Restaurants & Bars
29 NJ Pizzerias Make New Ranking For Best Regional-Style Pies
Take a look at the top-rated NJ pizza places serving up New York, Detroit, Roman, Neapolitan, and Sicilian-style slices.
NEW JERSEY — More than two dozen pizzerias in New Jersey are among the best in the country, according to a new national directory of regional pizza styles created by The Washington Post using Yelp data.
“We set out to find the country’s best pizzas, from slice shops in New York City to fancy California-inspired pizzas, gathering favorites from experts, historians and pros around the country,” The Post reported. “For a more populist view, Washington Post data columnist Andrew Van Dam analyzed 7.5 million Yelp reviews of pizzerias to see which regional-style restaurants attract the most and highest ratings.”
The newspaper only considered pizzerias that had at least 100 Yelp reviews and where a substantial share mentioned the pizza style in question — Chicago, New York, Detroit, Neapolitan, Roman, or Sicilian.
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“We ranked them with a simple formula that accounted for rating (most important), number of reviews (important) and how often reviews mentioned that particular pizza style (less important). For most types, we limited our search to the metro area of the pizza’s birth,” the newspaper said.
In New Jersey, here are the three top-ranked pizzerias by regional style (all have at least 3.5 star-ratings on Yelp, and there are no New Jersey listings for Chicago style):
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New York style ("Thin in the center with a risen lip on the edge, dressed in sauce with cheese atop.")
1. Roma Pizza, Ocean City
Detroit style ("Square slices with a thick crust. Cheese often cooked underneath the sauce and used to crisp up the edges.")
1. Blue Steel Pizza, Bloomfield
2. Pizza Knight, Hackensack
3. Low Fidelity, Jersey City
Neapolitan style ("While 'Neapolitan' is strictly defined, Neapolitan-ish includes puffy-crusted wood-fired pizzas with all sorts of fancy toppings.")
1. Emilio's Wood Fire Pizza, Nutley
2. Artie's, Maplewood
3. Aquila Pizza al Forno, Little Falls
Roman style ("Rectangular slices with a thicker airy crust.")
1. QUA Pizza, Manasquan
2. Massa Roman Square Pizza & Italian Specialties, Scotch Plains
3. Teglia Pizza Bar, Montclair
Sicilian style ("A pan pizza with a very thick, soft crust and a crunchy base.")
1. Pete's Pizza, Columbus
2. Rose's Pizzeria, Garfield
3. Gallery Pizza, Erial
Click here to view the full nationwide list, which you can sort by state and pizza style.
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