Nonna’s Pizza “A Taste Of Italy” in Deptford NJ is now open! I stopped in today for an early lunch and tried a variety of artisan pizzas as well as a delicious ribeye cheese steak topped with Cooper sharp American cheese and fried onions.
Nonna’s Pizza is located on Hurffville Road (Rt 41) at Summit Ave in Deptford NJ, taking over a small restaurant building which is perfectly sized for their casual restaurant which features delicious pizza, cheese steaks, chicken cutlets and more.
The building is located directly across Ice Cream Love, and Good Intent Road is on the opposite corner just 100 feet or so away.
I’ve been chatting with Nicky since the first 42Freeway post back in October of last year, and today I had a chance to sit down and talk with him about his philosophy for the restaurant, and his family’s love for food and the Deptford community.
Nonna’s Pizza offers delicious pizzas, cheese steaks, chicken cutlets, hoagies and more… and a great new restaurant location.
The food business is not new to the Umile’s as they also operate Nonna’s Pizza at the Subaru Park soccer stadium in Chester PA, as well as Nickie’s Pickie’s catering.
The entire family has the “food gene” as in my visit today even their son was creating in the kitchen!
Nick and his wife Dana are Deptford residents, having lived in town for over 30 years.
Their children were raised in the community and went to the schools in the area, Nicky tells me he even has coached in various roles including as part of the Brooklyn American Legion baseball organization.
For the Umile’s it’s more than just providing delicious food to the community… they are looking to help.
As an example, for their first week open… for every customer order the Umiles (Nonna’s) will be donating $1.50 to the Officer Shishler GoFundMe fundraiser (Office Shishler is a Deptford Police Officer who was shot while on duty)!
Nonna’s Pizza – A New Experience!
In prior lives the small building on Rt 41 has been home to a variety of Italian restaurants which were more focused on more formal sit down dining experience.
Now don’t get me wrong there is plenty of comfortable seating at Nonna’s Pizza, but Nicky wants everybody to understand that Nonna’s is much more casual than what you would have experienced previously.
There is no wait staff to take your order at the table.
When you come to Nonna’s to dine-in, just head directly to the counter to place your order and then find a comfortable table. When your food is ready one of the staff members will brig your deliciously fresh meal to your table.
But don’t be fooled by this more casual dining experience. Nicky and his staff take pride in making everything fresh, by hand, and per order.
Sure there’s some prep work in the process, such as slicing the cheese steak meat from fresh rib eye steak.
But every sandwich is handmade per order.
The chicken cutlet “parm” is starting with a fresh filet chicken breast, lightly breaded, and fried hot for each individual order. And then their delicious Nonna’s sauce and cheese are added!
Nonna’s Pizza – Tasty Choices
For pizza, the Nonna’s menu heads down two different paths.
You can get a delicious traditional round 16-inch pie in several suggested varieties, or you could create your own of course.
Featured on the menu are plain, margarita, buffalo chicken, bacon chicken ranch, sausage and broccoli rob, all day breakfast and veggie. All fresh, and all amazing.
Nicky tells me though that the hot sellers right now are their Specialty Italian Pizzas which are a rectangular 12 by 18 pie.
It starts with a more traditional yet still very amazing, Nonna’s Original! Red sauce, cheese and grated aged parmesan.
The Upside-Down specialty pie puts the mozzarella on the bottom and the sauce on top along with the grated aged parmesan. I think this style of pizza helps make the amazing sauce the star of the show.
As part of my lunch I tried the Spicy Pepperoni which has diavalo sauce, hot honey, and of course cupped pepperoni. It was spicy hot but incredibly delicious!
Another square slice that I tried, I don’t even see on the menu… it was called “alla vodka”. A flavorful pizza with red sauce and swirls of whipped ricotta cheese. Amazing and creative!
Some of the other favorites are Sunday Supper which adds in fried meatballs, long hots and caramelized onions. The “Hog” includes roasted pork and broccoli rabe!
They also feature homemade 16-inch strombolis and calzones, which are baked fresh to order.
The strombolis range from cheese steak or pepperoni, to veggie roasted pork and even a chicken cutlet Stromboli with your choice of vodka or red sauce.
Nonna’s Pizza – Sandwiches And Appetizes
So I already mentioned I tried two of their unique artisan slices. The primetime star of my lunchtime show was a ribeye cheese steak special featuring Cooper sharp cheese, fried onions, and long hots.
All served on a fresh but crusty a Aversa’s seeded roll.
I absolutely could taste the difference in the meat. The freshness and the quality shone through.
When I mentioned to Nicky that the cheese steak tasted just like something I would get in Philadelphia, he came back a minute later to show me a tray of the sliced ribeye waiting for its next order.
I mentioned that Nicky was looking to make everything fresh and per order… well for the beef cheesesteaks they take a large ribeye beef and slice it down in store for optimal freshness and taste.
While I didn’t eat a chicken cheesesteak, Nicky also showed me one which is real chopped chicken breast… and again providing the the freshest sandwich he could make.
One of his other big sandwich items that I did not get a chance to try this time around is the Nonna’s Famous Chicken Cutlets.
Just this week Nicky put together a video on social media highlighting how he makes all of the chicken cutlets fresh. Fileting chicken breasts, egg wash, breading and cooking in a skillet. Fresh!
They offer a variety of styles including the Classic Chicken Cutlet Parm, or how about a Milano or Caprese?
Specialty cutlets include Little Nicky’s (alla vodka sauce, roasted peppers and mozzarella). Dana’s Alfredo adds spinach, Alfredo sauce, and parmesan cheese to their hand battered chicken cutlets!
Obviously I am just highlighting some of the options. You’ll have to check the website for more meu details.
Oh and I didn’t mention the fresh hoagies! Well they will definitely be on the list for my next visit. “Research”!
There are seven different salads to choose from!
And closing out the the sandwich category… meatballs, eggplant sandwiches, sausage peppers and onions, roast pork, and even more.
Did I mention appetizers?
Well you get the idea. Fresh. Hand-Made. Local Family. Go give them a try, and be understanding when the 42Freeway fans give them a really big hug all at the same time, and things get a little busy for a while.
And remember through Saturday 4/29, for each customer order the family will be donating $1.50 to the Officer Shisler fund.
Links and Location
Nonna’s Pizza – A Taste Of Italy (Open!)
1491 Hurffville Rd
Deptford, NJ 08096
Website Toast (Online Ordering)
Facebook (Nickie’s Pickies)