Date: 08/13/2016
Location: North Brunswick, NJ
Pizza Ordered: "The Bertucci" Personal Pepperoni Pie
Website: www.bertuccis.com/

Bertucci's is an Italian restaurant chain that spans the northeast coast of the United States from Virginia to Massachusetts. The restaurant doesn't solely focus on pizza, though there are several pizza options. One of the things I appreciate most about the Bertucci's Restaurant Chain is their use of multi-grain dough. Not many pizzerias offer this healthy option, and if it is offered, many pizzerias multi-grain dough tastes awful. Not Bertucci's. This pizzeria has phenomenal multi-grain pizzas and if you are into a healthier pizza, check it out! 

The location my girlfriend and I visited was located along a major highway (Route 1). There was ample parking and there is a large movie theater within 200 yards of the restaurant, making this a good spot to go out to eat after a movie. The interior was warm and comfortable. Staff was polite, helpful, and friendly, though our waitress did have to call a manager over to verify our ID's to purchase drinks -I guess we look too young. There's ample seating in the restaurant as well as bar seating. The kitchen is open so you can see the ovens and the chefs at work. 

The food was delicious. We started with garlic knots and mozzarella sticks as appetizers and both were good, but the garlic knots really stood out. They were a nice bite-size and very flavorful. The pizza I ordered, "The Bertucci," is basically a pepperoni pizza. I ordered it on the multi-grain dough because I'm obviously trying to watch my figure. The pizza was really good. The sauce was flavorful and a tad spicy and the cheese was fresh. The crust was a little dry, mostly because of the multigrain dough, but it wasn't as bad as other multigrain pizzas I've eaten. Bertucci's does have a bad habit of putting too much cornmeal on the bottom of the pizza when it cooks, but this time it wasn't so bad. This pizza, even with multi-grain dough, has more flavor than other pizzeria's I've tried and overall, it was very good.

Other items my girlfriend and I enjoyed off the menu were the Blackberry Margarita and the Brick Oven Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie. The Blackberry Margarita was fantastic. It was deliciously sweet and definitely a good ratio of alcohol to mixer. Would happily drink again. The cookie is our favorite dessert. It comes out piping-hot and the ice cream has already started melting by the time the dessert reaches the table. Getting a spoonful of ice cream and cookie is perhaps the most satisfying part of the dessert. The cookie is rich, chocolatey goodness and the ice cream is cool, vanilla creaminess. It's hard to put into words how delicious this dessert is. 

Date: 08/08/2016
Location: Hillsborough, NJ
Pizza Ordered: Pepperoni Slice
Website: https://about.me/victorspizzanj

Victor's pizzeria is my favorite local pizzeria to stop and grab a slice. The owner, Danny, is a really cool dude and very friendly. The pizzeria is located in a shopping mall along Amwell Road, right after crossing over Route 206. This central location puts Victors in the center of town to compete against the other 5 pizzerias within a 10 minute walk: Alfonsos, Angelos, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and Roman Gourmet. On of the advantages of the location for Victor's is the proximity to the High School and the Park & Ride. This is the closest pizzeria to the High School and right next to an area where students park their cars, so the student crowd will often stop in and grab one of the massive to-go slices. I have fond memories of grabbing a slice after school and then going to the martial arts school I work at for an evening of teaching. 
The pizzeria is small and cozy, but has enough seating to pull some tables together for a larger group. The long window on the side by the counter-top seating allows a good amount of light inside and also lets someone eating at the counter to see the going-ons outside. There is a beautiful painted mural along the inside wall of the pizzeria that depicts a scene at a local square in some Mediterranean town where there are children playing soccer, boats in the harbor, and hot pizza being served to happy guests. Often I will look at the mural as I eat and imagine myself in that setting. It's quite peaceful. 

The pizza itself is enormous. One of the to-go slices is practically the size of two normal slices. If you enjoy pepperoni, they're quite liberal with the amount they pile onto the slice, so I recommend getting that. The slice is usually pretty greasy and often molten hot coming out of the oven. I like to eat some of the crust to allow some airflow in the slice to cool it down. I also fold the slice "hot dog style" and tilt it to drain some of the grease. The cheese is always fresh and always delicious. The sauce is tasty and rich. The crust is thicker than most slices and very fluffly. Overall, I highly recommend Victor's to anyone looking to grab a quick and hearty bite to eat in Hillsborough. The slices are delicious and very filling. 

Date: 08/04/2016
Location: Hillsborough, NJ
Pizza Ordered: Large Plain Pie
Website: www.joesfamilypizzeria.com

Joe's Pizza in Hillsborough, NJ has existed as long as I remember. As a child, our family ordered from this pizzeria quite regularly and I have come to enjoy their pizza wholeheartedly. The pizzeria is in a shopping mall area on the side of Route 206, which runs straight through Hillsborough. It's on the side of town closer to Montgomery and very close to the Hillsborough Diner. The establishment seems small from the outside, but does have ample seating for larger crowds and parties. The interior of the restaurant gives off a local Italian restuarant vibe and there is a large shelf full of authentic Italian products near the counter. There are several options for slices, pies, and calzones on the counter to choose from. The last time I was in, they even had one of the TVs playing the news in Italian with English subtitles. 

The pizza has a thin crust that is on the crispy side. One of the key features that distinguishes Joe's from other pizza in Hillsborough is the heavy use of oregano spices on top of the cheese. The spices are melded with the cheese in a way that they don't fall off when you lift up the slice. The presence of the oregano makes the slice more flavorful and spicy. The cheese tastes fresh and the sauce is delicious and goes right up until the very edge of the crust. Since Joe's is so close to the Sourland Mountain Preserve, I recommend doing a hike and then driving to Joe's for an after-hike slice of awesome Jersey pizza. 

La Bella Pizza is a small Italian restaurant on the corner of a strip mall in Medford, NJ. There is indoor seating and a cozy, outdoor patio area with very comfortable seating.  The staff is high energy and very friendly. The slices are enormous and there are several options to choose from. I decided to go with the classic Margherita slice. Another interesting thing about this pizzeria is their unique bottled soda. They offer Grape, Birch Beer and Root Beer (and possibly more, but I have forgotten any others). I went with the Birch Beer which was very pleasant. The Birch Beer wasn't overly fizzy and not as spicy as I'm used to. It was a mild flavor but paired nicely with the pizza slice. The slice had a thin crust on the bottom and the sauce was layered on top of the cheese. The sauce was much spicier than other pizza's I've enjoyed, but this is likely, in part, due to the excessive sprinkling of oregano leaves. They got stuck in my teeth a little bit, but didn't take much away from the overall experience, as they added a nice spicy flavor profile to the pizza. The crust at the end was crispy on the outside but also fluffy on the inside. The owner surprised me by throwing in a few garlic knots which were also quite good. They weren't hot, but they did have a nice balance of garlic to butter. It was very kind of him to give me the hook-up and it made my experience much happier and made me feel special. Overall the pizza was pretty good and I would gladly stop by again if I were ever in the area. 

Vinnie's Pizza and Sub located is located off of Ryders Lane, 6-7 minutes outside of Rutgers Cook Campus. This pizzeria is the go to for my father and his co-worker when they are looking for a quick, delicious slice for lunch. The interior is friendly and the seats are similar to what you would see in a diner. The booths are comfortable and well cleaned/maintained. On a normal day around the lunch rush, you'd find construction workers, police officers, laborers, and other working-class members from all occupations enjoying their lunches here. My dad's general rule of thumb is that the best places to eat are where the construction workers and police eat. 

Vinnie's is a great place to get a slice and they always have a huge variety on walking in. Normally I would get a plain or margherita slice for my review, but my dad's go-to is the supreme slice or know locally as "the works," so I decided to go with that one. The Works has pepperoni, sausage, peppers and onions loaded on top of the slice. Often eaten in the company of a fork to scoop up the piece that fall off, this slice was a full meal in one piece of pizza. The cheese and sauce aren't as high-quality as some of the other pizzerias I've eaten at, but they are definitely fine for the working man who isn't too picky. The crust was medium thickness and more fluffy than crispy. The toppings were delicious and very filling. The trick to eating the slice without losing too many toppings is to use the folding method where the slice is folded in half "hot-dog-style." This does a decent job of keeping the topping in place. Beware, however, that sometimes the slice will tear before the crust which will lead to some contents spilling onto the plate. I wish the bottom crust of the pizza were a little thicker and sturdier to prevent this, but this minor flaw doesn't ruin the experience for me. I've concluded that Vinnie's is a decent spot, especially so if it can earn my father's respect. I do appreciate grabbing a slice where the working man eats on the regular. 

I took my girlfriend, Kristen, out to lunch here on a rainy afternoon. Nomad Pizza is a fancy, little restaurant in the Princeton Shopping Center. From the outside it appears to be an old car dealership or fire station that is revitalized into a beautiful inside and outdoor restaurant. This pizzeria is a sit-down spot much like a diner or restaurant where a waitress takes your order. Our waitress, Lindsay, was nice and full of energy. The indoors was somewhat rustic looking but very elegant. Not too casual, but not overly formal. The pizza ovens were quite interesting and looked like a clay pottery oven. 

The pizza was on the smaller side and came unsliced with a pizza cutter. We decided to portion it into six slices, which broke the pie up nicely. The bottom of the pizza was thin and not burnt nor did it have too much cornmeal. The sauce and the cheese were both fresh and blended very nicely together. The crust was somewhat thin, yet fluffy. Unfortunately, our pizza came with a good portion of the crust burnt to a crisp and while I don't usually mind a little extra crispiness, it really masked the flavor of an already mildly flavored pizza. 

We also ordered the chocolate chip cannoli and the rootbeer float for dessert (see pictures below). The rootbeer float was made with their draft root beer, which is quite delicious. The creaminess of the float was on-par and I enjoyed it. The cannoli's crust wasn't especially flavorful but the filling was pretty good and overall wasn't bad.