When I heard on Mano a Vino that the people who own Naples 45 in NYC (well, the restaurant group who owns Naples 45) had a pizza place in Livingston NJ, I got all kindza excited. Naples 45 makes some of my favorite pizza in NYC. Neapolitan style. Neapolitan pizza, to me, suggests that the crust is just about the most important part of the product: if the crust falls short, nothing can save the pizza. It's really all about the bread, though I'm sure most don't agree with me. Hoping that Panevino shared my philosophy, I high-tailed it out to Livingston that very night.
The good news:
They've got themselves a nice wood-burning oven. It's tough to make
good pizza without a wood-burning (or at least coal-fired) oven. They get real hot, and a good pizza maker can use blast of heat and smoke from the wood to really impart a smoky flavor to the pizza.
It's a casual family-friendly restaurant with some outdoor seating.
The bad news:
The pizza isn't as good as Naples 45. The crust just isn't as good, and that's probably the biggest issue here.
More good news:
It's better than most pizza in NJ. And, it's probably the only Neapolitan-style pizza in northern Jersey.
We had some nice Italian beer, Birra Moretti, which always takes me back to Italy.
Which is apparently made by Heineken, which always takes me back to college in NJ.
Wines by the glass were nothing to write home about. The wine glasses themselves were a bit too small for my taste.
All of that aside, we had a nice time having dinner at the small-ish bar, and had a great discussion with the bartender about tequila, which was right at the beginning of my education on yet another vice, which I've yet to post about.
Panevino : 637 W. Mount Pleasant Ave (Rt 10) : Livingston, NJ : 973.535.6160
