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.

Date: 07/10/2017 Location: Morristown, NJ Pizza Ordered: The Signature (Coal-Fired) and Margherita (Wood-Fired) Website: www.milliesoldworld.com/  The Margherita Pie, Wood-Fired The Signature Pizza, Coal Fired ​ Millie's Old World Meatballs & Pizza lies on a busy street in the middle of Morristown. The pizzeria is unique in the fact that it offers an interesting outdoor/indoor seating area. The outdoor seating area was packed during the lunch hour, but there was ample seating inside. Another cool feature of this establishment is that they offer both wood-fired and coal-fired pizza. After being seated inside by the friendly staff, my girlfriend and I decided to sample one wood-fired pie and one coal-fired pie. For the wood, we went with a standard Margherita. For coal, we couldn't pass up on the signature pie. Both pies came out excellent, but we decided that the coal-fired signature pie had the better flavor. The sauce seemed to be richer in flavor and the ...

Date: 6/24/2017 Location: Seaside Heights, NJ Slices ordered: Plain and Margherita Website: www.marucaspizza.com/ Maruca's Tomato Pies is the Seaside Pizza hot-spot. My friend from Brick swears by this place, as do many others who share my love for pizza. This boardwalk pizzeria is very busy during beach season and for good reason. These slices are huge and come with the right amount of sauce. The Trenton-style tomato pie features delicious cheese and a rich, tangy and flavorful sauce. The base was pleasantly crispy and the crust had good crunch. The margherita slice was also quite good and featured splotches of fresh mozz and plenty of sauce. Though there was some room to eat inside, it was quite crowded and the slices are much better enjoyed while soaking up some sun. The staff was very friendly and quick with their service. I know this will be my usual spot if I'm ever in Seaside Heights.

Date: 06/23/2017 Location: Bound Brook, NJ Pizza Ordered: Plain Pie and the Rock '55 Website: www.chimneyrockinn.com/ The Chimney Rock Inn is always an experience. The rustic atmosphere and delicious food make any night complete. My girlfriend took me here for my 22nd birthday and I couldn't have been happier. The wait wasn't too bad, even for a Friday night. The waitress was very polite and service was quick. The menus are a newspaper style that really adds to the overall feel of the place. The loaded tater-tots appetizer was fantastic. It was like you combined loaded nachos with golden brown tater-tots....why hasn't anyone thought of this before?! I went with the classic Rock '55 pie for my main course and my girlfriend decided to get the standard plain. My pizza was perfectly crispy with a thin crust and rich marinara sauce. The cheese was very fresh, as was the basil littered on top. The combination of flavors was brought full circle with the smokey...

Date: 05/11/2017 Location: Stroudsburg, PA Pizza Ordered: Plain and Pepperoni Phone Number (in lieu of website): (570) 421-2584 My friends and I stopped at Benvenuto after several hours of hiking in the Delaware Water Gap park. It's a small pizzeria on a fairly busy street. There's plenty of indoor seating and available meter parking on the street. The service was okay and the staff seemed friendly enough. We got a few garlic knots to share and everyone got some slices. The garlic knots were superb and very flavorful and fluffy. The sauce was also very good. The pizza, however, could have been better. There was a clear over-reliance on oregano and Italian seasoning to cover the lack of flavor. The base wasn't very crispy and seemed slightly undercooked and gummy. The pepperoni was oily and wasn't really great (but perhaps I'm just used to more crispy, spicy pepperoni). The crust lacked imagination and flavor, not being well defined as crispy nor fluffy. It was s...