Wednesday, Feb. 10, was National Pizza Day. There's no better place in the WORLD to celebrate that than in New Jersey. Yes, I said it, even better than Italy.

Maybe not for the pure quality, but certainly in sheer numbers. Every town in the Garden State has multiple places to choose from and the debate can get passionate.

When we visited my cousins in Salerno, Italy, which is not too far from Naples (the birthplace of pizza), there weren't that many places like here. Yeah, the pizza was good, but the choices were limited. Maybe because every mama in the country knows how to make their own, or perhaps that the food choices there are so varied and delicious.

(Amirali Mirhashemian vis Unsplash)
(Amirali Mirhashemian vis Unsplash)
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Whenever I visited my daughter in Texas and her friends wanted pizza, they would almost always go to one of the national chains. That's pretty rare here unless you're taking your kids' sports team to Pizza Hut after a game.

So when we asked our listeners to chime in on where to find the best pizza in New Jersey, the suggestions were varied from all parts of the state.

The usual classics got multiple votes like Santillo's in Elizabeth, Lorenzo's in Mercer County, Pete & Elda's in Neptune. We actually got a few that we've never heard about before.

In no particular order:

1. Paseriello's, Moorestown, Voorhees and Haddonfield.
2. Pizzatown, Saddle Brook

3. Joey's Pizza & Pasta, Manahawkin
4. Nunzio's, Long Branch
5. Sam's Pizza and Mac's Pizza, Wildwood Boardwalk (People really take sides on this one)
6. Federici's, Freehold

7. Pete & Elda's, Neptune
8. Anthony's Pizzatown, Bordentown
9. Santillo's, Elizabeth
10. Rizzo's, Ocean Township
11. Kate & Al's, Columbus
12. Denino's South, Brick

13. Federico's, Oceanport
14. Red Star, Vincentown
15. Pomodoro Ristorante & Pizzaria, Morristown
16. Scala's Pizzeria, Long Branch
17. Randazzo's, Hainesport
18. Denino's Pizza Place, Aberdeen
19. Johnny Longhots, Marlton

20. Casa D' Pizza, Denville
21. Cioffi's Restaurant & Bar, Union
22. Zoni's Coal Fire Pizza, Red Bank
23. Aiello's of Brooklyn, Manalapan

24. Riviera Pizza, Medford
25. Rosato's Pub & Pizzeria, Toms River
26. Bacoli Pizza, Lakewood
27. Capri Pizza, Kenilworth
28. Massimo's Cucina, Robbinsville

29. Capone's Gourmet Pizza & Pasta, Toms River
30. Mannino's 4 Pizza & Restaurant, Hightstown

That's only thirty, but if we took calls on pizza for four hours (and in New Jersey, we could), there would be at least 100.

Whenever people flee the state for lower taxes, warmer weather and less corruption, the thing they miss the most is our pizza. If you see one on the list near you that you've never tried, check it out and tell them you heard about it on New Jersey 101.5 and NJ1015.com!

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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Every NJ pizza joint Barstool's 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. Here is every New Jersey pizzeria Dave has stopped in, along with the score he gave them.

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