LIFE

Many winners on Slice's Barrington menu

Danya Henninger
For the Courier-Post
Slice's traditional pizza is reminiscent of New York City pizzerias.

The pizza you grew up with will always be the best pizza. For me, it was slices from the ubiquitous parlors that line the avenues of New York City.

I’m not alone in romanticizing NYC street slices, whose tips flop appealingly off the edges of their paper plate carriers. They’re widely held up as a standard of classic American pizza greatness. And in the 25-odd years since I’d left for college, I’d been missing them, badly.

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Until I copped an appropriately triangular, endearingly greasy, red-and-white speckled $2 slice from Slice.

Tucked inside a Barrington strip mall on a service road beneath the New Jersey Turnpike, the 9-month-old shop is situationally light years away from Manhattan. It looks different inside, too. Thanks to co-owner Jennifer Kaminski, 38, who has a masters in marketing, the Slice logo painted on whitewashed walls is slick and modern, and manages to give the whole place a hip, urban look. It’s a far cry from the dingy orange-walled, plastic-red-boothed holes-in-the-wall of my youth.

But somehow, it’s got that great pizza magic.

A crust that crunchy instead of chewy, but not boring or bland. A sauce that’s subtle without being sweet and savory, without being tangy. Enough cheese to cover it in a substantial layer, but not too much so it oozes, uselessly, off the sides.

From the first burning hot bite to the last crunch of the crust, I was momentarily transported back to being a kid.

A spinach and sausage calzone is more than a mouthful at Slice Pizzeria in Barrington.

In an age of a gazillion add-ons and topping combos that shamelessly ape other dishes — if I wanted buffalo chicken, I’d just order buffalo chicken, thanks — the beauty of a proper plain slice has become undervalued.

Turns out I’m not alone in my embrace.

“A lot of the specialty pizza is really popular,” Kaminski said, “but we do sell a lot of plain pizza, too. It stands really well on its own.”

On an average weekday, the shop goes through 40 or so pies, in addition to selling plenty of other things on the varied menu (more on that soon). On a busy Sunday, it’ll run through 150.

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Shawn Crowley, Kaminski’s partner in life and in business, is the mind behind the menu. He grew up working in his family’s Haddon Township pizzeria, and learned the biz from the ground up. Though it closed in 2006, after which Crowley spent almost a decade running his own painting company, he’s been dreaming of opening his own place ever since. In January of this year, he and Kaminski made it happen.

Unfortunately, since Crowley works seven days a week overseeing the kitchen, which stretches a couple dozen feet behind the shop’s narrow front counter, I couldn’t get him on the phone to discover details of his killer pizza recipe.

The 'Slice' sandwich consists of  sausage, peppers and onions on a roll at Slice Pizzeria in Barrington.

What I could glean: Dough that’s made daily with high-gluten flour is allowed to proof overnight, then used the next day. (The relatively quick turnaround is a factor in why it’s not chewy, as is trendy these days, but how it manages to be flavorful at the same time I am still not sure.)

As for the sauce? “Uh, crushed tomatoes and whole tomatoes and some seasonings,” an employee told me. “I don’t know exactly which ones.”

The grated cheese is Grande brand mozzarella from Wisconsin. “I know that one, it’s important,” the shop worker said.

Indeed. I wasn’t able to find out what kind of ricotta joins the mozzarella in the calzone ($8.95), but I do know that the pair works wonderfully together, filling the puffed half-moon crust with half-creamy, half- cheese dreams. Tomato sauce comes on the side, perfect for judicious dipping.

In this case, add-ons are a bonus., I went with sausage (it’s sweet, not spicy) and spinach. Bonus: The calzone, which is pretty large, works great as leftovers — just wrap ‘em up in a bit of foil and pop them in the toaster oven.

The sandwiches are similarly huge.

Exterior of Slice Pizzeria in Barrington.

“It’s something we struggle with,” said Kaminski, “because we really want to provide value, but it’s not always obvious. Our cheesesteaks — 12-inch cheesesteaks with super-high quality meat — are the same prices as the 7-inch cheesesteak people can get down the street.”

In the signature “Slice” sandwich, the Liscio hoagie roll can barely hold onto the heaps and heaps of sauteed sausage coins and house-roasted peppers and onions piled in its midst. I ordered mine sans tomato sauce; I can’t imagine the mess that would’ve otherwise ensued. I do wish the sausage had more bite to it, but, especially at $7.50, the value was hard to beat.

There are so many options on Crowley’s menu that choosing can be tough. Don’t waste your calories on the wings, which are run-of-the-mill. But lots of other things seem like they could be winners. Hot roast beef or cold hoagie, sliced to order? Housemade eggplant parm? One of the burgers, which are a whopping 12 ounces and made in house?

One thing’s for sure: Whatever you do, don’t forget to order a slice of pizza.

Danya Henninger reviews New Jersey restaurants for the Courier-Post. She is a former New Yorker who was happy to discover the wonders of South Jersey when she moved there 19 years ago. She now lives in Philadelphia with her A/V-writer husband, where she is culture editor for Billy Penn and writes about beer. Reach her at danyahenninger@gmail.com with questions, tips or comments.

Sharp graphics define the Interior of Slice Pizzeria in Barrington.

DINING REVIEW

Slice Pizzeria

653 Clements Bridge Rd., Barrington

slicepizzeriabarrington.com or (856) 546-0949

Cuisine: Burritos, tacos, sandwiches and salads

Food: ★★★½

Atmosphere: ★★½

Service: ★★★​​

Value: ★★★★½

Overall: ★★★½

Recommended dishes: Slices of pizza, calzone with sausage and spinach, signature Slice sandwich

Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Mon.-Thurs.; 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun.

Prices: Pizza, sandwiches, salads, appetizers: $4-$12

Late night: No

Brunch: No

BYOB: Yes

Outdoor dining: No

Live entertainment: No

Wheelchairs: Yes

Parking: Lot

What the stars mean: Five stars is excellent; four stars is very good; three stars is good; two stars is fair and one star is poor.