WHAT JERSEY CITY RESTAURANTS USED TO BE

By Sally Deering

 Few Jersey City restaurants look like they did back in the day; and very few were around in the 1960s like The Barge Inn restaurant a little jewel in Jersey Cityâ€s crown. The Barge Inn serves Italian cuisine made from recipes handed down through generations. Thatâ€s why the food is so delicious – itâ€s authentic.

Owners Linda and Peter “Bitsy” Paldino run the restaurant which Lindaâ€s dad John Marto opened in 1969. Linda remembers when Anne Polaro, sister to former Jersey City Mayor Anthony Cucci painted the murals depicting Italian scenes on the restaurantâ€s walls.

“Mayor Cucci was a friend of my dadâ€s,” Linda says. “I watched her do them; it took her two weeks.”

Marto, who is now 85 regularly comes around to lend a hand and make sure the restaurant runs smoothly; but Linda and Bitsy are in charge these days with Bitsy cooking alongside Chef Jose Marti in the kitchen; and Linda running the front of the restaurant. Their philosophy is simple, she says.

“We want everybody who comes here to feel warm and welcome and enjoy great food,” Linda says. “Everything we serve we make at home. We donâ€t skimp. We use good meat from Maloneyâ€s meat market on Newark Avenue; and everything we serve is cooked to order.”

Lunch specials are served 11:30 am-3 pm, Monday through Friday, and you can order dishes like Melanzane Parmagiana (eggplant with mozzarella and tomato sauce); Broiled Basa (fresh filet with butter and lemon); Homemade Meatballs; Thin Sliced NY Strip Steak on Garlic Bread with Italian Potatoes; Pork Chop Giambotta (potatoes, onions, cherry peppers, and mushrooms in brown sauce); Pollo a la Parmagiana; Ravioli; Grilled Chicken; and Trippa (tripe) in red sauce. Everything is served with soup or salad for $9.95. No kidding, $9.95!

And if you think thatâ€s a good deal, on Thursdays its “All You Can Eat Pasta Night” where for $8.95 you can have endless pasta and a glass of wine. No kidding, $8.95!

“Weâ€ve been doing ‘All You Can Eat Pasta Night†for 20 years,” Linda Paldino says. “It used to be $7.95; we raised it a dollar.”

The menu offers Italian Appetizers, Pasta, Entrees, Specialties of the House and Desserts. Appetizers include Fresh Clams on the Half Shell, Mussels Marinara, Shrimp Cocktail, Scungilli Salad, Clams Oreganata, Shrimp Scampi, Fried Calamari, Sauté Broccoli Rabé and Sauté Long Hot Peppers ($5-$15).

 Pastas feature Stuffed Rigatoni, Homemade Cheese Ravioli, Penne with Vodka Sauce, Linguini with Red or White Clam Sauce, Linguini with Garlic & Olive Oil, Linguini Marinara, and Meatball or Sausage Sides ($4-$18).

Entrees come with house salad and pasta and include seafood dishes like Basa Oreganato, Shrimp (Oreganata, Fra Diavalo, Scampi or Parmagiana), Shrimp Marinara, Fried Shrimp, Calamari Marinara over Pasta, and Broiled Lobster Tails ($20-$22; lobster tails are market price).

Specialties of the House include Pork Chops Bitsy (with potatoes, onions, sweet or hot peppers), Chicken a la Barge (with prosciutto, mozzarella, pimentos and mushrooms), Roasted Half Chicken, Chicken Breast, Chicken Milanese, Chicken Savoy and Grilled Chicken with Sauté Broccoli Rabé or Spinach and Hot Vinegar Peppers. There are several veal dishes, too, and a NY Strip Steak ($15-$24).

For dessert, Homemade Italian Cheesecake, Tartufo, and Cannoli ($5); and Espresso and Cappuccino ($2-$3).

“We are the last of the authentic Italian restaurants in Jersey City,” Linda says. “This is home-cooking to the people who live in the neighborhood, especially the young people who bring in their parents. Itâ€s a family place.”

The Barge Inn also offers a kitschy romantic setting for couples, especially with the electric fireplace. And for Valentineâ€s Day, the restaurant is offering a special $85 Surf & Turf dinner for two on Friday and Saturday nights, Feb. 13 & 14. Couples can dine on 8-oz. Filet Mignon (2) with potatoes and veggies; 8-oz. lobster tails (2) accompanied by ravioli in vodka sauce; and salad.

The Yelp.com reviews are pretty spectacular and this one from Garreth G. of Union City says it all pretty well: “Thursday nightâ€s all you can eat pasta of your choice with a glass of wine (red or white… I could just stop there and finish my review but this place deserves more….What really made the pasta delicious was the sauce. They do have a vegetarian option but I got the meat sauce which had great depth of flavor of tomato, herbs, and seasonings. I barely needed any salt and pepper. I personally had 3 plates of pasta and each time was a different type of pasta noodle…The Barge Inn has character that you rarely see any more especially with all the other restaurants popping up in DTJC.”

 Two regulars, Brian Oâ€Day and Betty Kennan stopped by on a recent Thursday night for their favorite dishes.

“I like the pork chop,” Oâ€Day says, “and Betty likes the Chicken Invotini which is Chicken Rollatini with prosciutto, mozzarella in a tomato Alfredo sauce.”

“The meatballs are great, too,” Keenan says. “They remind me of my motherâ€s.”

If you go:

The Barge Inn Restaurant

324 Third St

Jersey City

(201) 420-3268

The post Step Back in Time for Old World Italian Cuisine at the Barge Inn Restaurant in Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

 By Sally Deering

Bayonne has its share of Italian restaurants and Bella Sorrellas on the corner of 50^th Street and Broadway, stands out from the crowd with a menu of classic Italian dishes served with a home-style flair. Owner David Rivera opened Bella Sorrellas three years ago where the old Welcome Inn used to be. The son of Ana and Demetrio “Lumen” Rivera, David grew up watching his father run his Jersey City restaurants: The Seagulls Bar & Grill on Communipaw Ave; The Old San Juan on Jersey Ave; and The Fan Bar on Grove – and he knew early on he wanted to be a restaurateur like his dad.

“I was about 5 and my father picked me up at school and took me to his restaurant, The Seagulls,” Rivera recalls. “I went behind the bar and started cleaning the glasses. He asked me what I was doing and I said, ‘I want to be like you†and he hugged me and said ‘One day you will.†Since I was 16 I worked with him after school and through college.”

Rivera worked ten years as transportation supervisor for Christ Hospital in Jersey City and decided he wanted to go back to the restaurant business.

            “There was something empty in my heart,” he says. “My fatherâ€s philosophy was ‘make sure the customer is fed well and feels at homeâ€. He was in the business over 30 years. Everybody loved my father and I wanted to be like that. ”

            Rivera followed in fatherâ€s footsteps and Bella Sorrellas (which is Italian for “beautiful sisters” and named for his daughters Analexa, 18, and Isabel, 5) is a cozy corner bistro with an extensive Italian menu. The star of the show – as always – is the food and Rivera works closely with Chef Leo Compi (formerly of Just Sonnyâ€s) a friend for more than 10 years.

            “We always wanted to work together,” Rivera says. “I always liked the way Leo cooked at Just Sonnyâ€s and when they closed (the owner, Fortunato retired,) Leo came here. We have the same passion about food. He loves what he does the way I do.”

            Bella Sorrellas serves Soups, Appetizers, Salads, Pastas, Chicken, Veal, Steaks and Seafood dishes and the menu features a delicious Pasta Fagioli soup ($5.95); a Crispy Fried Calamari appetizer served with a hearty, perfectly seasoned red sauce ($10.95); and a very tasty Chicken Scarpariello entrée served with sausage, mushrooms and garlic in a lemon white wine sauce ($17.95).

            Appetizers also include Stuffed Mushrooms, Mussels, Shrimp Cocktail and Hot Antipasto ($8.95-$14.95); and Pasta dishes feature Linguini with Clams, Ravioli a la Bella, Baked Ziti a la Bella and Fettuccini or Tortellini Alfredo ($10.95-$14.95). Steak dishes include Filet Mignon, New York Strip and Steak Pizzaiola with Mushrooms in Marinara ($23.95-$24.95); and Seafood dishes feature Shrimp Scampi, Filet of Sole Francese, Zuppa Di Pesce,  and a Broiled Seafood Platter ($17.95-$25.95).

            “We serve only fresh ingredients,” Rivera says. “The produce is fresh. The meat is fresh. I refuse to serve anything frozen.”

            During a busy afternoon, Rivera greeted every customer who walked through the door with a smile After three years in the restaurant business his passion for his restaurant has not waned.

            “I love this business,” Rivera says. “I saw how hard my parents worked to make their businesses successful and I know I wanted to do exactly what they did. Interacting with the customers and seeing how much they enjoy the food – I love it all.”

 

If you go:

Bella Sorrellas

1020 Broadway

(Corner of 50^th St)

Bayonne

201-455-8844

Hours:

Tues – Fri, 11 am – Midnight

Sat, 2 pm – 1 am

Sun, 1 pm – Midnight

 

 

 

 

The post Bayonne’s Bella Sorrellas, a Fine Italian Restaurant first appeared on River View Observer.