One of Manhattan’s more famous pizzerias will be opening their third Garden State location in a few months inside a space that previously hosted a home décor store.
It’s been almost three years since an agreement to bring several Artichoke Basille’s Pizza locations to New Jersey was announced. The restaurant signed a five-unit franchise deal with local developers Premal and Leela Shanghvi and the first Jersey spot in Hoboken opened in 2019.
Jersey City was set to be one of the landing spots for the franchised outposts and a location for the pizzeria has been settled. Artichoke Basille’s will be taking up residence inside 800 square feet of space at 246 Bay Street and has kept much of the historic property’s details intact as they have quietly built out their store in recent months.
“We love the diversity Jersey City has to offer,” said Premal Shanghvi. “The new location is just off the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza and a few short steps away from the Grove Street PATH train station that shuttles over seven million commuters a year to and from Manhattan, so we jumped at the opportunity to bring an Artichoke Basille’s Pizza outpost to this highly trafficked area.”
The franchised Jersey City location will offer both dine-in and takeout and sport an interior with restored brick walls from the 1880s as well as NYC-inspired design elements like an antique tin ceiling and mosaic floor tiles. The news comes as Artichoke Basille’s is slated to open a Red Bank location very soon that will operate outside of the franchise agreement.
Founded in 2008 by cousins Francis Garcia and Sal Basille, the pizzeria’s menu includes their signature Artichoke Pie made with artichoke hearts, spinach, cream sauce, mozzarella, and pecorino romano. Other standouts include their Crab Pie made with crab sauce and surimi stuffing or the Staten Island Pie filled with meatballs, cooked tomato sauce, red onions, and ricotta cheese.
The restaurant says their Jersey City location will open in the spring and there is more in store for the brand. The original franchise announcement included intentions to bring additional Artichoke Basille’s outposts to New Brunswick, Princeton, and Newark.
