Wings, pizza, sandwiches, and Italian entrees

With more than 60 sandwiches, subs, wraps, wings, salads, Italian dinners, and types of pizza on his menu, Mike Halawa knows his audience.
The owner of Grande Pizza in Hoboken’s southwest quadrant gets a lot of orders for Buffalo wings – which come in several varieties and with 18 sauces – but he also serves up everything from Hawaiian pizza to chicken cacciatore. Even though it’s largely a takeout place, there are tables for up to 20 people to dine in.

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Entrees include veal parmigiana and chicken picatta.
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Halawa is an immigrant success story. He came to America from Egypt in 1982 and began working in pizzerias in New York City. Eventually he saved enough money to own Ray’s Pizza on Washington Street and become a partner in Seven Star Pizza in the center of town. He eventually sold his interest in those places and moved to Hoboken’s then-new West Side Shopping Plaza at 400 Newark St.
In 1998, his pizza joint was the first business in the center. Things were slow being the only one, so to improve sales, he decided to partner with the national chain Wings To Go.
After that, orders picked up. It didn’t hurt that other businesses joined him in the mini-mall and there was a development boom near the city border.
Now, Halawa lives with his wife and three children in Secaucus and serves Hobokenites his favorite foods. Besides the wings and 12 kinds of pizza, he recommends the chicken marinate sandwich and the buffalo-style sub on the Wings To Go menu.
“My kids call when I’m going home early,” he said last week. “Everyone wants me to bring home something different.”
He says business soars during football season, so he’s ready for the deluge.

What we ate

My husband and I visited the eatery on a recent Wednesday night. Of course, we had to start with the wings. The Wings to Go chain (www.wingstogo.com) began in Delaware in 1985 and grew to more than 80 chains.
We first got five dipping sauces – medium, teriyaki, barbecue, and golden garlic (“buttery with garlic zip”) and blue cheese.
We dipped both boneless and regular wings, and I was amazed at how much meat they had. They weren’t skinny like many wings are. We also had “buffalo shrimp,” which were fried shrimp.
The wings and shrimp were all delicious, juicy, and tasted great in the sauces. The teriyaki sauce was sweet and the medium was a standard tangy orange buffalo wing sauce.
The restaurant serves up pizzas ranging from a small (12 inches) to a giant 28-inch variety for parties. A small cheese pizza runs $7.95, while a medium chicken pizza is $16. We tried a small mushroom pie. It was very cheesy and the tomato sauce was tasty and sweet.
But oh, those sandwiches. The sandwiches blew us both away. My husband enjoyed the chicken marinate ($6.95), which had sundried tomatoes, fresh white mozzarella, roasted red peppers on it. He said it was one of the best chicken sandwiches he’d ever tasted. He’s a picky eater, so that was quite a compliment.
I had the “Buffalo style” sandwich ($6.75), which included lettuce, tomato, wing sauce and blue cheese. It was delightful and just as much fun to dip as the wings were.

Extras

The eatery also serves up salads, wraps, appetizers (poppers and fried items), ribs, various burgers, and Italian entrees. The entrees range from $12 to $13 and include veal parmiagana and chicken picatta.
Desserts include tiramisu, cheesecake, and chocolate cake ($2.50-$3.75).
Grande Pizza, featuring Wings to Go, can be phoned at (201) 459-6070.