Lombardo's Pizzeria Will Open in North Portland's University Park Neighborhood

Tomato pie. Photo credit: Il Rosso

Not to be confused with “Lombardi’s” (trademarked as America’s First Pizzeria^®) from NYC, Lombardo’s Pizzeria will be opening in the University Park neighborhood, offering up New Jersey-style pizzas and other Italian-American cuisine.

As far as I know—and please, correct me if I am wrong—NJ-style pizza is not really represented in Portland. We’ve got NYC street slices and whole pies; New Haven, Chicago deep dish, and Detroit styles—and even a Portland/PNW-style; neo-Neapolitan, Sicilian, Grandma, vegan pizza, gluten-free pizza. But I have not seen New Jersey-style pizza.

New Jersey-Style Pizza and More

So what even is New Jersey-style pizza? I reached out to Bob Verderame, the person behind Lombardo’s, and asked just that. He told me that two of the types of pizzas you’d easily find in New Jersey that he’ll be making here are a tomato pie (South Jersey) and a bar pie (extra thin—but no party cut). He says, “I’m from Paterson, NJ and definitely prefer a certain style of pizza myself. I want to represent that style for others to try.” Also, the name “Lombardo’s” is an homage to his grandmother, Mary Lombardo.

Aside from pizza, he’ll be serving some of his favorite Italian-American specialties. He added, “The menu will mainly be pizza but I will have daily specials. I plan on offering grab-n-go options, also, so people can take food home and enjoy it whenever they want.”

Il Rosso

Bob had a devoted following of his pizza and Italian food when he ran Il Rosso, a pizzeria and restaurant in Arizona. He told me a bit of a timeline between then and now: “I owned Il Rosso for 8 years in Arizona. The pandemic ended that restaurant, and I wanted to leave Arizona. I lived in Oregon in the early 90s, so I’m familiar with the area. I also know that Portland is a food lover’s city and thought it would be a good place to start over again.”

You can read about Il Rosso in this article from 2017 (updated 2020).

The Oven + Permitting

One of the things people like to focus on when it comes to pizza is the oven it’s cooked in. Is it a coal oven? Wood-fired? Gas oven? “I use a gas heated deck style oven,” he said. “Thin crust and well done. Not wood fired!” I’ve eaten a lot of great pizza over the years that has been cooked (and reheated) in a deck-style oven.

Bob is really looking forward to bringing his pizzas and other food to Portland, but he has been caught up in the slog that is permitting in Portland, so things have been moving slower that he’s like (he’s spent about a year wrangling the permit process). There are multiple inspections (construction work, health department) a small business has to go through, and then all the expensive permits (plumbing, electrical, mechanical). In the case of this location, there was a change of occupancy process that had to happen, too—the previous business in there was a dry cleaner. Bob remarked, “Once you start this process there is no turning back. I’m trying to keep my head up and get through it.”

With that in mind, he does not have an opening date just yet. But as Bob says, “Hopefully I’ll be making pies soon!”

He added this upbeat commentary about pizza: “The awesome thing about pizza is there are so many styles. I just focus on making the best pie I can. I have a lot of experience eating and making pizza pie. Hopefully people will like and feel the passion I have for cooking—whether it’s the pies or all the other things I will be offering.”

Wishing Bob the best of luck and tenacity as he moves closer to opening Lombardo’s Pizzeria in all its NJ-style pizza glory.

Lombardo’s Pizzeria [opening TBD]
5210 N Lombard Street, Portland
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