These pizza places at the Jersey Shore are a real slice of heaven

You have a favorite pizzeria, don't you?

Everyone does. This is New Jersey, where a Friday night trip to the neighborhood pizzeria is tradition.

But pizza has become a food people travel for and talk about — especially on social media. The Facebook group Jersey Pizza Joints, for example, has 95,000 members who dive deep into the details of crust, sauce and cheese.

Pizza fans enjoy seeking out the best styles of pies — thin crust, Sicilian, grandma, upside down, bar, square — and it is tasty research. Next time you head out on a pizza road trip, give these spots a try.

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J&G Family Pizzeria, Brick

J&G Pizzeria is an old school place, as you would expect from a restaurant that opened in 1973.

There is no spot in the dining room dedicated to taking selfies, no option to order via delivery app, and not even a website.

"You look up hole in the wall in the dictionary, and it would be a picture of (the pizzeria)," said owner Michael Durazzo, whose aunt and uncle, John and Gelsina Durazzo, opened J&G after emigrating from Italy.

Formerly the owner of a fine-dining restaurant, Durazzo, who was born in Naples, Italy, focuses on ingredients over atmosphere. He makes pizza with the attention a baker shows bread, using unbromated, natural flour, a lot of water and little yeast. He lets the dough ferment for two to three days, which creates a pizza that is lighter than most and has a crust marked by leoparding, or lightly charred spots.

"When you open my crust, it has the gluten strands, like bread," he said. "People feel lighter when they eat it."

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The restaurant's pizzas weren't always made this way. When Durazzo took over, he made the pies how his uncle did. But trying different pizzas in New York City and at pizzerias like Coniglio's Old Fashioned in Morristown and Rosie's in Point Pleasant Beach left him wanting to improve his craft.

His most popular pizzas are the upside down grandma pie, with shredded cheese layered under tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella, and a spicy vodka sauce grandma pizza with sausage.

"Our plain is very good," he said, "and our pepperoni is very good because I use 100% pork shoulder pepperoni. No by-products, no filler."

Customers in the know also ask for Durazzo's specialty pizza, made with tomato sauce, a little oregano, Grana Padano cheese, shredded mozzarella and fresh mozzarella.

Go: 34 Lanes Mill Road, Brick; 732-458-3434, instagram.com/jgspizzabricknj.

Luigi's Famous Pizza, Middletown

Luigi's has been serving pizza for more than 90 years, but its spot in northern Monmouth County is far from many of the Shore's pizza fans.

It is worth the drive, especially for the old school bar pie with plum tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil.

Jason Emerson, who has run the restaurant with his wife, Kelly, since the '90s, began working for Luigi's original owners as a teenager. When it comes to the recipes, "we stuck with everything," Kelly said.

That includes the large, rectangular, 16-slice pizza for which Luigi's is known. Pizza fan Dave Portnoy, who visited in 2021, gave that pie an 8.1, a top score.

"This year, we started incorporating different kinds of pies," Kelly said. "We added Detroit-style pie and bar pies to our menu. Our Detroit hot honey pepperoni is very popular, and our grandma pie (with fresh mozzarella, plum tomato sauce and pesto olive oil) is one of our most popular pies."

Luigi's currently offers takeout only. The Emersons closed their dining room during the pandemic; they plan to reopen it in the spring.

Go: 650 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft section of Middletown; 732-842-2122, luigisfamous.com.

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Qua Pizza, Manasquan

Don't expect a traditional triangular slice of pizza at this Main Street restaurant. Qua Pizza serves rectangular Roman-style pizza, both in whole pies and slices.

"In Rome, there's two styles of pizza," said Cristina DeMarco, who owns Qua Pizza with her husband, Matteo. "Their round pizza is thin, almost like a cracker. Then there's this style, which is pizza al taglio."

Don't confuse this pizza with Sicilian, she said.

"The way we ferment our dough, it leads to a very light and airy crust and it stays crispy on the bottom," she said. "People typically like a thin-crust pizza, and I think it's for the crunch factor. Square pizza isn’t for everybody, but once they try our pizza, I like to believe that more so than not, people get hooked."

The DeMarcos make their pizza with flour, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella imported from Italy. There's a pomodoro pizza with tomato sauce, garlic and basil; an Americana with tomato sauce, mozzarella and Pecorino Romano; a cacio e pepe with mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, black pepper and basil; and a diavola with soppressata, pepperoni and Calabrian chilis.

If you're visiting from out of town, DeMarco suggests ordering their take-and-bake pizza.

"You get your pizza par-cooked, and you finish your pizza at home," she said. "That's a great option if you’re traveling because you’ll get a nice, fresh, crispy pizza right at home."

Go: 179 Main St., Manasquan; 732-223-3388, quapizza.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore pizza: New and old spots are worth the drive