Bari Drishti, AKA “Benny Tudino” of Benny Tudino’s pizza shop on Washington Street, has passed away. Drishti was a familiar face sitting outside his popular, centrally located shop, which is known for serving the largest (and doughiest) slices around.
The shop has become legendary, feeding generations of Hobokenites as well as the newer, young residents who moved to the mile-square city after college. The pizza slices are so big, people have given Drishti photos of the slices next to their babies.
Drishti has two sons who are involved locally in coaching and law enforcement, Arbend and Eddie.
Hoboken residents and officials mourned his passing on Thursday. One man Tweeted, “RIP TO THE LEGEND BENNY TUDINO. HE FED ME ON MANY DRUNK NIGHTS.” County Freeholder Anthony Romano wrote, “Hoboken lost a part of its history, Bari Drishti, loved by all as Benny Tudino. May he RIP.” A young woman Tweeted, “Benny Tudino died that cute man used to give me free pizza all the time.”
A photo of Drishti and his pizza that was posted on the Hudson Reporter’s Facebook page was shared more than 350 times and reached more than 70,000 people. (See https://www.facebook.com/thehudsonreporter).
History
It was 1963 when 26-year-old Bari Drishti — from his mother’s hometown of Bari, Italy — was newly arrived from Albania. In the U.S., friends called him “Benny.” He quickly found work at the famed Manhattan restaurant Mamma Leone’s.
“I worked in the kitchen, and I sang too,” Benny said in an interview in 2013. (Leone’s was known for strolling singers and musicians who made their way around the tables.) It was during this period that Benny met Sophia, a young teacher who soon became his wife.
A business opportunity in 1968 brought the happy couple across the Hudson to Hoboken. Benny’s cousin and a former priest — Father Tudino — had purchased 622 Washington St. It had previously been home to a Jewish bakery and luncheonette. The two men opened a pizzeria at the location — calling it Tudino’s — but things weren’t going well.
“They were old. They did deliveries by walking,” Benny recalls. “[My cousin] asked me, ‘Please Benny, come and buy this place; we can’t make it.’ “
For $29,000, Benny purchased the business and the three-story building. He added “Benny” to the sign, keeping the Italian surname “Tudino” up there (which some believed was his own name). And in October of 1968, he re-launched the pizzeria.
“When I came here, Hoboken was terrible,” he said. “ ‘Oh boy, what did I do?’ I said when I bought the place. But I worked hard.”
Benny and Sophia moved into the apartment upstairs. Sophia worked as a cook in the restaurant. They had two boys, Eddie and Arbend. (Benny also has a daughter, Raimonda, back in Albania.)
Many former residents left comments on our website fondly remembering their slices. Pedro Valentin wrote, “I retired from the navy here in Norfolk Va 15 years ago and I’ve looked everywhere for the perfect pizza. Hoboken raised and there will always be one Benny. Thank you sir for giving me a full belly and such great memories of growing up in Hoboken during the ‘70s. Rest In Peace.”
Downside
But not all has been sunny for Drishti. In 1985, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and had to pay a $50,000 fine for his involvement with what federal prosecutors described as “a group of Albanian-Yugoslavian drug dealers” according to the New York Times. Two other men were sentenced in connection with the ring, including one who was accused of threatening to kill the judge.
His family continued to operate the pizza place while he was in prison and he resumed his place when he returned to town.
According to published reports, the service will be held at Lawton-Turso Funeral Home on Sunday from 1 to 9 p.m. Benny will be buried alongside his wife in Albania.