Alex Melani with one of the first pies out of the oven yesterday.
Alex Melani is a man of few words and, thus, a blessing for a reporter who wants to slack off between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Why’d he choose Red Bank for Pacini’s, the pizzeria he opened yesterday on at 177 Broad Street? “It’s a good neighborhood,” Melani says.
How does he feel about opening a pizza joint amid a sudden wave of new pizzerias in town? “There’s not that much compared to Staten Island,” where he lives and had a pizzeria on Richmond Avenue for three years, he says.
What’s different about his pies? “We keep it old fashioned,” the 32-year-old Albanian immigrant says.
Melani’s place, which he operates with his brother, Vinny, is located between the East Side Café and Red Bank Cleaners, in a long-vacant store formerly home to a photo processing business.
The menu includes lots of pizza, plus subs, wraps, pasta dishes and seafood entrees. Delivery is free for orders over $10. The business doesn’t have a website, so here’s the phone number: 732.741.7888.