New Jersey's Best Pizza: Date Night Pizza

October 27, 8:23 PMNewark Restaurant ExaminerNaomi Yun

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Bona VIta Osteria in Summit, NJ
Photo copyright BV Osteria, used with permission

This is an odd category, but sometimes you want to eat really good pizza in a nicer dining room. This section is for you if you've been in the situation where you are craving pizza but want to avoid the pizza by the slice place on the corner, the dive bar pizza, or the red checked tablecloth at your neighborhood Italian restaurant. This is one area in which I think Jersey is lacking in pizza compared to NYC, where a lot of the nicer Italian places have good pizza on their menu.

Best Date Night Pizza in NJ:
A Mano
Ridgewood, NJ

A Mano serves true Neapolitan pizza that is probably closer to what is made in Naples, Italy than any other place in Jersey. The oven was hand-built by Neapolitan craftsmen using stones and tiles imported from Naples, and the pizza is made with Caputo flour from Naples, imported San Marzano tomatoes and mozzarella. Everything is made by hand (a mano), and the wood-fired and sometimes slightly charred pies are light and fresh. The crust is unique: medium-thin but fluffy on the edges. The pizza at A Mano is more delicate, flavorwise, than what we're used to around here, but I think the prosciutto and arugula pie is out of this world.

The restaurant is contemporary and airy, with high ceilings and clean lines. It is a large two-storied open space with tomato red walls and an open pizza kitchen. Pizza chic.

24 Franklin Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ
amanopizza.com

Best Date Night Pizza in NJ:
Bona Vita Osteria
Summit, NJ

BV Osteria is on the other side of the design spectrum than A Mano, with an inviting and intimate interior done in warm yellows and oranges. Unlike the thousands of pizza places in New Jersey that also serve Italian dishes (chicken parmigiana, penne with vodka sauce, etc), Bona Vita is a quality Italian osteria that also serves excellent iron griddle pizza. Cooked on the griddle, the pizza has a nice char and a thin crust with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.

You don't want to miss the dizzying antipasti offerings, homemade pastas, and the innovative but still comforting entrees like the chicken stuffed with spinach, fontina cheese, and roasted garlic. And luckily for your wallet, BVO is BYO.

37 Maple Street
Summit, NJ
www.bonavitanj.com