Gather Around the Table 

There is nothing that goes better together then family, friends, love and food, the necessary essentials of life.   Solo Bella restaurant in Jackson, N.J is the epitome of all four in their truest form coming together, creating the music of life.   

 Isabella Basille, who is known as Bella, started out many years ago when her children, daughter Maria, and sons, Salvatore, Dominick, and Vincent were born. Becoming a Mom is a full-time job, but not knowing what the future holds in store for any of us, she never imagined being in the restaurant business, let alone owning her own restaurant was in the cards.

 

But how could it not be, her Grandfather, Gregory Auditore, who had immigrate over from Southern Italy, opened a pastry shop called “The Mona Lisa”, which sat on Court Street in between 3rd and 4th Place in Red Hook-South Brooklyn.  An artist at heart, he had painted the iconic Mona Lisa on the sign of the shop, becoming known not only for those delicious cookies, pastries and breads, but you could spot the sign blocks away.  Her Mom, Connie, would make eggplant and a meatball hero’s, in their tiny brownstone kitchen, and her Dad, Dominick, would sell them to the longshoreman who worked the docks in Red Hook.  Eventually opening up a hero shop called “Chubby Mary’s” that was between Nelson & Luguer Street, the hero’s became so popular that they opening three more shops in various locations. 

         

Growing up, as any kid would do, when your family has a business, Bella and her sister Joy were always either helping their Mom package sandwiches or going over to their Grandfather’s bakery, filling the fresh fried cannoli shells, helping the customers, that in those days everyone was family and working the counter wrapping up the sweet baked goods and bread for everyone to take home.  When thinking back to how it used to be, families coming together in an ever so changing world, what they didn’t realize at the time, the impact it would make, not only to the kids that were helping their Mom’s, Dad’s and Grandparents, but the values and traditions that were being instilled for the next generation to come and so on, while starting to put together the building blocks of a neighborhood.. 

      

Driving up into the parking lot of Solo Bella, it reminds me of an Italian Villa of the prestige by scale, that’s adorned with a stone stucco cream colored exterior, wrought iron lamps that divide the slim windows with dark canopies, very warm and inviting.  Open the first door of the entrance, and while walking through the breezeway looking around making your way to the second door, it is clear that Bella stands on every bit of family and traditions, past to present, with old and new photos that hang the walls of family members that include, her children, eleven grandchildren, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.  Walk through the second door, and your home.  Bella brought not only her roots of Red Hook, Brooklyn, but remnants of the old country, as well.  As they say, “the writing is on the wall” in this case, the paintings are on the wall, which are more like massive beautiful sketches of back home.  Paying homage to their memories of the neighborhood, like the Brooklyn Bridge, Court Pastry Shop, Red Hook Terminal, St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church, and one very close to the heart, the childhood home they grew up in, on Dennet Place, known as Cats Alley to the neighborhood people, where traditions were started and memories made.  And although her Grandfathers pastry shop has been long gone, its been said that the painting of the Mona Lisa, sits behind a renovated wall, just being preserved for one of the family members to unveil it again.  

 

When entering Solo Bella,  look around at the eclectic collaboration, and when I say eclectic, I’m talking about the famous leg lamp from “A Christmas Story”   that lamp seems to be popping up everywhere, not just at Christmas time and I think because, it’s now become part of iconic America, reminds us all of how simple times were back then, so it sits among the orchestrated symphony of  oil’s, vinegar’s, canned sauce, fresh lemon’s, and heads of garlic, that is truly the start of something delicious, as the brick oven illuminates in the distance…  With large clear jars that sit on the counter filled with homemade Italian cookies and cannoli shells, made from recipes of the old country and just waiting to be accompanied by that end of meal cappuccino, espresso, or cup of coffee.  

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With two dining rooms, one is opened aired, more like family style, decorated to a Tuscany theme of orange, green and tan walls, dark woods, beamed vaulted ceilings, and beautiful rustic chandeliers, the other caters and set to a smaller more intimate crowd, both beautifully done.  But that is just a small part of what is being done here.  Serving hearty homemade Sicilian dishes with a menu that covers everything from soup to nuts, as they used to say back in the day.  An array of appetizers, we had decided on the cold antipasto, prosciutto, soppressata, ham, olives and imported provolone, it was, by far, the freshest antipasto I’ve had in a long time.  Then the clam’s oreganato with the hint of lemon, superb, both accompanied by their in house baked bread and everything bread sticks, with an herb dipping oil.   The bread and bread-sticks are not the only thing being made fresh at Solo Bella. Priding themselves on how it used to be and traditions, their pizza dough and desserts are also done from scratch.  Then the time came to decide on what type of pizza, with what toppings?  Stop there!!  Homemade dough plus a brick oven, I can’t decide and was so glad I left it up to Bella.  What came to the table was their square, topped with a marinara, light on the mozzarella, and then dusted just perfectly with Locatelli grated cheese.  There is a saying, nothing is perfect, I soon found out after taking the first bite, that perfection was found in Solo Bella’s delicious square brick oven pizza, as perfection continued to repeat itself once the stuffed Rigatoni with Bolognese and a beautiful bowl of ravioli made their way to our table.  Everything was outstanding, every dish out trumped the next, and then dessert came finishing off a beautiful meal with fresh cannoli’s, Italian cookies and usually an expresso, but in our case a Manhattan Special, a carbonated cold espresso soda, you guessed it, born, raised, and still distributed from Brooklyn.

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The family is strong, Isabella works very hard, not only at keeping traditions and family solid, it’s just as important as the meal,  that the minute you step through the doors you get the sense of comfort, warmth and home, and I have to say, it is at the highest, beautifully done.  Mostly everyone that works there is family, and if not, have become, adding to the delicious meals and making it a wonderful experience.

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Now that her children are grown, daughter Maria hung up her apron in the business to become a Mom of three boys and a school teacher, her sons followed in her footsteps, Dominick, is there with her at Solo Bella, while also opening up a pizza place with his cousin Vinny called Basiles’s in Middletown, NJ,  Salvatore, came together with her sister Joy’s son, Francis, and the boys ventured off on their own endeavor creating “Artichoke Basille’s Pizza”, that’s becoming quite the phenomenon across the country. 

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Bella and her family might have come a long way from the simpler times of growing up in Brooklyn, remembering how it is the bond of family and working together. While sometimes it’s not been easy when life throws you curve balls, you have to look around to see where you came from, reflect on what you have gone through, continue to take a stance for what you believe in, all while being the rock, supporter and guide for the ones that look up to you. Balancing work and family in this business is not an easy task, but when seeing the magnitude of everyone coming together, working off of past generations that are so deeply rooted in the family core and possibly it being the magic to their success, there is no other way to do it, but beautifully, while always remembering that life sometimes can be Fragile, in Italian “Far-gil-e” , but as long as the family is strong and food flowing,  that will always be the music of life. Just recently making a big move to a farm in the area 

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 Solo Bella will continue to be beautiful encore in Jackson, New Jersey for many years to come. 

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Solo Bella

426 Chandler Rd, Jackson Township, NJ 08527

(732) 961-0951

solobella.com