The Search for Perfect Pizza is Like Searching for the Perfect Wave: Sea Bright Pizza, NJ. By Calvin Schwartz

August 10, 2012

Cono Trezza the artist at Sea Bright Pizza

Back in 1966, I was in college studying at Rutgers, worrying about Southeast Asia and developing a fascination with a surfing movie called ‘The Endless Summer.’ Director Bruce Brown followed two surfers as they travelled around the world looking for that perfect wave and places to surf. After seeing the movie, I wanted a surf board and a Corvette convertible to cruise Ocean Avenue up and down the Jersey shore. Thing is, I’ve still never surfed ( I don’t even venture much into the oceans since I saw ‘Jaws’ in 1975) but I’ve now harnessed that energy of searching and longing for the perfect wave and cruising all of Jersey’s Ocean Avenues to more relevant pursuits like finding the perfect pizza for my journalistic home base at NJ Discover. And my first stop coincidentally a few weeks ago was on Ocean Avenue at Sea Bright Pizza in Sea Bright, New Jersey.

a view of artistry and flowers.

There were pre-existing energies blowing in the wind meaning I had heard a lot of positivity about Sea Bright Pizza. Cosmic forces and alignments were at play as well. Could it be my pizza discovery journey would begin and end in an opening of the door and crossing the threshold at Sea Bright Pizza?

Cono Trezza is Sea Bright Pizza and a friendly affable accommodating personna at that. Early on during my time there, I realized that Cono is an artist. He came to America 32 years ago from Italy. (The last 10 years here in Jersey). Now I didn’t waste time; I had to get to the sauce (even on the side). Some years ago, recreationally speaking, I travelled around North Jersey with dear friends Fred and Frank (also from Italy) in pursuit of the best sauce we could find. (Fred called sauce, gravy). So as I explained to Cono, I needed a quick ‘sauce’ fix. The sauce was euphoric and worth any kind of trip from anywhere in New Jersey and way beyond. “Where did the sauce recipe come from,” I asked. “From my grandmother,” Cono proudly stated. “Everything from my grandmother.”

the artistry of creativity in pizza

it gets really busy there. its all in the sauce. i’m learning. and i purposely arrived at a very off hour.

Cono came from a town south of Naples and his grandfather named him. His shop is new having just moved from literally next door on Ocean Avenue. It is old world, warm, artistic and appetizing. Of course BYOB. It was time to journalistically plunge into my work. Cono’s egg-plant and margherita pizzas are his personal favorites which I liked too much. I was sampling a pizza plethora. Don’t let me forget the crust. I like the expression, “tastes like cake.” It does.

wall art abounds.

the aftermath of my journalistic research

There was a relatively new creation that was simply sumptuous (a word borrowed from the movie ‘Norma Rae’); carmelized onion and basil. I’m an old movie guy as well. So let me describe this creation by saying ‘Heaven Can Wait.’  Another artistic creation with chicken moved a musical friend of mine to say how perfect this was for those with heavy duty munchies.

How often in journalistic history do you go out on an initial quest for discovery of the best pizza and find Joe DiMaggio or Michelangelo on the first go around. So I hit a DiMaggio homerun and found that quintessential artist in Cono at Sea Bright Pizza. And when I finished this heavenly pizza assignment, I walked outside and inhaled Jersey shore Atlantic Ocean air.  A word came to mind, ‘nirvana.’

Sea Bright Pizza  1066 Ocean Ave    Sea Bright, NJ 07760

salud!