The Brick Oven Westfield Celebrates 32 Years Of Family Comfort Food

WESTFIELD, NJ — The Brick Oven Westfield has been redefining the art of casual comfort food for the past 32 years and owner Aurelio Cardoso attributes the restaurant's success to their loyal customers.

"80 percent of our customers are repeat customers," said Cardoso, who was born in Westfield and grew up in Clark. "They're part of your family. They come in, you hug them, you kiss them... I've seen people go on a date, get married, have kids, and now I've seen their kids get married. Wow, it's crazy."

Cardoso began working at The Brick Oven, at 117 Quimby St., one year after the Vasfailo family opened it. Eventually, Cardoso became a partner in the restaurant with his friend Frank Vasfailo. After Frank's untimely death in a car crash in 2010, Cardoso continued the restaurant with the Vasfailo family.

"We've had the same chef since day one. Most of our staff is long term. We kept everybody working during COVID. Nobody lost their job during COVID. I was really proud of that. And we've been a family restaurant in town. I feel like we're part of the community, and we've been there going strong for 32 years," said Cardoso.

Cardoso says the secret to the restaurant's success is consistency.

"Any of the pasta that says homemade, we make in-house. It doesn't get frozen. We make our own mozzarella and roast our own peppers. We don't buy any of that stuff. We make all of our own sauces to order. We try to do it right. We've tried to do it consistently for the 32 years," said Cardoso.

The BYOB restaurant serves a variety of classic dishes along with a rotating list of five specials a night.

"Every night we change the specials and they don't repeat. So we have them one night and you won't see them on the second night," said Cardoso.

Along with dine-in, The Brick Oven offers take-out, delivery, outdoor dining in the warmer months, private parties, and catering.

Cardoso stressed his sincere thanks to their patrons and supporters for 32 years of loyalty.

"If it wasn't for our patrons, our customers, we wouldn't be there. And they're just very supportive," said Cardoso. "Knock on wood, we're still going."

For more information on The Brick Oven Westfield visit thebrickovenwestfield.com or facebook.com or instagram.com/thebrickovenofwestfield.

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