The surprising truth behind New Jersey's pizza preferences

Sure, Feb. 9 is National Pizza Day, but doesn't every day in the Garden State feel like Pizza Day?

New Jerseyans take pizza very seriously. Fights have started over less. So when someone sets out to define the Garden State’s ideal pizza, you might expect something dramatic, bold, and screaming with personality.

After all, we’ve heard of tuna sushi pizza at Yutaka in Somerville (respect, but pass), cheesesteak disco fries pizza at Brother Bruno’s in Wayne (might be curious), and the Inferno with spicy calamari at Zi Zia in Bloomfield (you had me at spicy).

Nothing like this was found to be New Jersey’s ideal pizza when researchers at High Risk Pay did a survey.

Instead? Jersey picked the pizza equivalent of beige.

What is New Jersey’s ‘perfect’ pizza?

The “perfect” New Jersey slice starts with a classic, standard crust. Not thin-and-crispy. Not deep-dish chaos. Not gluten-free, cauliflower, or something like that.

Just… crust. Regular, dependable, boring old crust.

It’s a choice, I suppose.

Next comes basic red sauce. No vodka sauce swirl, no buffalo sauce, not even a white Alfredo sauce! Just plain low-key tomato sauce doing its job.

Shouldn’t we be a little more ambitious than this?

Cheese? Mozzarella.

Groundbreaking.

What I couldn’t get to the bottom of in this study is what the other cheese options could have been. Every single state chose mozzarella as their cheese of choice.

Toppings then keep the excitement level exactly where they already are: ‘mid’ at best.

Pepperoni is the favorite meat, and mushrooms for veggies.

We make such great specialty slices in New Jersey: buffalo chicken pies, penne vodka slices, even pies that are just covered in taco fixings. I know we can be more creative than this!

There’s one takeaway from the survey that was shocking to me: nearly two-thirds of Americans can get on board with putting pineapple on their pizza. 63%!

Monmouth County declares itself the pizza capital of NJ without a vote

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

Then there’s this bonkers twist: New Jersey’s favorite pizza chain is Domino’s.

In New Jersey, a state that’s packed with legendary corner pizzerias and famous mom and pop joints, the national chain still gets love.

Fascinating.

Honestly though? At the end of the day, basic pizza is still pizza, and pizza is never the wrong choice.

So if you don’t scold me for sometimes using a knife and fork or dipping my slice in ranch or creamy Italian dressing, I won’t scold you for your choices.

Mangia!

Here's a taste of the NJ pizza joints Dave Portnoy has reviewed

Dave Portnoy, commonly known as El Presidente, is the founder of Barstool Sports. Somewhere along the way, he decided to start reviewing local pizzerias, and the concept took off. This isn't the entire list, but it's a small sample to get you started.

Gallery Credit: Joe Votruba

10 things we do in Jersey that other states just won't understand

Gallery Credit: Kyle Clark

Significant or historical events in New Jersey for February (in chronological order)

Here are some of the historical or significant events that impacted New Jersey or happened in the Garden State during February. Is there an event missing? Let us know with an email to dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

Thanks to NewJerseyAlmanac.com for the assist.

Gallery Credit: Dan Alexander

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.

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