Garruto’s Pork Store & Pasta Shop

Just had the homemade meat sauce on their homemade spaghetti. Both delicious! And the sweet Italian sausage was great too. We’ll be back.

If you’re of a certain age from a certain part of North Jersey there was only one butcher back in the day — Popolla’s in the Ironbound section of Newark. Well walking to Garruto’s brought me immediately back to Popolla’s (although there was no sawdust on the floor here). When you see the old-​timer (I say that with complete admiration and respect) behind the counter using a pen and a brown bag to total a customer’s order — you know this is the real deal.
They have all the usual suspects (stuffed breads, fresh pastas, meats) but it’s their sausage that’s worth the journey. I finally found a place with killer sausage (a lot of other places in the surrounding towns have stuff that’s just a shade better than Primo brand).
Pricey but worth it.
Bonus: across the street is Vitiello’s Bakery that has endless goodies.