I am a 3rd generation Atlantic Highlands native and it is funny to me he calls it miracle water. The next town over Highlands has awful tap water. I am happy to see a new good restaurant opening. Hope it happens soon. Good luck to you and I will say hi when i bring in my family all pizza hounds.
Will Tony ever think about the midwest especially Cincinnati - we really do not have any New York style pizzeria.
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It’s not a New York style pizza. It’s a perfect Neapolitan Pizza.
@Greater Metropolitan Area ... Yes! Yes! Now if we can only get WNYC's Jamie Floyd to realize that there's no such city as "New Jersey City," a misnomer she often uses.
Atlantic Highlands is really a short jaunt from NYC - especially by the Seastreak. I just find it hard to believe that NJ water is miraculous. All the years I lived there, we used bottled water. Good luck, though!!!
@maire And Where was that? We have a giant Aquifer that runs right through the central part of the state, and what comes out of that is pretty darn tasty. AH is not the Pine Lands, but for centuries, ships bound for Europe would stop in Tom's River area to fill their barrels with Pinelands water. See, in the Pine Lands, no water runs through it, it all runs out of it, and the high cedar content made it the best water for long journeys. That is still the case today.
I remember this pizzeria in Point Pleasant NJ on the border in Bay Head. Great, great pizza. Good luck in Atlantic Highlands and come back to Pt. Pleasant NJ!!
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As a New Yorker I sort of want to hold on to the tenets that I grew up with that the best pizza is a combination of the right amount of sauce and cheese and few pizzarias made the best and of course going off to college and discovering Dominos and other chains serve a really bad imitation I also wish the fancy simplistic variety served at upscale restaurants like in this picture could be called something else also .
After all it costs at least 3 times the price , you can't buy it standing outside on the go and it can't be served by someone without a snooty Chef's attitude like this guy . He's not even smiling .
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@VB
Too bad you really don't know great pizza! Once you've had the real deal and, fortunately I have, you can never go back to a NY slice. At least I can't and won't.
@VB This is not NY pizza. It's not even NJ pizza. It's Neapolitan pizza. Now, I love a good thin crust NY pizza, and I love a good NJ thin crust pizza, but if you put one of each down on the table to choose from, I would take the Neapolitan every single time. It is simply the best. My exposure to this style of pizza first came at Pizza Paradisio in DC back in the early 90's. I didn't go to DC often, but when I did, PP was always on the docket. Now, that delicious style is coming to Atlantic Highlands, and I for one, cannot wait!
When I was a kid we would drive to Atlantic Highlands to a spot off Scenic Drive called "Henry Hudson Springs," to fill jugs with water from the spring. Legend was that when Henry Hudson dropped his anchor in Sandy Hook Bay he sent a shore party to find game and fresh water before he journeyed further. His crew found the spring and thus the name. So it's no surprise Anthony would mention the quality of the water as a factor in the move. After all Neapolitan pizza makers will always tell you the water in Naples is best for dough and cafe. Regular high-speed ferry service from lower Manhattan to Atlantic Highlands could be another factor.
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What's this--an article in The New York Times that mentions New Jersey with nary a sneer? Escort me to the fainting couch, please. I'm feeling faint.
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How wonderful to learn that there are such things as "prized pizza" and a "prized pizza maker". I view all the commercial pizzas with a jaundiced eye. My preference is for a home-made pizza on which the various individual ingredients, not mixed, are arranged in sectors, wedges after baking. This way`, for example, once liking of the tomatoes does not conflict with the other one's
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While the water may be good, the Cartons are originally from Atlantic Highlands. http://cartonbrewing.com/about/
Due Pizze Napoletane?
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I respected this guy even when he was Scott Davis, fresh off the boat from Carbondale, Illinois. Any man who changes his label for maximum pizza maker feel is alright by me.
Kenji Lopez was thoroughly debunked the water in NYC having an affect on the quality of pizza compared to other areas. Much more important is the process of the dough making.
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@Robert Daniels This isn't exactly true. While I'd agree that so long as water is free of chlorine, chloramide, and other purifiers that would harm the fermentation process, the difference is largely negligible, water does play a significant part in how a dough as delicate and exact as Mangieri's feels and tastes. The dough makeup itself, of course, is much more important, as is the sourdough culture. But as anyone who works in sourdough knows, water content can make or break a pizza or piece of bread from miraculous to just pretty good. I've worked with filtered tap plenty, and the variability in my results only stopped after resorting to a distilled water.
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@Robert Daniels I would imagine air has more of an impact than water ever would
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@Robert Daniels ph of the water needs to fall within certain boundaries. then you’re good to go.