Mmmmm Sicilian...

Many, many moons ago LFJS started a pizza throwdown that left Maruca’s unchallenged for more than a year. No longer! Today, I’m throwing down the gauntlet and picking Three Brothers as my favorite slice on the boards. Sure, Maruca’s might be the media darling, playing host to Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman last month, but I’m declaring Three Brothers the pizza of the people.

Of course, everybody in these parts fancies themselves a pizza expert and the Yelp reviews are mixed. Robyn H. from Philly says 3Bros is the “best pizza on the beach,” while NYC pizza-snob Max S. says it “had as much taste to it as the paper plate it was served on.” Ah well, can’t win ‘em all. Desiree D. cautions to “stick with the plain if you have a brain though down at the boardwalk… being from the shore i know that youll get a tummy rumbler if you dont follow my advice.” (sic) However, her “being from the shore” claim is betrayed by the Brooklyn location beneath her Avatar. New Yorkers, you can’t say you’re from here. We’re sorry, but you just can’t. You’ve already sent your people here to wreak havoc for MTV’s global audiences and further tarnish our image. After that debacle, you just don’t get to weigh in on our pizza debates.

With more Boardwalk locations than I can count, you’re never far from a gigantic, crispy, cheesy slice no matter where in Seaside you find yourself. Last week, my friend Lindsey, who now lives in New Hampshire, was back at her family’s Lavallette house for a week and we planned to have dinner. We attempted to brainstorm some fabulous waterside spot to dine, but as soon as I would ask Linds where she wanted to go while she was here, the conversation always returned to Three Brothers. She just had to have a slice of Jersey Shore boardwalk pizza before returning to New England.

We hit up the Three Brothers smackdab in middle of everything across from the beach patrol office. Linds got a white slice and I went for Sicilian. I can’t resist the corner piece and this one had cheese tumbling over the edge. Two slices and two small sodas set us back about $15 (yikes!), but our post-dinner stroll and the phenomenal people-watching definitely got us more bang for our buck than any fancy waterfront locale would have.

Now, who’s throwing down for Sawmill?

Adam Richman takes on a monster sandwich in MvF's first season.

If you’ve ever happened upon the Travel Channel on a Wednesday night, you’ve doubtlessly seen several episodes of Man vs. Food. If you haven’t, in short, host Adam Richman visits a city/region and hits up its notable eateries. He rounds out each episode by taking on a  food challenge. I’ve seen him take down 72 oz. steaks, somehow eat wings made with the spiciest peppers on Earth and eat gigantic ice cream sundaes. I had always thought our beloved Jersey Shore and its greasy gastronomic offerings would be perfect fodder for an episode. So, one day last week, the @ManvFood Twitter account tweeted a list of upcoming locales. And, what do you know, the Jerz was on their to-do list!

I intended to write a post about how they were coming here and name some places Adam could try out, but they actually beat me to it. On Thursday, my brother called to say he thought he saw them taping at Hoffman’s Ice Cream in Point Pleasant Beach. Curiosity obviously got the better of me, so Cait and I hopped in the car and headed up there.

The cast and crew were indeed there and Adam was in the back learning how Hoffman’s makes their ice cream. A herd of giggling girls perched inside and people streamed in and out all day. (Yours truly may or may not have been filmed eating a cotton candy cone with rainbow sprinkles for the show’s b-roll.) However, we got to chatting with the crew’s intern and he said they’re visiting Maruca’s on the Seaside boardwalk (a place we at LFJS know a thing or two about) on Friday, June 4 and Chicken or the Egg in Beach Haven on Saturday, June 5.

But, if you had the chance to choose which of our fair coast’s fine food institutions to give America a true Jersey Shore dining experience?

A Seaside Tony at Steaks Unlimited? (Cheese steak with cheeseballs inside. If you had to ask, go get yourself one pronto -  preferably after a night out.)

Something from Surf Taco? (I vote for the Aloha Wrap – pineapples, grilled chicken, veggies, teriyaki sauce and goodness.)

A bomber sandwich at Bayside Cafe? (Pretty sure that one has your choice of breakfast meat, egg, cheese and hashbrowns on a roll. Wouldn’t know though, I usually go for raspberry and chocolate chip pancakes and think you should too.)

A sausage sandwich at Midway?

The possibilities are endless. I just hope he has some Tums.

Marcua's, a little... well, ok, a large slice of heaven.

In the June issue of GQ, famed culinary critic Alan Richman lists the best 25 pizza pies from across the country. Nary a mention of our fair state. Not surprising given the follow-up post on his blog, while listing New York City first in the top ten pizza cities in the U.S. (and by extension, the world), Richman states “Pizza, undeniably, is an urban animal…. The big city is where pizza thrives.”

So, the Jerz not only overshadowed by NYC, but possibly not even given a second thought! Well, given just how seriously we take our pie, it seems harsh not to have even been considered. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but if you’ve grown up in close proximity to New York City, you would argue that the suburbs are where pizza thrives. All of us have our fave hometown pizza joints, and our cultural identities are indeed tied to them.

Get into talking with anyone from New Jersey about their hometown and before long you’ll be on the topic of the pizza joints in close proximity. There’s the pie, and there’s the why… I grew up in South Orange and it was (and forever will be) The Star Tavern in Orange for the thin crust, and Resevior Pizzeria for the gravy and cheese bomb. And we’re not talking about any artisinal pizza movement, wood fired stoves or fancy toppings. We just know what’s good. A Google search on best pies in NJ yeilded this Chowhound thread that has been consistently updated since 2002!

Those of us who have dual identities tied to both our hometowns and the shore are just lucky to have two sets of pizza joints to associate ourselves with.

We should throw Richman a bone for not paying us no nevermind. “I tried 137 pies in the New York City and I’m not certain that was enough,” he writes. Tough for New Jersey to not get muscled out of the picture here, we certainly have our share of famed pizza joints, as well as a fair amount serving up nothing much better than cardboard, Ragu and Polly-o. If we were to get Richman down the the shore, what would we recommend?

For the best boardwalk pie, I’ll throw my hat in the ring for Maruca’s Tomato Pies in Seaside Heights. There’s the famous cheese and gravy swirl, for one. Very aesthetically pleasing. And the somewhat bitter edge, believed by some to be due to the addition of Monterey Jack cheese with the mozzarella, is a bit out of the ordinary. This one took me a little while to warm up to, to be honest. I became a Marruca’s fan by marriage.

For toppings, you gotta go with the crumbled sausage is the topping of choice (sliced sausage for me is a non-starter – any self respecting pizza slinger crumbles). And these are boardwalk size slices that hold up amazingly firm, but the crust is light and airy just like it outta be. Insider’s tip, ask for it well done!

That’s my pick, what’s yours?