By Lauren Ciallella | SDUN Reporter

At Jersey Joe’s Pizza in North Park, specialty pies glisten on glass shelves like an edible Tiffany’s display. They showcase pizzas like the “Bobo,” breaded eggplant, spinach and sun-dried tomato, buffalo chicken and the square-crusted, Grandma style with mozzarella on the bottom and crushed tomato on top.

“I wanted to give something to the people. San Diego is a growing city and they need something to ‘eat and go’ that’s good, quality stuff. Give people some choice, not just pepperoni,” said owner Joe Scire-Cirneco.

Scire-Cirneco’s inspiration came while recuperating in San Diego after he returned from Operation Iraq Freedom a few years ago. “While I was recovering I enjoyed the weather, but I didn’t have any good pizza.” Originally from Edison, New Jersey, Scire-Cirneco was no stranger to the pizza business since he, his brother and brother-in-law had opened eight restaurants back east, with three still in operation.

Now paired with partners, Steve “Bobo” Baughman and Barry Nonenkemp, he recruited Long Island native and pizza maker, Eddie Pallaro, who has been slinging pie for 21 years. Scire-Cirneco noted, “The economy’s really bad right now, but if you have the experience and time to do it, it can work…Together we have over 40 years of experience,” he said pointing to himself and Pallaro, “And we stick to it.”

From pizza ovens to butcher blocks, Scire-Cirneco wanted it authentic east coast, including the glass shelves specially built to display the pizza at eye-level instead of using the standard, bakery cases seen in several San Diego pizza shops.

“This is a typical pizzeria like we have on the east coast, in Jersey or New York. We’re not a restaurant, just a typical pizzeria with a lot of options,” said Scire-Cirneco. Their range of cold subs, hot sandwiches, chicken, veal and seafood dishes, baked pastas and even the occasional zeppole thrown in the fryer, show they aren’t playing around when it came to east coast recipes.

The pride with which Scire-Cirneco spoke about his food was palpable. Antipasti salad had quickly become a best seller with freshly sliced capicola, ham, salami and provolone, pickled veggies, olives, onions, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella that Scire-Cirneco coddled like a newborn before placing it on top and baptizing everything in oil and vinegar.

“Everything is made from scratch. The pizza sauce, the marinara sauce, they’re all different sauces. We don’t just open a can. We use the best ingredients…A lot of people here never heard of half this stuff. Like broccoli rabe, they’ve never tasted it before…I don’t even want to offer things like pineapple on pizza. That’s California. I want to show them east coast.”