The New Jersey Pizza Hunt

Date: 7/12/2017 Location: Hillsborough, NJ Pizza Ordered: Plain and Sausage Website: www.bellapizza1.com/ Bella Pizza is tucked away in a small mall across from the YMCA. It is one of the last for me to review in Hillsborough, despite their aggressive social media presence that displays their delcious looking pizza all over my news feed. There is ample parking and a modest amount of indoor seating. There's also a fish tank inside, not something I'm used to seeing in a pizzeria, but a pleasant surprise. The selection of slices when I visited wasn't very large, but it had the staples which I was satisfied with. I went with a sausage slice and a plain slice. Also, bonus points for having Stewart's Birch Beer! The plain slice is a good representation of what your average pizza slice should be. Good sauce to cheese ratio, a tasty sauce, a crispy but also slightly fluffy crust, etc. It's exactly what you'd want in a slice. The sausage was pretty good too! It was...

Date: 7/25/2017 Location: South Orange, NJ Pizza Ordered: Plain and Works Website: www.startavern.net/ Star Tavern is a busy bar and pizzeria in South Orange, New Jersey. There is some parking at the actual building and there is a lot next door with additional parking (which you'll need to use if you go around dinner time). The wait staff is very helpful, polite, and works quick! The atmosphere is very cool and somewhat retro but also quite noisy as you'd expect a popular bar to be. There are arcade games, booths, plenty of posters, neon signs, and a bar seating area. The pizza is fantastic. Star Tavern has some of the thinnest crust I've ever experienced on a pizza. The base was super thin and pleasantly crispy. The ingredients were all delicious and I find myself agreeing with Pete Genovese when he calls this the gold--standard of thin crust pizza in NJ. Just remember that because the crust and base is so thin and because the pizza tastes so good, you'll likely ...

Date: 7/12/2017 Location: Branchburg, NJ Slices Ordered: Plain and Margherita Website: www.stefanospizzabranchburg.com/ Stefano's is a wood burning pizza restaurant tucked in the corner of a busy shopping mall. Fortunately, there is plenty of parking by the actual restaurant. The interior atmosphere and ambiance is perfect for a romantic dinner or lunch. The lights are dimmed and the restaurant feels very warm and inviting. The pizza was alright, but I expected better. The plain slice had good cheese and a thin, flavorful base and crust, but was lacking in the sauce department. The margherita slice seemed overseasoned to me, which should be unnecessary if you have a tasty sauce and quality basil. To me, it seemed as if they were trying to mask the flavor, which doesn't really make sense because the slice was perfectly fine. Perhaps I came at a bad time. I really loved the atmosphere and perhaps getting a fresh pie would change my mind.