NJ.com's Best Pizzeria Showdown

Regional Dining Discussions New Jersey
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I know last year’s NJ.com pizza “power rankings” were posted here before, and I’m sure those on the board probably tend to not take much stock in lists such as these.

Any opinions on their winner or the other contestants?

Brooklyn Square Pizza, with locations in Jackson and Manalapan was chosen as the winner.

They’re best known for their upside-down Sicilian slice, similar to L & B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn.

I’ve visited their Manalapan location before and I was pretty impressed with their pizza. Tasty, fluffy, airy dough, a tangy red sauce, and fresh cheese and ingredients.

It’s also not entirely fair to have a “best pizza” contest in general, as it tends to be of personal preference based on many styles competing (neopolitan, Sicilian, thin crust, etc.)

The other finalists for the contest were:

Angelo’s Pizzeria, Haddonfield

Bricco Coal Fired Pizza, Westmont

De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville

Kinchley’s Tavern, Ramsey

Razza, Jersey City

Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, Elizabeth

Tacconelli’s Pizzeria, Maple Shade

Talula’s, Asbury Park

Tony D’s Pizza, Caldwell

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@CurlzNJ likes Talulahs.

Otherwise I’ve not heard of any of these places, which always leads me to suspect that financial consideration is involved.

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I further find it ironic that so many places from Brooklyn have landed in our area when it is increasingly difficult to find a decent slice in Brooklyn, apart from maybe L & B Spumoni, Best Pizza & de Faras.

Everything else in Brooklyn has gone wide out gourmet, serving miniscule pies with burned crust and no cheese. Roberta’s is the worst.

If you do not have to fold the slice and adopt the stance to avoid orange grease dripping on your junk it is not true NYC or Brooklyn pizza.

I googled Pete’s pizzeria in Brooklyn and it came up 3.3 stars, which quit frankly is not stellar. Another of this ilk is Patrizias in Red Bank.

How these guys move to Jersey and get voted “best pizza” is beyond me.

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I’m familiar with Talulah’s in Asbury Park and Razza in Jersey City on the list, as they are functionally similar.

Inventive pizzas with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. They are the apotheosis of the hipster-esque neopolitan pizza craze. Expensive, relatively tiny portions, but super delicious.

I know of Santillo’s in Elizabeth, as it’s a local institution there. He makes a great pie, though, I would argue that his breads/rolls are better.

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I’ve been eating at Brooklyn Pizza in Jackson off and on for the past couple of years. The pizzas are very good, especially the upside down pie which is similar to L & B. The food coming out of the kitchen is a notch or two above your typical red sauce pizza joint. The owner, Pete, is a genuinely good guy. I’ve only been to L & B once and couldn’t say that L & B is miles better. Worth a visit so long as you eat the pizza hot in the restaurant. Yes, I’m speaking directly to you @seal.

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I’ve had pizza all over, including Brooklyn Pizza and I like Frankie Fed’s sausage pie.

Some years back we found ourselves in what was touted at the time to be one of the best pizza places in the world, Da Baffetto, in Rome. We were seated at a long communal wooden bench with a nice, talkative young couple from Toronto. Bif, I kid you not I remember well his name was Bif, and I were very excited to try the pizza and he talked nervously on as we waited. Our pizzas came and went and afterwards we talked again. We all agreed that it was very good pizza, but Bif still prefers his favorite Toronto pie and I still preferred Frankie Fed’s.

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@CurlzNJ likes Talulahs.

That is VERY, VERY, VERY true. @CurlzNJ does. :grin:

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How can you have any pizza list without The Star Tavern? Same for Bruno’s in Clifton. And others. Pete’s just a “made you click” guy.

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Also in the ‘functionally similar’ department, I’ll offer a shout-out to my original favorite, Porta. Was there last night w friends from Chicago and they simply freaked out over everything. EVERYTHING. I didn’t have pizza as I’m trying to find a girlish figure, but the meatballs are still stellar, and I tasted a bite (A bite!) of the pasta w smoked eggplant and it was fantastic. I’ve been cheating on Porta w Talula’s and Medusa (as much for their grilled wings w Piri-Piri sauce as the pizza before I stopped the carbs) but it was a good reminder that once we hit local summer, I have to put Porta back in rotation.

Razza is owned by a hell of a good guy and good chef; he also owns Arturo’s in Maplewood, which was my functionally similar go-to in NNJ after Roberto left A Mano…

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try Totonno’s in Coney Island, if your in Brooklyn
Nothing Fancy but consistently good

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You know I’ve heard nothing but good things about Totonno’s, and they are on the list to try.

For some reason (family proximity mostly) we end up in Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, and Carroll Gardens when we go out in Brooklyn.

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I can’t tell if it’s just my personal pizza preference, but the highly touted cracker crust bar pies like Star Tavern are almost always a letdown for me. They simply do not have the necessary base structural integrity to make a good pizza.

Oh, and btw this might be a little bit blasphemous in NJ, but I recently tried the cheese pizza at Costco for the first time… and that shit is outrageous. It’s the cheesiest pizza I’ve ever encountered.

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The Star isn’t Pete & Elda’s. The Star has been around as long as I have.

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Ok Mr. Wizard, and that would be how long?

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Nice article, but it misses a key point:

Slices are all $1.99, regardless of topping, making the combo slice (sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, and onion) the value winner.

I followed this principle all my life and had only gotten the combo slice my entire life. The cheese slice is the same price so why not get the combo right?

Wrong. The cheese slice at costco has the most cheese on it I’ve ever seen on a pizza. The cheese probably takes up over half the weight of a slice at Costco. It’s absolutely glorious cheesy goodness.

Man I want one now.

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… just about long enough to have seen Hue City right after Tet.

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I’m guessing you were not there for the spring rolls and peanut sauce…

Do you have any interesting shrapnel?

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Yep.

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Joon their hotdogs are not bad either.

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