The last of the $1 slices: Two pizzerias keep N.J.'s best bargain alive

For the past two decades or so, the dollar slice enjoyed an enormously successful run, especially in New York City, where it was treated as the greatest food bargain in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

A slice for a buck? Let me have two.

But the perfect storm of escalating prices for sauce and cheese plus pandemic-caused supply shortages has slowly spelled the demise of the dollar slice. One of the best-known dollar slice joints in New York City, 2 Bros.

Pizza, just increased the cost of its dollar slice to £1.50.

You want a dollar slice (not to mention better pizza overall)? Come to New Jersey.

Delizia Pizza Kitchen in Dover and its sister restaurant in Ledgewood have offered dollar slices from day one.

Now they might be the only two pizzerias in the state still offering them on a regular basis.

Note: When we say “dollar slice,” we mean a plain slice on a pizzeria’s menu all day, every day, for a buck. It does not include “happy hour” specials where a slice might be 50 cents, or buy-one-at-regular price and get the second for £1, or lunch specials where two slices and soda might cost £5 but the rest of the day those slices will cost £2 or more.

At Delizia, the slice is indeed a dollar (actually 99 cents), and it’s available around the clock.

Plain slice, Delizia Pizza Kitchen, Dover (Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

One of the last dollar slice holdouts in New Jersey was SIP .99 Cent Pizza in Jersey City.

But the slices are now £1.50 and the “99? has been covered on its sign. Can you find dollar slices on any of the Jersey boardwalks? I didn’t spot any when I visited all 54 boardwalk pizzerias two summers ago.

The dollar slice may be on life support everywhere else, but the father-son duo behind Delizia say their dollar slice is staying put.

“I’ve had people say, 99 cent slice, you probably don’t put any cheese on it,” George Koliq says, laughing. “I say, when an airplane company (offers) cheap flights to Florida, do you ask them if those airplanes have any engines?”

So, yes, real cheese and real sauce go into the dollar slices, just like the other dozen or so pizzas available at Delizia every day.

Interestingly, Koliq and his son, Azem, co-own four Delizia locations, but only Dover (open 17 years) and Ledgewood (the first location opened in 2000, the current one eight years ago) offer dollar slices.

Their Raritan Township location involves other partners, who are not keen on the idea of dollar slices. The fourth location, in Fairfield, opened a month ago, and will offer dollar slices eventually, according to Azem Koliq.

His dad, who was born in Albania and came to this country when he was in his early 20s, is no stranger to the pizza business. George, now 70, once owned pizzerias in 30 malls, from New Jersey and Long Island to Pittsburgh and Georgia.

Sip .99 Cent Pizza in Jersey City has covered up the “.99” in the sign (Jeremy Schneider I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

He longer operates the mall pizzerias; his four current pizzerias keep him and his son busy enough.

On a typical Friday, Delizia’s Dover location will sell 400 dollar slices (50 plain cheese pies worth). Their best customers: students from East Dover Elementary School, just across the street.

“You come here around 2:30, there’s a line, everybody’s got a dollar in their hands.” Azem Koliq, 31, explains. “When the school comes out, we make 20 (plain) pies for the house. They’re all for dollar slices.”

“I don’t make no money on 99-cent slices,” his father says. “Hopefully I make money because they buy soda or something else.

Eventually it will balance out.”

Pizzas, Delizia Pizza Kitchen, Dover (Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The dollar slices at Delizia are not mentioned on the menu, or on its Facebook page. There’s a sign out front, but that’s it.

“I’m a little lazy on social media,” Azem Koliq admits. “Word of mouth is the best advertising.”

He didn’t go to college, knowing from early on his choice of career. “In my middle school yearbook, the question was, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I said, ‘I want to own pizzerias like my dad.’ ”

He does the shopping for all four pizzerias at the Restaurant Depot in Pine Brook, dropping off needed supplies at each location. It’s a long, tiring week — the pizzerias are open every day — but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Asked if the Delizia dollar slice will ever disappear, his answer is a quick “No.”

“Seventeen years, and we went through the pandemic,” he says. “If we haven’t raised (the price) by now …

That’s our identity, that’s who we are.”

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Peter Genovese may be reached at [email protected].

On Twitter, @petegenovese. On Instagram, @peteknowsjersey and @themunchmobile.