Fort Lee Pizzeria

[menton1]

I heard about this place from a business associate and remember having been there many years ago. I believe its an old converted stainless diner, but the report is is that the SLICE pizza here is one of the best!

Any first hand word on the slices here? Do they rate with Pizza Town in Elmwood Park?

We need a good slice pizza in NJ, because, 99% of the time, NJ slice pizza SUCKS!!

[doxy216]

Boy you said it. There is nowhere to get a good slice. Tryed the new,( they moved to the next corner) old Vincents in Cliffside the other night, very disappointing. We used to live in Fort Lee and never had pizza at Fort Lee Pizza aka the old diner. We did like Pizza King in Fort Lee and presently like Garden Pizza in fairview in the Bergen Blvd, strip mall. Now we reside in the Saddle River Valley area of Bergen and guess what ? Its a pizza wasteland. Margarita and Grandma style pies are rampant, but a good ol slice faget about it!

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Garden Pizza
153 Bergen Blvd Ste 3, Fairview, NJ 07022

[KevinS]

What about La Gondola on RT 17 in Ramsey, Sal's in Ramsey, Renatos and Mama Rosa's in Ridgewood, Allendale Pizzeria, and, from what I remember, if you hit it right, the Fireplace on 17. Also, Tony's in Midland Park had great Sicilian. When I lived there, these were all great slice places, and superior to anything outside of the area.

[menton1]

I've only had Fireplace pizza once, up the stairs, and it was one of the WORST slices ever! 3 bites and in the trash, it was pure cardboard with a forgettable sauce. If Renato's is that free-standing building with the glass floor to ceiling windows on Maple, I tried that once, also, and it was pretty brutal. No turnover there of pizza much, very oxidized stuff. I don't hold out much hope for your other recs either...

But PT USA and Ft Lee Pizza seem to be a bit above average, it's a low bar, because NJ slice pizza generally SUCKS.

[tommy]

I agree with your "slice pizza" theory. And with your assessment of Renato's. It's just like every other pizza place. Their grandma slice is a good option if you need to stop there, but it's nothing that you couldn't make better at home, and it's certainly nothing exceptional.

[KevinS]

I guess I am in denial and things truly have slipped since moving away. If so, that's tragic. When I was there, each place seemed to have their own take on pizza, a unique taste. It WAS good then. The situation as everybody seems to describe is truly a sad state of affairs.

[tommy]

I think there are a few things at play here, including these 2:

1) we think things tasted better than they did years ago, due to factors like age, experience, changing tastes, nostalgia.
2) these places are using lower quality ingredients, original owners have moved on, and they really, truly are not as good as they used to be.

[menton1]

I think you mean that they tasted better years ago, not now...

And yes, definitely lower grade ingredients. Probably the good ingredients they used are not even available any more.

I remember a place when I used to work in Jersey City, in Journal Sq above the PATH station, 3 Guys or some such, was excellent pizza. Probably gone now as well.

[KevinS]

Lower quality ingredients now. Interesting. It seemed every pizza place got their ingredients from Lisanti Foods. I don't think they even are around anymore.

[tommy]

I didn't articulate that well. What I mean to say is the perception that people have of how good everything was "in the good old days" is skewed; it wasn't very good to begin with.

For example, I used to think the steaks at Arthur's were great. Now I know better. But, I know this is mostly because my tastes have changed and matured, not because Arthur's "isn't as good as it used to be." People who don't put that much thought into these things might assume that it simply went downhill, when the reality is it's probably exactly the same as it was 20 years ago.

[menton1]

No, that's exactly what I thought you meant. Sure, our tastes "mature" as we get older and become more discriminating, especially folks like you and me that take a big interest in food. Food analysis was much less sophisticated in the old days as well...

[tommy]

Indeed I enjoyed a wide variety of foods 20 years ago. Not so much these days. I call it discriminating. My wife calls it annoying.

[menton1]

Well, at 18-20 years old we also thought we liked McDonald's. And fried rice. Used to go to Chinatown NY at 1AM in those days, those old-style Cantonese places are long gone now.

[fourunder]

Kevin,

Hang in there buddy....not everyone subscribes to the opinions of a few....I certainly don't and recently, your suggestion of Allendale Pizza got some positive feedback and reviews

http://www.northjersey.com/food_dinin....