Photo by Neidy Gutierrez / SOC Images.
Walking along West Side Avenue by Lincoln Park, you can find everything right where you need it: washing a laundry load? Head to King’s Laundry; got thirsty while doing that? Try a smoothie from Berri Berri; you just remembered it’s someone’s birthday tomorrow? Stop by Ahmad Grocery & Variety.
Now, if you’re hungry after all of that, tucked between Jewett and Fairview Avenues is where you can find Pompei Pizza, a pizzeria that has been a staple in the West Side community since the 1960s. Alexandra Appel became one of its two new owners almost one year ago, and decided to keep its original name to honor its history within the neighborhood, which she told Slice of Culture was the right decision.
“That was a tough decision when coming into the space,” she added.
“We played around with the idea of changing the name, but decided to keep the name because this is a neighborhood, this is a community and the name is known in the neighborhood… It worked out for the best.”
Becoming A Pizza & Pastry Master
Appel is an Italian American from Hudson County.
She’s originally from Bayonne, but attended high school at St. Dominic’s Academy on John F. Kennedy Blvd and Duncan Avenue in Jersey City. After moving out of Bayonne, she lived in the Jersey City Heights, and is now resides in Downtown.
She told Slice of Culture that she had been wanting to open her own business for a “really” long time. And with about 13 years of baking and pastry experience, she knew she wanted to continue that.
“It just so happens this pizzeria was available. It’s so beautiful. It’s quaint. It’s been here since the 1960s, so I fell in love with the charm of the place,” Appel explained.
“Pizza is actually baking rather than cooking and so I knew that it was the perfect fit for me and that I could also foray more baked goods and cookies and basically just make all the things that I wanna make here in this beautiful neighborhood.”
As for how she became a pizza and pastry master, she owes part of it to her childhood.
Getting a pizza slice after school was constantly on the agenda for Appel. She described it as a “wholesome” experience and a time when pizza was really tasty; the sauce wasn’t too sweet, the crust was thin and, to her, it felt like a classic New York slice of Italian American style pizza.
“I feel like places like that are hard to come by. So I wanted to recreate the slice that I had when I was a kid,” she added.
To make it even more authentic, Appel had someone—whose father owned pizzerias—assist in creating the shop’s recipe. Appel started with the sauce. The sauce has roasted garlic, giving it a sweetness without adding any sugar. The crust is that classic thin crust. There’s not a lot of cheese to keep its crispness. And by combining all of those elements you get: Pompei Pizza.
Appel added that she also learns from her employees, some of whom “make better pizza” than she does and describes them as “masters at the craft.”
Appel’s strength at the pizzeria are her baked goods. Her passion for baking sweets came from her nonna.
“She’s the person who introduced me to baking and I remember baking with her as a child and that was always really fun and interesting for me,” Appel said. “… Even if it’s something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie or a black and white cookie, I just try to make it the best that you’ve ever tasted and that’s most important to me.”
Revitalizing A West Side Favorite
Pompei Pizza reopened last October.
Appel explained that it can be “tricky” when you are first coming into the neighborhood, especially carrying on a legacy of a pizzeria that has been there for over 60 years.
“When they hear new owners are coming in, that scares people. Change is hard and you worry like, ‘Will these people care about us? Will these new owners live up to the old reputation?’” she said.
“But over the course of this almost one year, we’ve definitely built a trust in the neighborhood. We have really nice community vibes and people who are recurring customers who live in the neighborhood, who we know on a first name basis.”
Customers can enjoy classic Italian dishes like a chicken parm platter, baked rigatoni or a margherita pizza. Appel said her favorite item on the menu is the chicken caesar sandwich, which features homemade anchovy-y Caesar dressing (made with kewpie Japanese mayonnaise—her “little secret”), garlic breadcrumbs and “bombs” of flavor.
But their top-selling item is none other than their plain pizza slice.
“We could put out like a fancy pie and we could put out a plain pie and the plain pie will sell four times as fast as the fancy pie,” she added.
And if you’re looking for something sweet afterwards, the spot offers a variety of baked goods including cannolis, rainbow cookies, chocolate chip cookies and more. Appel hopes to one day have more bakery hours and expand their sweets menu.
Looking towards the future, Appel wants to do more community events and have more “enticing” dinners to showcase higher end Italian American cuisine so that customers will want to dine in rather than just takeout, which is very popular for them. She envisions doing one night a week where there’s a choice of dine-in menu and pair it with wine or beer.
Appel expressed her gratitude for being able to own a business in Hudson County, especially in the West Side area of where she ventured as a teenager.
“Hudson County is so cool because there are so many cultures. You can walk up the street and you hear Spanish music and [then] all these different types of languages other than English and it’s really cool. So it feels good to have a business in such a diverse and welcoming area. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said.
“… I wanna remind everyone to be kind to your local small business because it’s really hard…The people that get me through are our regular customers who lead with kindness and respect when they order with us… We have to remember that small businesses are really important and that we all need to just leave with kindness.”
