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| - After a grotesquely long day of manual labor and dealing with people who wouldn't be able to decide whether they would rather be burned alive, buried alive, or go on a date with Angelina Jolie, my stomach is nagging at me as my mother used to while I was in high school.
Luckily I have received a request to find some place to eat for five of us, me and four other "men" (I thought women got all the blame for indecisiveness?). Something inexpensive. Something within one mile of the house. Something that will please all of us. In other words, something that possibly might not exist.
The five of us slumped into a small space that claimed itself as the authentic New Jersey pizza joint. Proof? There's two: a vanity NJ license plate that says "SOPRANOS" and a full-sized Sopranos poster to entertain you on your way to the bathroom.
We ordered the first pizza listed on the menu, the "bada-bing", and requested it Sicilian style. But one pizza is not enough for the five of us. A "not-from-New-Jersey chicken ranch", 16 inches please.
Apparently no one at the table except me has ever eaten pizza containing ranch dressing before. To eat one of those, you must 1) like ranch and 2) like LOTS of it. It came to the table just oozing of the heavenly rich smell of ranch. Unfortunately the ranch was not evenly spread out, so it took a couple of slices for me to get to the gooey goodness. Great New York style thin and foldable slices, soft and chewy dough, and lots and lots of good ol' grease. Top that with a pitcher of beer and...
Wait a minute, this isn't Vegas, this is a college town! Yes! They've got greasy pizza, lots of it, with lots of beer, and cheap price deals for them. A place that has pride in their pizza, rightfully so, believes that it is more entertaining for guests to listen to the radio while watching television at the same time, and the Sopranos is just the icing on the cake.
The Sicilian had a very crispy finish, which is not to my taste but people ate plenty of it nonetheless. It was piled high with the "bada-bing" toppings, but my joy was in the ranch pizza.
It is close by, it is not pretty, it has lots of greasy food. I ate till I felt sick. Definitely not tourist-friendly. And it has all my love. If it was open later than 11pm, it would be perfect.
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