Esposito's: Good, Hearty, Italian down The Jersey Shore

While spending a weekend down the Jersey shore, we wanted to go somewhere casual and BYOB. Within walking distance to our hotel, we discovered Esposito's (233 East Main St.), which was new to Manasquan. They already had a location in Matawan, and had opened this location weeks prior to our stay.  Lucky for us! 

The dining area was very casual and had an old school pizzeria feel, with a cute patio, which we chose to sit out on. 

Sicilian Calamari - tender fried calamari tossed in spicy red pepper and onion relish 

For our appetizer we ordered the Sicilian Calamari, which was very unique because it had spicy red peppers and onion relish mixed into the fried calamari with some balsamic vinegar sprinkled on top. I liked this dish in general because of the unique flavors, but the major issue I had with it, was there were olives mixed into it as well. My boyfriend and I hate olives, so we had to pick around them, after each having a few bites that tasted like olives...eeewww. The description on the menu did not say there were olives, so we were both very disappointed to find them in this dish.

Bolognese Penne - Homemade meat sauce with a touch of cream

For our pasta we shared the Bolognese penne, which was penne covered in homemade meat sauce with a touch of cream. We could have had this sauce over any type of pasta noodle which was nice, but penne was our selection. The sauce was very flavorful with the perfect amount of meat and fresh tomato chunks. A very hearty pasta!

#3 Sesame Seed Crust Pizza - plum tomato, garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, homemade pesto, broccoli rabe, and sausage

For our main dish, we ordered the #3 sesame seed crust pizza. This pizza had plum tomato, garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, homemade pesto, broccoli rabe, and sausage on it. I have never seen pizza crust like this before, and it is unique to Esposito's. The sesame seeds gave it that Italian bread stick flavor with a nice crunchy exterior and slightly doughy soft interior. So divine!  The quality of all the toppings were super fresh and so full of flavor. I kind of wish I was back at Esposito's eating a slice of the amazing sesame seed crust pizza right now!

I highly recommend and don't forget to bring a bottle of vino! No corkage fee here!