‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino is opening a cheesesteak and pizza shop at the Jersey Shore
Joey Merlino, the onetime wiseguy, is setting up on the Boardwalk in Wildwood. This location will sell pizzas, too, including a “Skinny Joey” special. A cheesesteak shop in Delco is also on the way.
A year after opening a cheesesteak shop in South Philadelphia, “Skinny Joey” Merlino is syndicating: He has a new location coming to the Jersey Shore, followed soon by a third in Delaware County.
Merlino, perhaps Philadelphia’s best-known wiseguy, is taking over Joe’s Pizzeria at the Boardwalk and Magnolia Avenue in Wildwood. Unlike the original location, this stand will also sell pizza, his partner Joe “Lil’ Snuff” Perri told The Inquirer. It’s expected to open shortly before Memorial Day.
“It’ll be the same core menu as Skinny Joey’s,” Perri said, promising a “tight” pizza menu including plain cheese, white, a grandma pie, and two specialties — a Lil’ Snuff special (topped with chicken and hot honey) and a Skinny Joey special (“basically a cheesesteak on a pizza: Cooper sharp and cherry peppers”).
The restaurant will hold a job fair on May 9 at 2812 Boardwalk.
Merlino is also behind a Skinny Joey’s shop that will sell only sandwiches on the former site of Don’s Deli at 1509 Meetinghouse Rd. in Boothwyn, Delaware County, Perri said. He expects it to open “around June.”
At 64, Merlino seems to be riding high personally and professionally. It’s been nearly five years since he completed supervised release — the last formality in a federal gambling case that followed decades of law-enforcement attention and allegations that he led a faction of the Philadelphia Mafia during a bloody stretch of the 1990s.
Merlino has recast himself as a YouTube personality and podcaster. Rather than keep a low profile, Merlino cultivates an image as part neighborhood celebrity, part provocateur, part salesman. He was unavailable to comment on this latest business venture.
Perri, his sidekick, said he and Merlino are proud of the cheesesteak business. He said the shop, on South Broad Street a few blocks from Citizens Bank Park, sells an average of 1,200 sandwiches a day.
“We’ve really made a mark,” he said. “For years, people coming to Philly talked about the usual spots like Pat’s and Geno’s. Now we’re part of that conversation.”
