BARNEGAT LIGHT, N.J. – New Jersey pizza comes with expectations. Red sauce, mozzarella, a thin crust with some crunch and, more often than not, Italian music or local radio playing somewhere behind the counter.
La Riva in Barnegat Light isn’t really interested in any of that.
The small pizzeria and bar at 408 Broadway takes the Neapolitan route, turning out wood-fired pies with light, airy crusts and just enough char around the edges. Reggae and beach music provide the soundtrack, the staff couldn’t have been friendlier during our visit, and after working through several pizzas, there wasn’t a bad one on the table.
The only problem with discovering La Riva in September is realizing that the season is almost over.
The Crust Is What Gets You First
Neapolitan pizza can go wrong quickly.
Cook it too little and the center becomes a floppy mess. Push it too far and that delicate crust loses what makes this style of pizza special in the first place.
La Riva gets the balance right.
The dough comes from a traditional brick oven with a light char outside, some crispness when you bite into it and a soft, almost fluffy interior. It’s substantial enough to carry the toppings without becoming heavy.
That crust makes even the basic Margherita worth ordering. La Riva builds it simply with organic tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil.
The pepperoni adds hot honey. The sausage pie combines organic tomatoes, mozzarella and broccoli rabe. There’s a clam pizza with mozzarella, pecorino, garlic and oregano, and a mushroom pie with mozzarella and truffle.
We kept ordering.
Every pizza seemed better than the one before it.
Get the White Pizza With Prosciutto and Arugula
Then the white pizza arrived.
This was the one. If you were to judge a book by its cover, this one looked good for a photo, but didn’t exactly hit the “pizza” vibe we would normally be looking for.
La Riva’s starts it with ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino and prosciutto. Add arugula and the combination just works with a touch of balsamic drizzle.
It was fantastic.
The salty prosciutto against the creamy ricotta and mozzarella would be enough by itself. Pecorino sharpens everything up, while the arugula cuts through the richness and keeps a heavy-looking pizza surprisingly light.
Phenomenal is the better word.
It’s also a good example of why La Riva succeeds. Nothing about the pizza feels like somebody is trying too hard to make it interesting.
There aren’t 17 toppings piled onto a crust for an Instagram picture. Good dough comes out of a hot oven, good ingredients go on top, and the kitchen mostly stays out of their way.
La Riva uses 16-month-aged prosciutto elsewhere on the menu, and its current pizza lineup ranges from traditional combinations to seasonal pies. The restaurant also serves meatballs, calamari, ricotta gnudi, broccoli rabe and several Italian entrees for anyone at the table who somehow doesn’t want pizza.
We’d still order the pizza.
La Riva Doesn’t Feel Like a Typical Jersey Pizzeria
The food was only half of what made the visit work.
La Riva has managed to build an atmosphere that fits the far northern end of Long Beach Island without turning itself into a themed beach restaurant.
The reggae playing in the background immediately changes the mood.
Instead of Sinatra, Dean Martin or whatever happens to be playing on the local FM station, there are easy beachside reggae rhythms floating through the restaurant.
It shouldn’t matter that much.
It does. Being here felt like being on vacation for a short time, even though it’s here in Ocean County.
The whole place feels relaxed without the service becoming relaxed in the wrong way. Staff members were extremely friendly, attentive and quick throughout our visit.
That’s a combination worth mentioning because Shore restaurants can struggle with service during the summer rush. La Riva felt comfortable rather than chaotic.
You could stop after the beach in shorts, order a pizza and a drink and feel perfectly at home. You could also make it dinner and work through the rest of the menu.
Nobody seems particularly concerned about making the place feel formal.
Barnegat Light isn’t that kind of town anyway.
The Same Family Is Behind Daymark Across the Street
La Riva isn’t an isolated restaurant experiment.
It comes from the same ownership behind Daymark, directly across the parking lot, and The Arlington in Ship Bottom.
Brian and Paul Sabarese are behind the restaurants, with Brian’s wife, and La Riva was created as a more casual pizza-focused counterpart to Daymark.
That explains why the place feels more polished than a seasonal pizza shop while still avoiding the atmosphere of a traditional sit-down Italian restaurant.
The good news for people who spend the offseason on LBI is that Daymark doesn’t disappear when summer does.
Daymark remains the year-round option across the street, giving Barnegat Light a place to eat and drink after many seasonal businesses have shut their doors.
La Riva, however, is another story.
Its season is winding down now.
For September, La Riva is operating Thursday through Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m., according to the restaurant’s latest posted schedule.
So don’t put this one on the list for next July and forget about it.
There is still time.
One More Pizza Before Summer Ends
There are certain restaurants that make more sense because of where they are.
La Riva is one of them.
You can spend the afternoon around Old Barney, walk the beaches at the northern tip of the island or take one of the final sunset cruises out through Barnegat Inlet, then head over for pizza as the day winds down.
Order a Margherita if you want to judge the dough on its own.
Try the pepperoni with hot honey if you want something familiar with a little more going on.
But if the white pizza with prosciutto and arugula is available, that’s where we’d start.
Then order another one.
La Riva doesn’t need to reinvent New Jersey pizza. There are plenty of great thin-crust and traditional pizzerias around the state already doing that their own way.
What it does offer is something different: airy wood-fired Neapolitan crust, excellent toppings, cold drinks and reggae playing a few blocks from Barnegat Lighthouse.
It’s pizza that feels like you’re still on vacation.
And for a few more weekends, you are.