October 27th, 2019
Jersey City, NJ
If you hear “Jersey City” and “pizza” in the same sentence, you probably think immediately of Razza. Razza broke on to the Daily Meal list in 2017, and then bumped up immediately to #2 last year. There was a pretty famous NYT article about it being the “best pizza in NY”. We’ve never quite agreed. The pizza is fine, but it’s not better than many places in NYC, and we don’t think that it belongs in the top 10 of the Daily Meal list. We’ve gone back to try it subsequent times and are still not impressed. The point is, we won’t go back out to Jersey City for their pizza, specifically.
However, there is a new addition to the 2019 list from Jersey City, and this is one that we’d go back for. Bread and Salt opened in June of this year. It’s not in the main strip downtown Jersey City, which makes parking a lot easier, although it would be harder to get to from the PATH.
Bread and Salt is the third iteration of this restaurant from pizzaiolo Rick Easton. Previously, he opened in Crown Heights and then later in Pittsburgh, before coming to Jersey City. These aren’t traditional NY slices – they are Roman style, al taglio. If you’ve read my post on our trip to Italy, we got really into this style of pizza. Here, there are a variety of slices that rotate depending on the day. Constants are the rosso (back slices in the pic above), and the margherita (in the middle).
We came here on a Sunday, around 3 pm, for a late lunch. Our friends were visiting from London, and since they always bring me to try new pizza when I visit the UK, we figured that we should do the same. There were 4 of us, so we got to try a large variety of slices. Aside from the tomato pie and margherita, we also tried the mushroom slice, a calzone-like slice with ham and cheese, and the front right seasonal slice, which is a butternut squash sauce with sausage. They kindly cut the slices in half for us so that we could all share.
Our favorites were probably the margherita and the mushroom, but James was really into the pumpkin slice. I think we all would have liked a little more sauce on the rosso. The slices are small and light, so you can definitely try a selection of slices. Even better, they are reasonably priced (unlike Razza). And don’t forget about dessert! We tried a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of fig leaf and quince ice cream (on the house), and they were delicious. We actually had to keep James from eating it all.
The space itself is really open and friendly – the tables are almost family-style, and the whole front is open to the street. So even though it was raining outside, James still felt like he was running around in the fresh air. We’d definitely come back for these slices. They’re open on the weekends for lunch, but only for dinner on the weekdays.
To visit: Bread and Salt 435 Palisade Ave Jersey City, NJ 07307
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