It's The Original Mr. Bruno (If Not The Original Pizza Shop)

You could stand on a corner and look around until a restaurant sign draws you in. But we've got a better idea. Each week, Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that is worth checking out. Here's this week's choice:

Original Mr. Bruno's Pizza & Restaurant, East Hanover—A talented artist can paint a reasonable facsimile to a Picasso, yet the finished product is, well, not painted by Picasso.

 In Jan. 2010, The Star-Ledger named the famous square pizza at Mr. Bruno’s in Lyndhurst as the best Sicilian pie in New Jersey. With due respect to the paper’s pizza prowess, it was only partially correct.

 Mr. Bruno does make the best square pie in the Garden State, and has for 35 years.

Steve Bruno, that is. THE Mr. Bruno, the Picasso of Pizza, whose sauce-on-top style of square pie has cultivated a cult-like culinary following. Call it the Pie de Resistance.

And for the last few years, Morris County residents can taste what the folks in Bergen and Passaic have salivated over since the mid-1970s. The Picasso of Pizza happens to be the owner and pizza maker at The Original Mr. Bruno’s Pizza in East Hanover.

 You’re likely to find someone from Bergen County sitting next to you as you chow down on the best pizza you will ever taste. You’ll be able to spot them by the irrepressible smile adorning their faces.

Driving up 3 to 80 to 287 to 10 just for pizza may seem crazy to some, but anyone who grew up with a Mr. Bruno’s nearby understands.

The story of Mr. Bruno’s starts back in 1965, when Steve came to America from Sicily and opened a pizzeria in Richmond Hill, N.Y. He moved his business to New Jersey in 1975, eventually opening a string of pizza joints – in places such as Lyndhurst, Clifton, Passaic, Rochelle Park and Saddle Brook.

But it was at the Lyndhurst eatery—a storefront in a shopping center anchored by Shop-Rite shopping center—where you could find Steve, literally working 7-days-a-week for decades. He sold the other restaurants over the years, allowing them to keep his name for business purposes, but held on tight to the special little spot in Lyndhurst.

The counters were formica. A drawing of Marlon Brando holding a slice of pizza hung on the wall. Specialty pies? Please. Round or square pretty much summed up the choices.

Fast-forward to the early 2000s. The wrecking ball tore through the Shop-Rite and the strip mall that housed Bruno’s was remodeled. Steve shut down for nearly two years while the complex was redeveloped.

In Lyndhurst, where pizzerias come and go when they make the mistake of trying to challenge Mr. Bruno’s supremacy, the two years felt like 20. Finally, the restaurant re-opened in a new space, with outside dining, marble and—gasp!— specialty pies.

Steve decided to call it quits in 2007 and retired without much fanfare. He traveled, returning home to his native Sicily for the first time since the 1970s. His partners took over the Lyndhurst pizzeria.

But like Michael Jordan, The Who, and Mario Lemieux, Steve Bruno couldn’t stay retired. In Aug. 2009, he opened “The Original Mr. Bruno’s” in the shopping center anchored by Dick’s Sporting Goods on Route 10 West.

There, you can find Steve on most days doing what he does better than anyone in New Jersey (which means better than anyone in the United States)—making his Sicilian pie.

Mouth watering yet? See here for driving directions.