Union County Pizzeria Named Among Best In America In 2018

ELIZABETH, NJ — A Union County pizzeria was among seven New Jersey food places to make the list for having the top 101 pizzas in America for 2018.

Santillo's Brick Oven Pizza in Elizabeth came in second for New Jersey and was 32nd on the list on The Daily Meal’s 2018 ranking of America’s 101 Best Pizzas, which was released Thursday.

Santillo's is best known for its Sicilian pie made of pepperoni, mozzarella and pizza sauce.

"What can you say about Al Santillo? Santillo may be the least well-known great pizza tradition curator in America, the gatekeeper to three generations of pizza-making and one of the most unique pizzerias in America. The man has tomato sauce running through his veins. Al Santillo’s grandfather, who had long made focaccia for his family at home, decided to try it as a business in 1950," according to The Daily Meal.

Along with the Sicilian pie Santillo's Brick Oven Pizza also offers: The 1940 Genuine Tomato Pie (no cheese), 2011 San Marzano “Tomatoes Over the Cheese” Pizza, Lasagna Pizza thin-pan, Roman-style, Italian bread, and an off-menu grandpa pie as well.

Here is the complete New Jersey list, and their national rankings:

• #2 Razza Pizza Artigianale, Jersey City (Cheese Pie): "The mozzarella on his bufala pie, for example, comes from water buffalo from Jersey’s Sussex County; he had to wait years for the herd to grow large enough to ensure a steady supply of the notoriously difficult-to-perfect cheese. And as for the sauce, Richer told the Times that he waits for the latest vintages of tomatoes from California, New Jersey, and Italy to be canned each January before blind-tasting and grading them all, then blending them like fine wine. When assembled, the pizza is damn near perfect," according to The Daily Mail.
• #37 Delorenzo's Tomato Pies, Robbinsville (Tomato Pie: mozzarella and tomato sauce): "De Lorenzo’s makes a clam pie, albeit with tomato sauce (New Haven pizza purists, beware!), but customers can add to small or large tomato pies by selecting from a range of toppings including anchovies, artichokes, basil, spinach, black olives, broccoli, garlic, hot peppers, mushrooms, onions, sausage, roasted peppers, sweet peppers, and pepperoni. We list these fastballs (as well as the homemade meatball topping) to make this curveball even more effective: This septuagenarian pizzeria serves a tuna tomato pie, too," according to The Daily Meal.
• #41 Star Tavern Pizzeria, Orange (Thin Crust): "The bar pie. In the annals of all things pizza, it is perhaps one of the most underrated styles. The maligned proponents of the pile-it-on philosophy behind deep-dish get bent out of shape when Chicago’s signature style is besmirched, but there doesn’t seem to be a similar geographic identification attached to this more nuanced, reserved, and minimalist approach. It’s a shame, save that it makes bar pie bastions like Colony, Eddie’s, and Star Tavern in Orange, New Jersey, even easier to like, and, selfishly, to eat at without battling crowds," according to The Daily Meal.
• #49 Papa’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville (Sausage): "Lombardi’s may be responsible for “America’s first pizza,” but as Nick Azzaro, owner of Papa’s Tomato Pies, isn’t shy about saying, Papa’s — established in 1912 — is America’s oldest continuously owned, family-owned pizzeria. With more than 100 years under its belt, no wonder Papa’s made this list of America’s best pies again. And the family behind this operation is key: The recipe has been passed down through generations and survived a 2013 move from Trenton to Robbinsville," according to The Daily Meal.
• #81 A Mano Pizza, Ridgewood (A Mano Pizza: Marinara, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, arugula, basil): "Shh. Don’t tell anyone, but there’s a little bit of Naples in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The spot has a wood-burning oven hand-built on site 'by Neapolitan artisans, using stones and volcanic soil imported from Naples,' ovens that can be maintained at 1,000 degrees," according to The Daily Meal.
• #82 Bruno's, Clifton (Sicilian: Mozzarella and pizza sauce): "Ignore the family melodrama that’s been reported on over the years, or don’t, and hit both Bruno’s, the one in Clifton and the one in Lyndhurst. We can’t bear yet another internecine pizza family dispute, so we’ll just note that Bruno's is old-school. It's a no-frills neighborhood spot that opened in 1972 and that makes a monster of a Sicilian, both in appearance and reputation. These are huge, saucy slices that noticeably peak in the center, almost as if embodying the ample middle of the ubiquitous winking pizza chef," according to The Daily Meal.

The Daily Meal said it assembles these rankings by building a list that was approached "methodically and comprehensively and brings a great deal of pizza expertise to bear."

Click here to read the entire Daily Meal list.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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