Local Eatery Goes Easy on the Seasonings

Once you step inside Marco’s, a pizzeria and Italian restaurant in the Greenhill Shopping Center on Parsippany Road, you feel a real sense of neighborhood..

If you take the time to look around before stepping up to the counter, you will see a history of a family come to life in Parsippany. Black and white photos of “Grandpa at 65,” a wedding scene that looks inspired by Francis Ford Coppola and communion, anniversary and party pictures dot the space. Celebratory pictures of the restaurant’s first day fill another of many photo frames around the room.

Marco Cardone, a burly man, stands behind the counter waiting to take an order or two and directing his delivery man about where to go with lunch orders.

He has been behind the counter, alternating days with his brother-in-law, Baldo Dattolo, since 1988, when the restaurant first opened.

Cardone doesn’t know exactly where his family emigrated from in Southern Italy; his wife, Antoinette’s family is from Sicily, but among the many family members there is a solid grounding in all that’s Italian. Recipes are ones that were culled from Dattolo’s father-in-law.

The pizzas we tried were solid representations of the genre but if truth be told, they would benefit from the addition of some fresh or dried herbs like basil and oregano to enliven the taste. The sauce is sweet and again might benefit with a generous dousing of parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

The price is right with cheese slices going for $1.85 and those with toppings costing as much as $2.35, just like the competition.

But people do have their favorites, judging by the woman who stopped in one afternoon looking for hers, the eggplant pie. Cardone had decided not to make it that day because “sometimes it sells, sometimes I’ve got leftovers.” Even so, he was happy to let her know that if she calls in the morning, he can always put an eggplant pie in the oven even if she only needs a slice or two.

Despite the light touch with seasonings, Cardone says he tries to make sure that there is a freshness evident in whatever comes out of the oven. Sauce and dough are made every couple of days and kept in the fridge, ready to be used as they are needed.

On the day we sampled from the pizzeria menu, the veggie pie was loaded with nicely chopped broccoli, giving it a fresh, healthy taste. Mushroom pie, which employs the canned variety as a matter of course in other pizzerias, was not mistreated in that way. The woodsy fungi were generously layered atop a pie which had plenty of mozzarella cheese to give it some heft. It actually won us over among the others we tried, including a plain cheese pie and a sausage-topped one, which again could have used more zip.

Crust is always a subject of concern for pizza lovers. Some like it thick, as in the Sicilian variety and some like it thin, as in a New York-style pizza. Cardone’s was somewhere in the middle, although he did describe it as thin. To us, it seemed in the middle and was thick enough to allow the diner to fold it in half neatly on the way up to the mouth.

Parsippany is loaded with pizzerias and Cardone says he tries to stay current with a website which features his menu and photos of his specialties but it really should include the hours as well. He’s a nice, family man; we just wish he wouldn’t be so reticent with the flavorings.

Marco’s, 180 Parsippany Rd., (973) 503 1177,  http://www.marcospizzeria.net/Open daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.