettucine Alfredo (yes, I like cheese ). However, if you're looking for straight-up, non-fancy, home-cooking-style Italian, I'd suggest Bella Luna's lunch buffet. YUM! They're also on Ridge just into Lyndhurst, about two blocks in on the right - a little place for big appetites. Don't plan on being productive at work after coming back from THAT. If you're willing to travel 5 or 10 more minutes, I'd suggest Bensi (formerly Centanni's) on River Road in North Arlington just before the Kearny line at the Belleville bridge (route 7). Good food all around (my fiancee and her mother are both Italian and VERY picky about Italian restaurants). My favorite food there, however, isn't even on the menu; it's the "comes with" basket of little garlic bread nuggets. The atmosphere is nothing special but not blah either - I've seen everything from T-shirts and shorts to corporate suits. And yes, they do have calamari (one of my future mother-in-law's favorites)!

Anyone?

Thanks for the welcome, Rosie. Howard, what and where is this Sweatmans? Rail Paul, lemme 'splain a lil' somethin' to ya . The difference between SC-style BBQ and NC-style BBQ is as distinct as that between NY-style pizza and Chicago-style pizza... and engenders the same almost-rabid polarization among each one's adherents! Oh, don't get me wrong; I'll eat the NY-style stuff and enjoy it well enough, but it just isn't the same. Jay-bob... testify, brother. Although I did see a promising-looking fried-chicken shack somewhere on 46 in Bergen County some time back (just wish I could remember the name or at least WHERE it was). I'm going to be reduced to boiling my own peanuts - but that's going to have to wait a while, as summer's a-comin' and our apartment gets WAY too hot to boil anything for long.

Ah, well, it was worth a try. I do need to get up to Fink's sometime soon and try it; I found out about it from friends a couple of months ago and they rave about it... then again, I DID grow up in SC and, as such, have near-religious beliefs about BBQ!

Hi all! This is my first posting here; I've puttered around the boards randomly since I found the site a week ago. In my ramblings, I was hoping to come across a mention SOMEwhere of South Carolina-style barbecue in north Jersey. I did see mention of Fink's and checked them out elsewhere on the net, but I'm still not certain: what style is the sauce? For those of you who aren't familiar with South Carolina's particular spin on BBQ, the fundamentals of the preparation are the same (if your idea of BBQ involves pulled pork, that is), but the sauce has a MUSTARD base and a very pleasant zing. Frankly, as much as I do enjoy the "red sauce" and "brown sauce" BBQ sauces that I've found around here, it doesn't hold a candle to mustard-based sauces in my estimation. Just FYI: for those who are familiar with all the Texan varieties of BBQ, there are some that are also mustard-based... but they tend to be sorta lumpy and have, for lack of a better word, "stuff" in them that just isn't there in the SC style sauce, which is very smooth and free-flowing (unless, of course, you WANT it to flow right off something, like, say, a shirt ). So, that being said, does anyone know of any place in north Jersey (the closer to the Meadowlands area the better) that serves BBQ with mustard-based sauce? "Withdrawal" is a VERY poor word to describe how much I'm craving the stuff!