Anthony Lauro and Phil Byrne opened the spot nine years ago in a stretch of Bloomfield on Washington Street that has since been revitalized -- and their cafe is a big part of that.
There are 30 kinds of cheesecake and they ship around the country. The menu features items that range from healthy -- like roasted spaghetti squash -- to more decadent like the ricotta pie.
But the fact that Anthony and Phil know their customers by name is perhaps the biggest draw.
Get the recipe for Anthony's Ricotta Pie:
Yields two 9" pies
Ingredients
-Your favorite pie crust recipe or a frozen 9" pie
-2 pounds ricotta cheese
-6 large eggs
-2 links hot and 3 links sweet Italian Sausage, casings removed and sausage cooked throughout
-1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese, (set cup aside for final step)
-1 head broccoli rabe, sauteed
-kosher salt and pepper to taste
-2 roasted yellow peppers, sliced into strips
-2 onions, caramelized
-2 balls of burrata (or fresh mozzarella)
-2 tsp flat leaf parsley chopped
-6 basil leaves julienned
Directions
-Mix the eggs, ricotta, salt, pepper, cooked sausage, cup pecorino, parsley and basil in a bowl and pour into pie crust
-Layer with onions, broccoli rabe, and sliced burrata
-Sprinkle with of the remaining pecorino Romano cheese and some pepper
-Bake at 325 for approx 30 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
Serve warm and dust with more pecorino cheese.
----------
* More New Jersey news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube