If you’ve been reading our blog for some time, you’ve probably guessed that we like pizza.  We’ve written entire posts about our quests to find the best pizza in the Chicago area, New Haven, Philadelphia, Long Island, and Staten Island.  And of course we’ve sampled pizzas from around New Jersey, our neighbor and Miriam’s home state.  But New Jersey doesn’t lack for good pizzas, thanks to its large Italian-American population and it’s strong food culture, so in the past few months we went around the state once more to try and find some excellent pies and slices.  Here’s our results – which happen to all be meatless, for you fellow vegetarian pizza lovers out there.

We’ll move north to south on this pizza journey, starting with Brooklyn’s Pizzeria in Hackensack.  This place is steeped in a rich pizza history:  the founders are related to the man who opened Patsy’s in Harlem, which is one of the oldest pizzerias in New York City (we featured it here).  As the name suggests, this branch of the family originally opened a restaurant in Brooklyn but then decided to head out to New Jersey – this is the first location in the state, and there’s second in Ridgewood.  We decided to go for something simple here and got just this plain cheese and tomato pie.

Not too far away, we also tried Bruno’s in Clifton.  This place is tucked into an unassuming storefront in a strip mall, but over the 50 years it’s been around it’s received a lot of praise.  We decided to share a few slices there so we could try several different types of pizzas, including a margherita …

… a plain cheese slice …

… and a cheese grandma slice.

Moving a little bit west is Reservoir Tavern in Boonton, which opened in 1936 as a restaurant serving all kinds of food – but it quickly became famous for its pizzas.  There’s just one type on the menu, a plain cheese in three different sizes, but you can choose all different kinds of toppings to mix and match on your pie.  We went with hot cherry peppers.

Now down in Metuchen is Antonio’s Brick Oven Pizza, which has been a staple in town for almost 30 years and is also notable for its commitment to brick oven cooking.  There we decided to try their speciality:  this cucina-style pan cheese pizza, made simply with fresh mozzarella layered onto tomato sauce.

And finally, we ventured all the way down to central Jersey to check out Pizza Den in Princeton.  This place is the youngest pizzeria we visited – it was opened only four years ago – but in those few years it’s received a lot of praise for its streamlined menu of classic and inventive pies.  We decided to get two small pizzas so we could sample some different things:  on top is the Brooklyn pie, made with fresh mozzarella and basil on tomato sauce, and underneath is a plain tomato pie with basil.

It was interesting going to all these different places around New Jersey and sampling some such different pizzas:  you’ve got some places that are almost nine decades old, some places that are deeply connected to the pizza history of this country, and some that are newcomers.  And we’re glad, too, that we were able to get some good meat-free pies everywhere, which goes to show how vegetarian-friendly pizza can be and that you don’t have to give up interesting and tasty food when you go meatless.  If we had to pick our favorite out of all these places, it would be Reservoir Tavern, because the pizza was made in a really good New York style, as we’re used to, and there’s so many different toppings that you can choose from for your classic cheese pizza.  But all these places were delicious, and they’re all accessible by either bus or train, so if you’re looking to get out of the city or explore the great state of New Jersey, these five pizza spots are a good place to start.

Where We Ate: The Best Food in Point Pleasant & Seaside Heights

It’s almost autumn, which is our favorite season of the year – but before we switch over to the crisp air and changing leaves, we wanted to give one last hurrah to the warm weather.  This past weekend, for our final summer travels, we visited two places on the northern end of the Jersey shore:  Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights.  Both of these are fun beach towns, each with their own vibe – Point Pleasant has a long, fun boardwalk with lots of family-friendly activities, while Seaside Heights has a more rowdy nightlife-oriented boardwalk (it’s where they filmed Jersey Shore, after all).  We spent about a day and a half between these two places, and in between going to the beach, walking up and down the boardwalks, and riding the sky ride in Seaside Heights, we also decided to try some local food.  We’ll show you what we got in each town, but be aware that we have some images of meat here.

First up, Point Pleasant – we started there because the town and its beach are accessible via the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast line, so we just hopped on a train in Manhattan and arrived in Point Pleasant in a little under two hours.  On the boardwalk we discovered that Chippy’s was the local french fry stand that seemed to be the most popular, so we got ourselves a medium cup and ate it on the beach.

After spending some time in the sun we decided to head a little inland, to downtown Point Pleasant.  We found two interesting food spots there:  first, there was Joe Leone’s Italian Specialties, which is mainly a market for pasta, sauce, and the like, but they also have a counter serving up sandwiches.  You can choose your own fillings and cheese as well as what kind of bread you want your sandwich on, so we got roasted eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, and tomatoes, plus arugula, fresh mozzarella and pesto, all on a big semolina roll.

Also nearby was Rosie’s Pizza, which a couple of locals told us was the best pizza spot around.  Rosie’s only makes a set amount of dough each day, so you have to make sure you order early – we had been hoping to get slices but by the time we arrived they only had whole pies left, so we got one with roasted red peppers.

Next we hopped into an Uber to head about 10 miles south to Seaside Heights.  You can stroll down the boardwalk there too, so we meandered around and tried a couple of different things – including these buffalo fries from the House of Fries stand.

And some more pizza – this time just a margherita slice from Maruca’s Tomato Pies.

We also got some fun candy from Lucky Leo’s Sweet Shop – on top here are some milk chocolate-covered Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle, and on the bottom are slices of fudge:  rocky road (on the left), cookies and cream (in the middle) and s’mores (on the right).

But just like in Point Pleasant, we also discovered some hidden gems located a little more into town.  On our second morning in the area, we stopped into Bobber’s Family Restaurant, which has a pretty extensive breakfast menu.  Miriam had the French toast, which you can get topped with fresh fruit …

… while Cyril decided he finally had to try a New Jersey specialty:  a pork roll sandwich, this one with egg and cheese, plus home fries on the side.

And we also happened upon Steaks Unlimited, which might not sound like a great place to take a vegetarian, but they were kind enough to make Miriam a sandwich with some of their veggie toppings.  This one has green peppers, mushrooms, fried potatoes, and provolone cheese, all stuffed into their unique half moon pizza bread roll.

Of course Cyril tried one of their traditional cheesesteaks – this is Seaside Tony, made with peppers, onions, mozzarella, and cheese balls.

Speaking of cheese balls – we shared a side order of these as well, since they’re apparently famous at Steaks Unlimited.  They’re little tater tot-sized pieces of cheddar cheese, battered and fried.

All in all it was a good weekend for food – we didn’t eat gourmet or anything like that, but we got some fun fries, candy, pizza, breakfast, and sandwiches.  That’s exactly what you want to eat on a casual beach weekend, and we’re glad we were able to search out and find some vegetarian options.  We know that by this point you might not be headed down to the Jersey shore until next year, but if you do decided to check out these two towns in the future, we think our recommendations will lead you toward some pretty interesting local eats.

Where We Ate: The Best Food in Wildwood

During one of the last weekends of this summer we decided to take advantage of the lingering warm weather and head to a beach town that we’d never been to before.  Wildwood is way, way down at the bottom of New Jersey, and it’s not super easy to get to from New York if, like us, you don’t have a car.  We had to catch a casino bus from Manhattan to Atlantic City and then from there hop on a New Jersey Transit bus for a ride into Wildwood.  It was a little bit of a journey, but we really wanted to check out the town because it’s a popular place with its own sense of culture and history:  unlike nearby Cape May, which has an upscale and staid feel to it, Wildwood is known for being a little more raucous, which is reflected in its famous Doo Wop architecture.  The town is filled with bold and colorful buildings and signs made in a futuristic, midcentury style that’s famous enough to have its own Wikipedia page.  So we enjoyed seeing all these fun and crazy novelties in town, and of course going to the beach, but we also decided to sample some of the food around town.  Here’s our recommendations for where to go if you’re down the shore in Wildwood, but just be warned that we will show an image of meat in this post.

Like any good beach town, Wildwood has a long boardwalk that’s got plenty places to get some food to eat as you stroll up and down taking everything in.  We found two excellent pizza places on the boardwalk, both of which having been serving up pies and slices for more than 60 years.  Here’s a cheese slice from Sam’s …

… and here’s one from Mack’s, which has two different stands on the boardwalk.

Another boardwalk favorite is Curley’s, which serves up exactly one item: chunky crinkle-cut fries.  We got a small cup of fries dusted with Old Bay seasoning, but the servings at Curley’s go all the way up to a bucket size.

If you’re looking for something a little bit different from your typical boardwalk food, you can also find The Pierogie Place just steps from the beach.  There’s tons of vegetarian options:  you can get your pierogis in potato and cheese, sauerkraut, potato and onion, and potato, cheddar and jalapeño varieties.  We got ours topped with caramelized onions and a big scoop of sour cream.

There’s also a couple of great places around Wildwood to try some sweet treats.  One of the most well-loved places in town is Duffer’s, which has an ice cream parlor as well as a restaurant and a mini golf course.  They serve up some enormous sundaes so we each got our own:  on the left is the Monkey Business, made with banana ice cream, peanuts, brownie pieces and hot fudge.  The other sundae is called Blondies are a Swirl’s Best Friend and it’s got vanilla ice cream layered with caramel and a blondie stuffed in.

We also visited two different bakeries in town – first Barry’s Buns, where we got a classic cinnamon roll and also a cream cheese-frosted bun.

And we also tried Britton’s Gourmet Bakery, where we had an apple fritter and an apple cider donut.

But it wouldn’t have been a trip to the Jersey shore without stopping to get Cyril some seafood, so we decided to check out Two Mile Landing, all the way at the edge of town.  It’s a beautiful spot located right on the harbor that leads out to the ocean, so you can sit outside and eat while taking in some gorgeous views.  At the Crab House there, Cyril got his hands on an order of crabs, sprinkled with the restaurant’s signature crab spice mix.

Miriam thought she wouldn’t be able to eat much at Two Mile Landing, but luckily there was a really good salad on the menu:  this is the Jersey peach burrata, with walnuts, dried cranberries, a hunk of burrata, and some fresh local grilled peaches served over arugula, topped with sourdough toast and a peach vinaigrette.

We love visiting beach towns for the chance to go swimming in the ocean and soak up some summer fun, but in our experience we’ve also found that many of these towns also have some really interesting and delicious food to serve up to all the seasonal tourists.  We found a really good selection of things to eat in Wildwood, ranging from boardwalk food to bakeries to a nice sit-down spot, and we’re glad we got a chance to visit.  Summer is officially come and gone at this point, but if you’re already thinking about where to go next year, Wildwood and all its great food might make your list.

Where We Ate: The Best Pizza in New Jersey

If there’s one thing New Jersey is known for – besides traffic, distinctive accents, and The Sopranos – it’s pizza.  Miriam grew up there and she can tell you that every town has at least one pizza joint that locals swear is the best in the country.  The amount of pizza on offer can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to figure out what places are truly outstanding – but Cyril is a food researcher at heart, and he did a lot of investigating to find these six spots that represent some of the greatest pizza the Garden State has.  We’ve visited these places over the past several years, so we can’t speak to what each pizzeria is offering right now during this pandemic (when indoor dining in New Jersey is still closed at the moment), but we encourage you to get out and try these spots so you can support local businesses and also, of course, sample some amazing pizzas!

Let’s start with a few places that are easy for New Yorkers to get to.  Just over the river, one short PATH ride away, is Razza Pizza Artigianale in Jersey City.  Razza is just a few years old but has already received a lot of praise for its use of local ingredients – including flour milled right in north Jersey.  The pies there are on the small side, so we got several in order to try a few different things.  This one is the burrata:

And here is the funghi, a white pizza made with a variety of different mushrooms:

And we also tried the panna, topped with arugula and cream:

Also in Jersey City, but a little more into the interior (you’ll have to take a bus from the PATH) is Bread and Salt, which makes a variety of different bakery items, including their Roman-style pizza.  In better times they sold this pizza by the slice, but right now they’re only offering a limited menu which rotates each week and is only available for pickup one day a week.  We were lucky to score a half-pizza last month while they were still on offer, although the only one they were making was this tomato pie, which we carried to a nearby park to eat.

Should you want to venture a little further into New Jersey, you can take a NJ Transit bus from Manhattan to Elizabeth, where you can then walk to Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza.  Santillo’s has been operating in the same spot since 1944, and they offer highly customizable pizzas that let you pick the shape, toppings, and how long each one is cooked.  We tried two different pizzas there:  the 1948 tomato pie with grated cheese …

… and a 1964-style square pizza that was half plain, half topped with eggplant and green peppers.

Not too far from Elizabeth is the city of Orange, which is home to Star Tavern and their famous thin crust pizzas.  This place (which happens to be very close to where Miriam grew up) is so popular that when we went – mind you, well before the current pandemic – the line for a table stretched all the way through the dining room and out the door.  When we were finally seated, we got two different pizzas.  One was a regular with pepperoni for Cyril …

… and the other was a regular with hot peppers on one half for Miriam.

Now if you want to get away from north Jersey, you can go all the way down to the Trenton area to a town called Robbinsville, which boasts not one but two excellently rated pizzerias within walking distance of each other.  We made a Saturday of it and took a NJ Transit train down to Hamilton, then Ubered our way to Robbinsville to check out both these places.  First up was De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies, which started out as a storefront in Trenton before moving to the suburbs in 2012 (there’s also a location right across the border in Pennsylvania).  We decided to keep things simple and go with just a tomato pie topped with basil.

Then we hopped over to Papa’s Tomato Pies, whose claim to fame is being the oldest pizzeria in the country that’s been continuously run by the same family.  They too started off in Trenton before moving to Robbinsville, and while we were there we tried two different pizzas, one for each of us:  here is Miriam’s tomato pie with hot cherry peppers …

… and for Cyril it was the signature mustard pie, which has spicy brown mustard underneath the cheese, with sausage on top.

We tried a lot of different types of pizza here, as you can see.  Most of these places are old-school and have existed for decades (or in Papa’s case, over a century), but we also got to checking out some newer places that are trying out different methods for making pies.  Razza, Bread and Salt, Santillo’s, and Star Tavern are all easy day trips from New York and accessible by either train or bus, but to get to De Lorenzo’s or Papa’s you’ll have to set aside a whole day and either drive or be willing to do a combination of train and ridesharing.  These are all cool places to visit if you want to be adventurous and are looking for something to do – and honestly, with very few things being open right now, chasing down good food like these pizzas is an excellent use of your free time.

Where We Ate: The Best Food in Cape May (& Beyond!)

There’s only a few days of summer left, so to capture the last of the warm weather we’re going to show you some awesome food we ate on one of our beach trips this season.  Not too long ago we decided to visit Cape May, the town all the way at the bottom of New Jersey that also happens to be the oldest seaside vacation town in the country.  There’s lots to do there:  go to the beaches, visit the lighthouse, and check out all the well-preserved Victorian houses, but of course we hunted down some good food, and we’re happy to report that Cape May has a lot of awesome places to eat.  But that’s not all – we also made a side trip to another nearby town that we’ve been to before to sample some more of what they offer.  So check it all out, but just know that we are going to show some images of meat here.

One of the first places we went in Cape May was Quincy’s Original Lobster Rolls so that Cyril could get … a lobster roll, of course.  He also got a cup of lobster bisque, and Miriam had the mac and cheese.

Later that day we decided to check out the Mad Batter, which is the restaurant half of a bed and breakfast located in the beautiful Carroll Villa house, which dates back to 1882.  The Mad Batter has a pub-like atmosphere but also offers up a good number of meatless entrees, like this vegan crab cake sandwich, made from hearts of palm and chickpeas with avocado added on top.

Cyril got their traditional crab cakes, served with remoulade sauce on top of mac and cheese and asparagus.

For brunch the next day we decided to check out George’s Place, a popular local diner that serves Greek food alongside more typical breakfast fare.  Miriam tried their veggie pita, stuffed with hummus, lettuce, onions, and roasted red peppers, plus a Greek salad on the side.

And Cyril got the gyro pita, smothered with tzatziki sauce, and some waffle fries.

And to really get his seafood fix, Cyril insisted that we visit the Lobster House, which is part of a complex that also includes a casual bar, a take-out shop, and a floating cocktail lounge.  At the restaurant Cyril got both the Fisherman’s Wharf platter, which is a combo of broiled lobster, crab, scallops, flounder fillet, and a stuffed shrimp …

… and the stuffed flounder, with crab and scallops inside and a shrimp and mornay sauce over everything.

What did Miriam eat?  Besides the baked potatoes from Cyril’s two dinners, she also noshed on the seeded house bread …

… and a slice of peanut butter pie.

Cape May also has some great snack food, like these candies – homemade peanut butter smoothies, salted dark chocolate caramel squares, and pieces of mint soufflé – from the Original Fudge Kitchen.

Plus this rosemary ghee popcorn from Cape May Market.

Plus the Wham! sundae – made with coconut, dark chocolate chips, and a salted caramel sauce on vanilla ice cream – from the awesome 80s-themed Fine Fellows Creamery.

And from our favorite store in the whole town, Cape May Peanut Butter Company, we got a cannoli filled with a mousse made from their homemade honey roast peanut butter.

But wait, there’s more!  While we were at the South Jersey shore we decided to also stop by Atlantic City, where we went last summer.  This time we visited specifically to go to Chef Vola’s, a small and insanely popular old-school Italian restaurant right off the end of the boardwalk.  To give you an idea of just how in-demand this 98-year-old place is, they don’t take walk-ins at all and we had to make a reservation two months in advance.  But it was definitely worth it because Chef Vola’s is the epitome of a red sauce joint, and it was excellent.  To start out meal there, we got an appetizer of homemade provolone cheese and roasted red peppers.

We also split the arugula salad, topped with blue cheese, pine nuts, figs, and a balsamic dressing.

Then Miriam got the angel hair pasta with a blush sauce, made from a combination of tomato sauce and ricotta.

And Cyril had the veal and eggplant parmigiana …

… and a side of spaghetti with a garlic, olive oil, and clam sauce.

Yes, that was a lot of food for one weekend – but we loved it all!  We got to eat Italian food and Greek food and cannoli and ice cream and snacks and crab cakes (both real and vegan) and plenty of seafood for Cyril.  We discovered last year how great the food in Atlantic City was, and we were glad to try even more of what’s on offer there.  And while we knew that Cape May is an awesome shore town, we were pleasantly surprised to see how greatly varied and unique their food was.  It’s no longer beach season, but next year if you’re looking for some good places to go where you can sunbathe but also eat well, take these two recommendations.