Pizza Heaven Comes To Belmar!
They say life is just a slice of heaven, and for fat kids like me, heaven is a good slice! That’s why I’m so excited to check out Pizza Heaven on Main Street in Belmar, right down the road from the Rat. Pizza Heaven is now occupying the spot most recently known as Doughboys Pizza. Prior to that, a generation remembers that locale by its address, 507 Main Street. A great bar that many of us had great memories in.
So now Pizza Heaven takes over with their signature 13-inch Neapolitan Pizzas. The kind our buddy Dave Portnoy would call “date pizza”, and automatically rate a 6.5. Well, lucky for us, we can rate Pizza Heaven’s Neapolitan on its own merits. The pie menu has over a dozen homemade variations of Neapolitan pizza. From Margherita and Marinara pies to more eccentric offerings, like Autumn Mushroom, and something called “The Brie” that got my attention immediately.
From the menu, it looks like it’s not just pizza in heaven either, which is nice. Expected appetizers like wings, mussels, calamari, and mozzarella sticks share the category with the likes of perogies and sausage and potato croquettes! Meanwhile, sides range from fries with cherry mayo to wood-fired mushrooms with Maldon salt. The soups and salad side of the menu looks pretty standard with minestrone and cream of mushroom soups, and something called the Heaven’s Salad highlights this section.
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Pizza Heaven also boasts entrees like Chicken Parm and Florentine Salmon, burgers, and cheesesteaks, plus a kids menu. When it comes to dessert I’m excited to try the Tiramisu and something called a Nutella Pizza, with either bananas or strawberries! Yumm-O!
Pizza Heaven is BYOB, and you can see the full menu as well as make reservations at their website https://www.pizzeriaheaven.com/
So welcome to Belmar, Pizza Heaven!
Gen Z-ers Trade Turkeys For Pizzas This Thanksgiving As Prices Surge
Pizza is expected to be a popular alternative to turkey as Thanksgiving dinners this year, as hosts face inflated prices for traditional staples. According to a survey conducted by online financial adviser Personal Capital, 33% of people celebrating “Friendsgiving” (a popular casual Thanksgiving party for friends mostly among Millennials and Gen Z) said they would serve pizza; 24% said they planned to serve turkey. Holiday-related financial anxiety is common among younger Americans, with 54% of Gen Z respondents and 51% of millennials saying they felt stressed about covering Thanksgiving costs, while just 33% of Gen X-ers and 39% of Baby Boomers reported feeling financial stress.
Other ways Gen Z-ers are planning to save this Thanksgiving is by keeping the gathering small, making fewer dishes, asking guests to bring some dishes or items and asking people to pitch in moneywise. Per the study, they were the most likely to use all four strategies to keep costs down, while baby boomers were the least likely to ask guests to provide food, drinks or money. Of the items most frequently asked of guests to bring to dinner, 75% asked to bring alcoholic beverages or BYOB, with 46% of the requests going to desserts and 37% going to sides. Per the survey, the cost of groceries surged 12.4% in October compared to October 2021. Meanwhile, the price of turkeys has surged nearly 75% this year as a severe outbreak of avian flu devastates domestic production, according to USDA data. Other key items such as potatoes, butter and bread are also much more expensive than they were last year.
Inflation will likely result in an even higher cost of Thanksgiving dinner this year than last year’s record figure. The average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 was $53.31 — the highest ever recorded, according to the American Farm Bureau. Now, 57% of Americans think they’ll be spending between $101-200. Gen X-ers were most likely to keep a tight budget of $100 or less and baby boomers were most likely to break the bank with a budget of $201 or more. 1 in 4 Americans plan to skip the holiday altogether this year due to inflated prices, with 33% of that number going to Gen Z-ers.
No matter what, some Thanksgiving dinners won’t be complete without a few core items. See below the top 12 dishes people would never cut from the menu:
Believe it or not, Jimmy’s first job was overnights at a Christian Radio Station. He claims he got into radio because like Rocky Balboa once said, “cause I can’t sing or dance.” Jimmy loves to write about all local happenings, especially around his town of Toms River.
Favorite Pastime (other than masturbation, of course): Cheering for the Yankees, and crying for the J-E-T-S!!!
Favorite Food: Hot Sauce…I collect ’em!
Favorite Drink: PRUNO…look it up, if you dare!
Favorite Movies: The Exorcist, Planet of The Apes (the original), To Kill a Mockingbird, Annie Hall, and of course GF 1 & GF 2…I heard that’s how the real fans refer to them.
Favorite Movie Line: easy…Murry-Caddyshack-“big hitter, the Lama”…f#$*in’ riot!
Best Rat Rock Bands: STP, VH, ZEP, PEARL JAM, FOOS, PEPPERS,AC/DC
Favorite New Bands: Glorious Sons, Rival Sons, Dirty Honey
Most Embarrassing Moment: the moment my mother reads this shit!
Best Day: I know a lot of folks say this, but it’s true: the day my little girl Jynell and my boy Big D were born! Next to that, it would have to be the day I was baked on earth day in Central Park and met Keefer Sutherland…baked too, I believe.
