Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Whew. 50 stops, 100 pizzas, 2,514 miles: The semifinal round in our search for N.J.'s best pizzeria is over. Over 13 days, I visited all 50 semifinalists. This is the last trip report. We'll visit the home of the state's largest slice; two thin-crust legends; maybe the state's sauciest pizza; a pizzeria in the middle of nowhere; and a pizza maker who uses a complicated pizza rating system.
The stops are listed in the order visited.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Strawberry's Pub & Pizza, Woodbridge
The "Joe'' in the photo is Joe Gulino, owner of Strawberry's in Woodbridge. The bar/restaurant opened in 1985; pizza was added to the menu in 1989. Kitchen in back, bar in the middle, and a good craft beer selection. "It's in alphabetical order,'' the waitress says of the bottles. "Then how come Great Lakes is before Flying Fish?'' I ask. She looks at the bottle and laughs. "I'll have an answer for you.''
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The pizza is thin-crust, though not quite as razor-thin as, say, Star Tavern or Pete & Elda's. I'm ordering two whole pizzas (no slices) at each stop. Here I tried a half mushroom/half sausage, and a white. The sausage is from Appetito, in Union City. I'm a sausage guy, and to me it's a much better indication of pizza quality than pepperoni, which is way more predictable. Strawberry's uses the good stuff.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Sciortino's Harbor Lights, South Amboy
I remember Sciortino's original location in Perth Amboy, with its brick oven and tiny parking lot. Sciortino's says that was one of the nation's first ten pizzerias; it opened in the 1930s. Sciortino's opened in South Amboy in 2004, and opened a satellite location in Perth Amboy in 2012.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The pizza menu here is fairly straightforward, not loaded, like newer pizzerias, with dozens of combos. The sauce boasts a distinctive mildly sweet taste. I sampled a half meatball/half sausage and a half plain/half onions, peppers and mushrooms. My advice: order the plain, and let the sauce shine.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Federici's Family Restaurant, Freehold
The Boss apparently loves Federici's. Bruce Springsteen was in the Freehold pizzeria/restaurant about two weeks ago with a party of 25 or so; they sat in the upstairs dining room. Co-owner Mike Federici is the third generation. Mike and Ester Federici opened their restaurant in 1921; thin-crust pizza was added to the menu in 1946. One neat touch: to-go pizzas are put in bags, the old-fashioned way.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Even old-school stalwart Federici's found itself needing to go with the pizza flow; buffalo chicken and other specialty pizzas were added two years ago. Sausage and peppers is a popular combo here, so naturally I ordered one, shown above. The two toppings made for good pizza bedfellows. My other pizza was a half plain/half mushroom.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Brooklyn Square Pizza, Jackson
"The only thing you'll learn me about me is that I don't shut up,'' says Pietro Grippo (at right in photo), owner of Brooklyn Square Pizza. He once owned Pete's Pizza in Brooklyn's Gravesend section, opening Brooklyn Square in the self-described "middle of nowhere'' in 2013. He commuted from Brooklyn to Jackson every day for seven years before moving his family here. There is another location in Manalapan.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Grippo's best-seller is the Upside Down Square, shown here, a big, beefy combination of fresh mozzarella, homemade sauce and Pecorino Romano on a seriously thick crust. My other pizza here was the Peter's Special. It resembles a Grandma, a thin square pizza with a peeled tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil and Pecorino Romano.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Benny Tudino's, Hoboken
You can't call yourself a true-blue Hobokenite unless you've had a late-night, post-bar slice at Benny Tudino's, which claims to make the state's largest slice. Maybe the state's largest whole pizza, too, a 32-inch monster which goes by the unimposing name of House Pie. It'll feed your house, and then some. Photos of the famous and not-so-famous line the walls; Pete Carroll, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, popped in with some of his players before Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
No, I didn't order the House Pie, but I did get its smaller cousin, a half mushroom/half plain, with better-than-average mushrooms, and a white pizza, shown here. The cheese is thick and artery-clogging good.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Dozzino, Hoboken
Marc Magliozzi comes running across the street to Dozzino; one of his staffers had called Magliozzi, who had been at the St. Ann's Italian Festival, to alert him the guy from nj.com was in the house. He sure takes his tomatoes seriously; his are California organic tomatoes from Bianco DiNapoli, co-owned by renowned pizza maker Chris Bianco. "The tomatoes I'd get from Italy - one week they were perfect, the next week not so good,'' said Magliozzi, explaining the switch to the new tomatoes.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Hey Honey, take a walk on the wild size. The Honey pizza (shown here), with mascarpone, honey, prosciutto and fior di latte, is Dozzino's most popular pizza, a Neapolitan-style pizza with the requisite char. I also tried the Dino, with fior di latte, tomato sauce and mortadella. My only disappointment, and it wasn't any of Dozzino's doing: the fabled zeppoles at the St. Ann's feast, a block away, would not be ready for another 45 minutes. I couldn't wait; I had a pizza schedule to keep!
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Razza, Jersey City
Dan Richer, owner of Razza (arms folded, at right, in photo) is a pizza obsessive, in a good way. He double-blind taste-tests tomatoes and pepperoni, and uses what he calls a Pizza Evaluation Rubric, with no less than 51 variables, to periodically rate his own pizza. He's excited to talk about the 350 pounds of hazelnuts, from a Rutgers research project, he's working his way through. The hazelnuts appear on his Hazelnut Project pizza, also with fresh mozzarella, ricotta and local honey.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Bufala mozzarella makers in New Jersey? Sure enough; Razza uses Riverine Ranch, in Warren County, and Buffalo Girl, in Sussex. The Bufala pizza, also with tomato sauce, garlic and basil, is a happy marriage of cheese and sauce.
I usually steer clear of pepperoni on pizza - the world's most popular topping is the world's most boring topping- but if there were more pepperoni like the kind used at Razza (see photo), I'd eat it every day.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Nancy's Towne House, Rahway
Call Nancy's Towne House a subterranean pizza hideout; you walk down stairs to enter a red-checked-tablecloth dining room that look like someone's den. "Home of the World's Greatest Pizza,'' the menu modestly proclaims. I had the place to myself for a while; one of the first lunchtime customers was Mayor Samson Steinman, who came over to introduce himself.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
My last time at Nancy's, I had a sausage/peppers/onions pizza (shown here), and couldn't resist ordering it again. It's a killer combination of three toppings that seem made for each other. My other pizza here was a Grandma, not rectangular like the usual Grandma but circular.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Brother's Pizza, Hammonton
The brothers at Brother's Pizza are Giorgio Scotto Di Vetta and Geremia Scotto Di Vetta; Giorgio's son, Mario, is center in the photo above. The White Horse Pike pizzeria opened in 1972; they'll make 200 pizzas or more on a typical Friday night. Which explains the mountain of pizza boxes.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
I don't think I've run across a more tomatoey pizza than the Old Fashioned Tomato Pie, shown here. It's bursting with red tomatoey goodness, and one pizza that was definitely not going back to the office. I also tried the Sicilian, which has won awards in various local contests. But I'd cast my vote for that tomato pie.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Luca's Pizza, Vineland
It's not every day you get waited on by Miss Cumberland County, but there was Sarah Pepitone (shown above), behind the counter at Luca's Pizza, where she works. The pizzeria, in Cumberland Mall, opened when the mall did, in 1973. Domenico Conenna is the owner, and there are 20-plus pizzas on the menu, including a Philly Steak Hoagie pizza.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Mall pizza is not something that ordinarily gets high marks from pizza fanatics, but Luca's delivers a good plain slice. And the Grandma-like margherita, with mozzarella and basil, is the perfect pick-me-up for post-shopping fatigue.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Naples Pizzeria, Little Egg Harbor
With the winds of pizza change swirling around them, Naples Pizzeria resolutely stays the course. "We use the same recipe, same sauce, from 40 years ago,'' explains co-owner Frank Colandrea, second from right in the photo. "A lot of pizzerias mix their cheese - part skim, part whole milk. We use whole milk only.''
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
I'm pretty picky about the sausage on my pizza, and the kind used at Naples is good-quality. The Grandma-like Brooklyn pizza is tomato laden, with plum tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, garlic, olive oil and fresh basil.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
What's next
On Monday, July 31, we'll announce the ten finalists in our N.J.'s best pizzeria showdown. From Tuesday, Aug. 1 through Saturday, Aug. 5, I'll visit two finalists a day, accompanied by guest judges. It's not too late to apply for a guest judge spot.
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