Eating In Translation

McDonald's

The flavor is more reminiscent of creme de menthe than any mint found in nature.

Tony's Italian Bakery & Deli

The cheese had nearly liquefied.

Biggie's Clam Bar

(This venue is closed.) The raw and the cooked, boardwalk style.

Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop

There's no mistaking the featured attraction.

Dom's Bakery Grand

(This venue is closed.) The topping is simplicity itself.

After a look-see in the back room, where the brick oven was at rest (this was late afternoon), I snared a square of Dom's tomato focaccia ($1.50 or so). With my first quick bite (this was late for lunch, too) I detected olive oil, garlic, and what I took for tomato sauce, till something fell with a loud fwop onto the foil I was cradling underneath: a chunk of tomato, from the stem end. A pause, and a closer inspection, revealed crushed tomatoes, not mere sauce.

You might also reasonably identify this as pizza marinara, but by any name it's an especially rich, flavorful slice.

Dom's Bakery Grand
506 Grand St. (5th-6th Sts.), Hoboken, New Jersey
201-653-1948

Melina's Pizzeria

(This venue is closed.) Hey, cats, you'll have to call elsewhere for your pepperoni pie.

Fiore's House of Quality

That "famous mozzarella"? Fiore's lays it on thick.

Sweet

Sometimes tart.

Helmer's

(This venue is closed.) The atmosphere was subdued when I looked in one weekend afternoon; chalk it up to big German food.

Maxwell's

(This venue is closed.) The bands that take the stage nearly every evening range from rock to funk to swing, but the bar-food menu is the real stretch, from hummus to quesadillas to scampi, as well as the standard "big plates" and burgers. Decent selection on draft.

Maxwell's
1039 Washington St., Hoboken, New Jersey
201-653-1703