Member Monday – William Pompeo

Looking for the best Fresh Mozzarella in Bergen County? Annabella’s Salumeria E Groceria Italiana in East Rutherford was voted the tops in Bergen Health & Life’s Best of 2015 contest. 

“The fresh mozz is the best,” customer Justin Freeman of Englewood told Daily Voice. He said he has been eating at Annabella’s since it opened 11 years ago.

“I have been coming here for 11 years and I send all of my customers here,” added Keith Russo of Carlstadt, who works as a limo driver. “The food is good, it’s homemade and the mozzarella is the best!”

William Pompeo, owner of Annabella’s at 246 Hackensack St., credits his success to his passion for food. “No one makes mozz like we do,” Pompeo said. “It’s all in how we prepare it. It’s all a matter of love.” Pompeo “Mozzy Man” even has a theme song that he sang and recorded to go with the cheesy creation. He plays the song at least once a day in the store for customers — especially when he is handcrafting the mozzarella, which is four or five times a day, averaging about 80 pounds daily. He even broke out into song “Mozzy Man” played over the speakers. Each and every customer that entered the store raved of the food and chatted with Pompeo about his family and life.

The Mozzy Man said he inherited his love of food from his grandparents. One grandmother was from Bitonto, Italy and the other from Palermo, Sicily. “I started cooking with both of my grandparents at age 5 or 6,” he said, noting his his manicotti and stuffed meatballs are from his grandmother Elizabeth’s recipe and the Pasta Fagioli, rice balls and antipasto were created by his grandmother Felicia. Pompeo has two sons, Nicholas and Franco. Nicholas is already starting to follow in his father’s footsteps. “Nicholas comes here everyday after preschool,” Pompeo said. “He learned to crack an egg with one hand at 3 years old.”