Meet Celestino Gencarelli, Owner of Hasbrouck Heights Pizza

Welcome to Down the Boulevard, a new weekly feature on Hasbrouck Heights Patch where we ask the business owners in our town a few questions about their business and themselves. Get to know your business owners.

This week we sat down with the owner of located right on the Boulevard between Central and Madison avenues.

Celestino Gencarelli has owned Hasbrouck Heights Pizza since May 2010. A Paterson resident, Gencarelli has been in the restaurant and bar business since 1984 and he has owned restaurants in other nearby areas such as Edgewater, Bloomfield and Paterson. He “brought the New York pizza to California” in 1993 when he moved to the state. He opened restaurants in California which he said are still in business today.

A little more than a year ago he returned to New Jersey to get married as his wife is also from his home state and he opened Hasbrouck Heights Pizza.

What brought Gencarelli to Hasbrouck Heights? He said he knew it was a great town and in fact Richard Wakile (yes of Real Housewives of New Jersey fame), who he went to high school with, recommended the borough as a good location. Gencarelli said Wakile used to own a gas station on Route 17 in Heights years ago.

Gencarelli said Heights is a really giving town and he gets involved with the community as well. The pizza shop sponsors a Heights soccer team and a baseball team. The shop also offers an after-school special for students - $1 a slice.

In addition to the pizza they are known for, the shop also offers Italian dinners, sandwiches and they also offer catering. The pizzeria is open 7 days a week.