Sunday morning. The inevitable ritual that actually takes place somewhere around noon and the early afternoon. Upperclassmen typically wake up somewhere in the neighborhood of noon at what can be best described by a deep yearning need for food.
Typically, there are three options. First, Bagels on the Hudson. Second, go out for either lunch or brunch, depending mostly on your propensity for mimosas. Third, order delivery. This past Sunday ended up as the latter, and we ordered from one of Hoboken’s newer restaurants, Tony Baloney’s.
Tony Baloney’s has been an Atlantic City boardwalk staple for many years, offering a fairly intense variety of pizza, subs, wings, and sandwiches. Last year, they opened a second restaurant in Hoboken with a similar menu.
Needing something filling, my roommates and I ordered a sensible (okay, not really) lunch. While they don’t start delivery until noon on Sundays, we ordered early on delivery.com and hoped. After much debate over their rather intense menu — one of the pizzas is described as “ten meats ravaged my mozzarella cheese” — we ordered two pizzas, two sandwiches, and a batch of fries between the three of us.
Almost immediately, my phone rang with Tony Baloney’s on the other line asking me about a substitution since they were out of meatballs for one of the pizza pies we ordered. Thinking quickly, I changed the order, and they were really quite helpful. The order then came quickly and we dug in.
First, the pizza. Tony Baloney’s has a pretty diverse variety of pizzas, everything ranging from traditional pies to pizzas with chicken and waffles, taco pizzas, and even pulled pork pizzas! We picked two out, the Grandma Patti Pizza (essentially chicken parm) and the S#itfaced Pizza (BBQ chicken).
The Grandma Patti Pizza was, in short, absolutely phenomenal. The style was more like a margherita pizza with sizable chunks of chicken cutlet scattered around the pie. With a marinara pizza sauce and decently soft but plenty-thick crust (not always my thing, but it works), it had the rapid approval of our apartment.
However, we weren’t quite as hot on the S#hitfaced Pizza. It fulfilled our expectations of being a pizza with BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce and cheese and chunks of chicken, but it wasn’t quite all there. If you like BBQ (as I do) and are the type to put BBQ sauce on many things, you’ll like the pizza; otherwise, they have much better options.
I’ve tried the chicken and waffles pizza (Uncle Jemima) before, and while it’s a strange combination, it’s one of my favorites.
Onto the sandwiches! The best of the two was, without question, the Uncle Pennybags, featuring grilled chicken, pesto, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella. My friend Gabe described it as “sublime,” and while he had initially offered me half his sandwich, that offer quickly dwindled to just a piece once he tasted it. Having pesto be the focal point of a sandwich is an interesting experience, but absolutely delicious.
A similar experience can be had with the Saint Rudy, but with broccoli rabe. The sandwich also includes chicken, roasted red peppers, and ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, but the broccoli rabe is very noticeable and the key feature of the sandwich. Same deal as before: if you don’t like broccoli rabe, you’ll hate this sandwich; if you do like broccoli rabe, you’ll love it; and if you’ve never had broccoli rabe, try it!
Lastly, the fries. We decided to try and diversify the meal by getting the Bayou fries, which come with Old Bay seasoning, drawn butter, garlic, and mozzarella cheese. When they came, they did have a shelf life before the cheese started to solidify, trapping the fries. However, they were very good, almost in the same vein as the fries offered at Boardwalk (but slightly less messy). Even as time went on, the cheese took its inevitable toll.
All in all, we were pretty happy with Tony Baloney’s. If there were one drawback, it would be that their sandwiches ran in the neighborhood of $10, and small pizzas $13. But I would suggest not letting that stop you.
Tony Baloney’s has taken a bit of the Atlantic City boardwalk and put it smack dab in the middle of Hoboken. With a menu full of intense, eclectic, and sometimes even experimental pizzas and sandwiches, you’re sure to find something right up your alley!
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