I was born in Manhattan, NYC. I was raised in Fort Lee, NJ, in a home overlooking the NYC skyline. I’ve always loved pizza. Growing up in NJ, pizza was always on the menu. Everyone had a favorite pizza place. For me, it was one of two places; Ft. Lee Pizza (which is still there and is still awesome) and Jerry’s, which was great at well. Ft. Lee was, at the time, filled with Italians, so Italian food was everywhere, and the pizza was excellent. So, to be clear, I review pizza with a NJ/NY viewpoint and tastebuds. If you disagree, that’s ok.
I have spent much of my professional life as an entrepreneur; starting, building and selling companies; from a tour and yacht cruise company to a technology company and a few in between. Some of these ventures were successful, some not. So goes the life of an entrepreneur. I mention this because two of my startups were located in NYC, one on 7th Avenue, one on Madison Avenue. As a startup guy, I also spent a lot of time in NYC’s village, where some of my friends’ startups were located. There are pizzerias everywhere in NYC. So, lunch was often spent going across the street, ordering a couple of slices and a soda (no, not “pop”), and enjoying my meal while people watching.
For the past thirteen years, I lived in Northwest Indiana where I tried nearly every pizza around. Now that I’ve moved back East, I’m going to add pages for NY, NJ and CT pizzas. I’ll post pictures of the pizza and taste-test it.
If you follow this blog and my social media posts, you see I don’t hold back. For my posts, I’ve never been asked to “take it easy” on anyone or any restaurant or to skew my opinion. I’m just not that kind of guy and I’d simply never do it. I’m not making comments maliciously. I’m just a pizza snob. But I’m always willing to try a pizza. Just don’t be mad if I don’t LOVE it. Or even if I don’t like it at all. Please send me suggestions on which pizza you think I should try. But, don’t bother with anything deep-dish or that Oven Grinder pot pie / cheese soup thing.
My blog, as of right now, does not include advertising, and I currently am not being paid by any advertiser. I will also not accept any pizza for free. I may be from NJ, but I cannot be bought. If I review a restaurant’s pizza, what I taste is what you get.
So, to conclude, I’m from NJ. I’ve worked in NYC much of my life. Does this influence my pizza posts? Yes, without question. I’ll say it again; I’m biased – I like East Coast Pizza, but I can certainly appreciate other pizzas.
That Pizza Guy 