By DON STINE
Pizza will be returning to the Asbury Park boardwalk this summer and some say it’s about time.
Area realtor and concert promoter Sammy Boyd is teaming up with Domenic Maruca, owner of Maruca’s Tomato Pies on the Seaside Heights boardwalk, to open a restaurant on the Asbury Park boardwalk next month.
Boyd, a realtor, and Maruca have been friends for close to 50 years and Boyd said it is time for pizza to return to the boardwalk.
“Pizza has been absent from the boardwalk for too long and I think this product will sell well. I think people will embrace the taste of a Maruca’s pizza,” Boyd said
For over 65 years, the Maruca family has produced an instantly recognizable classic, old-world
pizza that is topped with their trademark cheese and a signature swirl of sauce that starts in the middle and works its way to the crust. The business has been located on the Seaside Heights boardwalk for 40 years and are now coming to Asbury Park after Boyd suggested the new location.
“I have been watching the progress on the Asbury Park boardwalk and I think this is a great move and concept. I feel very good about this and am very optimistic this will be a success. I see no problems going forward and I am looking forward to it.” Boyd said.
This summer the business, which will sell slices and whole pies with toppings, will be located in a pop-up unit near the boardwalk’s miniature golf course but Boyd said long-term plans call for the business to eventually locate in the Fourth Avenue Pavilion.
And Maruca said he is happy to be coming to Asbury Park.
“This is great and I am very excited about it. Asbury Park is on the way up and I am coming to join its boardwalk family,” he said. “We have a great product, a great team, and a unique setting on the boardwalk in a great town. There’s the beach scene, the music scene, and the whole Asbury Park vibe has got me- I love the overall package,” he said.
In 1950 in Trenton, four Maruca brothers: Anthony, Pasquale, Joseph, and Domenic, wanted to create a business with a real future. The family decided to turn their love of food into a business and opened their first family-run pizza shop in Trenton. They later opened other pizza shops, including on the Seaside boardwalk.
