Move over, NYC - this New Jersey eatery was named one of the top 5 pizza places in America

Award-winning pizzasPhoto byKevin T. on Yelp

50 Top Pizza, an online guide from journalist Luciano Pignataro and Italian food experts Barbara Guerra and Albert Sapere, is known for its ranking of international pizzerias. Their global lists heavily favor New York, Italy, Tokyo, and Sao Paolo, Brazil for the best pizza in the world.

In 2022, they also completed a ranking of the Best Pizza Places in America and chose a long-standing New Jersey restaurant in fourth place.

Congratulations to Razza Pizza Artiginale in Jersey City for such an impressive showing.

Razza Pizza Artiginale is an independent restaurant owned by Chef Dan Richer, a New Jersey native with a penchant for fresh, local ingredients. As the website attests:

At Razza, we aspire to the Italian way of cooking and eating, where location and seasonality dictate your ingredients. You eat the vegetables that are grown near you and stray from the ones that are not. The seasons and your land will tell you which ingredients to prepare. That process is carried through every decision we make because it is the ingredients we use that help us create the best possible food.

The New York Times says the local ingredients are just the start. Their review claims you can divide most pizzerias by those that focus on making the perfect dough versus those that focus on getting the highest-quality ingredients.

But Razza Pizza Artiginale does both.

The Times adds that each season, Richer and his sous chefs will taste tomatoes from various New Jersey farms before choosing which will be used in their pizza.

As proof, they have two different Margherita pizzas, a standard Margherita and one with Jersey Girl fresh mozzarella and crushed New Jersey tomatoes.

If you want something a little different, you could opt for the Cavolini, with brussels sprouts, shaved onions, melted anchovy and garlic, and lemon.

Fortunately, you don't need a degree from a culinary arts school to appreciate this pizza. Guests approve as well:

The pizza crust is airy and thin. There are ample toppings on your pizza and it's not too filling either!

LOVE the Guancia pizza, which is topped with (go figure) guanciale, pancetta's long-lost more flavorful cousin that's actually supposed to go into a carbonara recipe instead of the latter. But I digress.

This is some damn good pizza. Razza has made a name for itself over the years and there is a good reason why. The pizza is exceptional. The ingredients are local and as fresh as you can get.

With raves like that, now all you need is a reservation.

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