Roots Grow Deep at Gencarelli's

There’s no mistaking the genuine Italian roots that course through Angelo’s Pizza Italia Caffe & Family Restaurant, a place that we wanted to investigate in our quest to find Parsippany’s best pizza.

The long sliver of an establishment sits in the Arlington Plaza on Route 46 West with Staples, a dental clinic and a variety of other stores and fast food places in close proximity. But that’s not what brought us to Angelo's. It was the name Gencarelli which appeared on one of the signs that piqued our interest.

If you’ve spent any time in Essex County, the name Gencarelli crops up fairly often, and it usually means there’s good food to enjoy. We first discovered Gencarelli’s Bakery in Bloomfield while looking for some irresistible Italian pastries to bring to a family gathering. We figured that if this was the same Gencarelli we were most likely in for a treat—even if this time we needed pizza instead of cannolis.

To our delight, we were not disappointed. Angelo’s Pizza Italia Caffe & Family Restaurant wants to be a little bit of everything to make sure it covers all the bases and pleases all comers. When you first enter, there’s a small area that serves the pizzeria end of the business. There’s a gentle hum of men at work as Angelo’s son Giampiero makes sure to attend to customers while Angelo works behind him, rolling out dough on the marble countertop and exchanging pleasantries with whoever walks through the door.

We made a couple of quick pizza selections, choosing a slice topped with eggplant, another finished with pepperoni and the regal looking white pizza,  whose ricotta and mozzarella components were burnished to a gentle brown from the oven’s heat. Giampiero (John, he says) told us to take a table in the back dining room, which is reached after walking down a long corridor.

We had the room, old-fashioned serious in green and peach pastels, to ourselves on this rainy afternoon. Soon Giampiero was at tableside bringing us the piping hot slices, eager to serve us whatever else we might have desired.

Most notable about all the slices we tried was the wonderful, crisp crust which was strong enough to support a substantial slice but not so hard to cause it to crumble. The white pizza won us over with its richness and subtlety. Its sauce tasted homemade and in fact Gencarelli said they make all of their ingredients fresh most days. The jalapeno-topped slice is strictly for those who enjoy that burned feeling on their lips and tongue. A plain slice runs for $2, and you can add one topping for a quarter more.

Angelo Gencarelli opened this restaurant 10 or 11 years ago after working with his family in LaRosa Café in Bloomfield for about 16 years. He has learned over the years to treat his customers like family to insure they will be back. In fact, most weekend mealtimes are filled with families with children, whether they’re looking for a simple pizza or a four course Italian dinner.

He proudly talks of all his relatives who own restaurants all around the area, going as far west as Rockaway. He credits his eatery's unique menu to the combination of his Calabrian roots with his wife Elisa’s family connections in the La Puglia region.  Because La Puglia is on the Adriatic Sea, food choices are heavily influenced by the use of seafood.

Angelo, generous with his praise, said his wife's other dishes are equally irresistible, including eggplant rollatini and eggplant parmesan. Shrimp scampi and shrimp parmesan are other of Elisa’s specialties.

“And if you know orecchiette, ‘the little ears’” made with broccoli rabe, he said, his wife’s version is not to be missed.

But if you’re on a budget or in a hurry, you won’t go wrong with a slice. In fact, before we left that day, Gencarelli proudly showed us the pizza screen he uses as a pan to diffuse the heat and prevent the crust from turning black. It’s an extra step that not every pizzaiolo takes these days.

Angelo’s Pizza Italia Caffe & Family Restaurant
756 Route 46 West
(973 )335-4450

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Open Sundays for catering events.