Pizzeria Montevideo

URUGUAY 🇺🇾

Continuing our new series about the South American pizzerias of New Jersey, this time we skip across the Río de la Plata and into Uruguay, which along with Argentina is a country with a lot of Italian in its blood. Taking the first exit after the Goethals Bridge from Staten Island will land you practically at the door of Pizzeria Montevideo in the south part of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

This working class pizzeria named after the capital of Uruguay, in a wonderful working class neighborhood, adheres more to the Italian side of things with pizza and pastas. But just as you can locate the sky blue football scarf of Uruguay hanging on the wall here, look for the Uruguayan pages of the menu for more unique foods.

One of these is the pascualina ($3, below), a type of torta cooked with egg, spinach, onions, pepper, and cheese.

Immensely popular in Uruguay but also with roots far back in Italy, this flaky pastry is common at all times but especially during Easter as the name suggests. The pascualina is meatless making it perfect for lent, and the ingredients all reference religious symbolism and the resurrection. It is still tasty even if Jesus is not your thing.

Ham and cheese croquetas ($3, below) made in the Uruguayan style are also available with either rice or potato puree inside. These two were chosen with rice, which allows the other tastes to shine through a bit better.

The egg and cheese that holds all the ingredients together becomes melty when cooked and the croquetas have a really nice texture. The fun story of these tasty snacks is that they are sort of leftovers food, a family will cook them when there is a good portion of rice that goes uneaten after a meal. Like fried rice far to the east, croquetas are said to be more delicious when the rice is a day old.

The chivitos in Jackson Heights, Queens can sometimes be intimidating, massive beautiful structures of bread, meat, and cheese. Here in Elizabeth, the sandwich seems to match the neighborhood and be much more approachable. It would never be known for its looks, but this chivito al pan ($10, below) will do its job seamlessly, satisfying even the largest of appetites.

Along with grilled meat, ham, and mozzarella, the sandwich stacks in bacon, olives, peppers, lettuce, tomato, and a hard-boiled egg. The bread is always important in Uruguayan sandwiches, and does not let you down here.

It seemed necessary to try the pizza despite expanding waistlines at the end of a long day eating in New Jersey. A slice of pepperoni (below) will only set you back $2.50, and is cut up into four small sections. Along with plates of grilled meat that are typical of a Uruguayan dinner, there were no other tables here this night that did not include pizza.

That information can be used however you wish, but maybe bring at least four people so that you can try all sides of the menu and leave very satisfied.

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ELIZABETH New Jersey

531 Bayway