Pizza Bowl IV voting has begun. Here's how to vote for your NJ favorite pizza

Voting for Pizza Bowl IV, Jersey Pizza Joints' annual contest to find the best pizza in the state started at noon on Tuesday.

Fans and other devotees of pizza, be they round, square, bar or any other style pie, have 25 days to vote for their favorite. Finalists will be invited to a bakeoff to be held in February.

Jersey Pizza Joints' founder Guy Madsen of Clifton said the contest, given the sheer number of great pizza places found in Garden State, is always wide open.

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The contest has been held three times already, and each year a new pizza maker was crowned the winner. Verona's Pizza Terminal won in 2021, Maruca's Tomato Pies of Asbury and Seaside Heights won in 2022, and last year Coniglio's Old Fashioned from Morristown took the top honor.

That's not surprising, he said. There are almost 3,000 pizza places in New Jersey and most of them are pretty solid. What's more, Jersey Pizza Joints boasts almost 90,000 Facebook members and each member can and does vote.

Many of them possess an encyclopedic knowledge of places and when a noteworthy place opens they notice. It happened twice last year when two recently opened pizzerias, albeit from the northern portion of the state, Grumpy's of Saddle Brook and Coniglio's of Morristown were elected as finalists, he said.

"I truly believe the cream of the crop always rises to the top," Madsen said. "Let the best place win."

That said, there are perennial contenders, such as Maruca's, Riccardo's of Browns Mills, Patsy's of Paterson that get invites to the final bakeoff, scheduled for Feb. 3 at Redd's of Carlstadt for this contest.

"Voting goes on for 25 days," Madsen said. "By Dec. 31 the top four vote-getters, I call them the delicious dozen, from each region, are invited to the bakeoff. I can't think of a fairer way to do it."

What's New

This year, Madsen reduced the number of voting regions from four to three, north, central and south. To make this happen he folded in the Jersey Shore region into Central and South Jersey regions.

Given the sheer number of pizzerias between Seaside Heights and Trenton, the Central Jersey competition figures to be intense. By 3 p.m. Tuesday, almost 400 votes had been cast.

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Besides tight competition among Maruca's other Jersey Pizza Joints' NJ Shore favorites like The Galley of Asbury Park, Vic's of Bradly Beach, there are Central Jersey powerhouses, like Federici's of Freehold or Papa's Tomato Pies and DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies, both of Robbinsville.

He said he has heard the buzz about Nancy's Townehouse of Rahwah, Jersey Pizza Boys of Woodbridge and Brooklyn Square, with three locations including Jackson, and Toms River's Slice House to get a lot of support.

'There's also Mancini Pizza (of East Brunswick), which is a really good joint," Madsen said. "All these places have a shot."

In the Northern Region, the question is whether places like Kinchley's of Ramsey, Pizzatown of Elmwood Park or Nellie's Place of Waldwick will break into the Delicious Dozen.

Nino Coniglio, who proudly sported the crown last year says he has every intention of repeating, although it is up to the voters.

"Compete? That's what I do and if they let me in, I will do my thing," Coniglio said.

Madsen said he's less certain of what's going on with the pizza scene in South Jersey.

There are fewer people and Jersey Pizza Joints has less of a following. In past years Lillo's of Hainesport, Riccardo's of Browns Mills and Kate and Al's of Columbus have all been invited to the bake-off.

Extra toppings

In years past, some celebrities have shown up for the bake-off. Last year Eddie Brigati, Garfield native and singer with the Rascals, wowed the crowd with impromptu versions of "Groovin" and "It's a Beautiful Morning."

This year Madsen said that his guest judges will be band members from the Smithereens and he expects that Stephen Baker, "as in Stephen Baker Giants touchdown maker," will once again attend.

A third of the money raised in the event will go to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The rest will fund the event.

When Madsen and 25 of his friends founded Jersey Pizza Joints in the opening months of when COVID-19 closed the country down, the goal was to help out struggling businesses. Now even though things are loosening up, nothing has changed. The mission is to promote the industry, he said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Pizza Bowl IV in NJ voting has begun. Here's how to vote