Our reporter went on a year-long quest to find the best pizza in NJ. Here's his story

EDITOR'S NOTE: Matt Fagan ate lots of pizza in 2023 as part of his quest to find the best in New Jersey. This is his story about the quest for the best pizza.

The journey of 10,000 calories began with a slice of pizza.

That slice came from Saddle Brook's Grumpy's, the first stop on a year-long mission to visit as many of New Jersey's outstanding pizza makers as I could stomach.

Grumpy's, a neophyte in Jersey's pizza panoply, didn't disappoint and was just one of three pizza places I visited on a chilly January 2023 evening.

The others were PizzAmore of Carlstadt and Coniglio's Old Fashioned of Morristown, which has been recently connected with a controversial visit from NY Giants QB Tommy DeVito.

All three pizza joints were recommended by Facebook page "Jersey Pizza Joints," founded by Clifton's Guy Madsen. From our earliest visitations, it quickly became apparent I had bitten off more than I could chew.

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What the heck was I thinking?

My journey started at the end of 2022. I had taken on some food-writing duties for Northjersey.com and when I mentioned my idea about a year of pizza to the editor of the entertainment and living sections, her comment was: "Why wouldn't you?"

With the green light came the grandiose plan that I dubbed "My Big Year in New Jersey Pizza." Riffing on Steve Martin's and Jack Black's 2011 movie: "The Big Year," the plan initially was to visit pizzerias in all 21 counties and perhaps as many as 80 of the state's best pizza places. It seemed doable.

It took two trips with Madsen, to see my folly.

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Not only is the Garden State full of outstanding pizza makers, but right from the first outing, I learned quickly that eating pizza is hard, as in hard on the waistline and hard on the arteries. It is also hard to schedule trips to pizzerias while still completing all of my other work tasks.

My next pizza trip took me to Prima Pizza Kitchen in Somerville, Santillo's in Elizabeth (which just suffered a fire and is closed) and Star Tavern in Orange. Several great lessons were learned: Santillo's is truly legendary and not just for its pizza - Jay Leno was a fan and employee - and it lived up to its name, and then some.

Sampling three restaurants in one night does a disservice to the owners who work so hard to craft their pizza. By the time I rolled around to Star Tavern, I was all pizza-d out. I never filed a story on Star Tavern because, while I enjoyed it, I don't think it got my palate's full attention.

Coddiwompling

In February, I decided to ditch careful contemplation for more of a coddiwompling approach. (Coddiwompling is English slang for purposeful travel toward a vague destination.)

New Jersey has anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 pizza restaurants. Rather than try and dissect the state I would periodically select places that looked interesting.

There is no shortage of pizza news out there, and that's how we found Federici's in Freehold as well as Papa's Tomato Pies in Robbinsville, Aquila Pizza Al Forno in Little Falls and Vic's in Bradley Beach. All were well worth the time and effort. Federici's, Aquila Pizza, and Vic's were all very different experiences.

Pizza overload

My quest to hit as many pizza joints as possible received a huge break in February with the advent of Pizza Bowl III where I had the opportunity to sample pizzas from all around the state, including Maruca's Tomato Pies in Seaside Heights, Kate and Al's Pizza in Columbus and Riccardo's Pizza and Italian Restaurant in Browns Mills. These were selected by members of "Jersey Pizza Joints."

I have known of perennial legendary pizzerias such as Maruca's for several years. It won Pizza Bowl II with its signature swirl of tomatoes that is easily discerned. The second state-wide pizza contest held at Redds in Carlstadt was pretty awesome, however, there was a downside - I needed a few weeks of no pizza before I could get back out there to sample more. I didn't get back on the pizza road until March.

Spring and summer of pizza

Our first stops after the Pizza Bowl were to Federici's in Freehold, Vic's Italian Restaurant in Bradley Beach, Papa's Tomato Pies in Robbinsville and Aquila Pizza Al Forno in Little Falls. We were impressed by the quality and the sheer originality of each restaurant. Any one of those I'd recommend a visit if you are anywhere near them and hankering for a nice slice.

Over the months, I made undocumented visits to Asbury Park's The Galley, Robbinsville's DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies, Toms River's Slice House, and Middletown's Zoni's. All were quite good but didn't meet the criteria for publication.

I also visited Waldwick's Nellies, Ramsey's Kinchley's Tavern, Somerville's Prima, Boonton's Reservoir Tavern, West Milford's Baldo Bistro, which were all better than average to quite good.

Pizza lesson learned

I closed out the year with visits to Brooklyn Square in Jackson Township and finally the legendary Patsy's of Paterson. Patsy's owner Steve Barbarulo, summed up my experience by saying that he doesn't put much credence into people who say Patsy's is better than say Federici's, Maruca's or Coniglio's.

They all represent different styles for different tastes. If you grew up on a Kinchley's pie or maybe a Vic's or Federici's you are likely to say they set the standard.

My favorite pizzas

My favorite remains Coniglio's Old Fashioned, and as Brbarulo said, that has to do with but the fact that I prefer the traditional pizzeria round pie, where the crust is a bit thicker. I get it, though, if you grew up on bar pies and tomato pies and prefer those. As far as bar pies go, my favorites was Federici's and for tomato pies, Maruca's is the best hands down.

Places I still hope to visit

DeLuccia's Raritan, Bruno's Clifton, and some pizzerias in Atlantic County shore towns, perhaps in Wildwood or Cape May. I am also curious about Blue Steel Pizza in Bloomfield, which my talented colleague Kara VanDooijeweert considers tops in the state.

We will see if my editors will allow me to continue my pizza quest. I imagine only my waistline and cardiologist may object. Given the level of interest my pizza stories garnered, I'll tell my editor: "Why shouldn't I?"

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Best pizza in NJ: Our reporter's journey find the top slice