Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

By Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey is pizza paradise. There are a mere 2,000 or so here. There are legends and landmarks, neighborhood pizzerias and trendy brick-oven joints, high-end pizza palaces to charmingly divey holes-in-the-wall, pizzerias stretching from High Point to Cape May.

We're here to tout under-the-radar pizzerias - known locally, of course, but generally unknown around the state. For National Pizza Day, I've decided to shed a light on 18 pizzerias you've probably never heard of, places that deserve more love and attention. I did a similiar list for 2017, but this year's is entirely new. Several pizzerias here have appeared on my N.J. Pizza Power Rankings; several I visited during our epic N.J.'s best pizzeria showdown; others were visited this week. All are highly recommended. This isn't a list of the state's best pizzerias, just great places flying under the pizza radar.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Brother's Pizza, Hammonton

Pizza purists will take one look at the photo above and scream: That's not pizza; there's no cheese! It's an Old Fashioned Tomato Pie, it's from Brother's in Hammonton, and it's great. Bursting with tomatoey goodness, it's heaven for red sauce lovers and one of the best pizzas I had all last year.

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Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Dozzino, Hoboken

There are better-known, more popular pizzerias in Hoboken; Dozzino, well away from Washington Street, is the best. Owner Marc Magliozzi takes his tomatoes seriously; his are California organic tomatoes from Bianco DiNapoli, owned by renowned pizza maker Chris Bianco. The most popular pizza is the Honey, with mascarpone, honey, prosciutto, and fior di latte.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Fired-Up Flatbread food truck

Marc Visconi, owner of Fired-up Flatbread, went from financial firm compliance officer to food truck operator. He already had earned his cooking chops, serving as executive chef at acclaimed Dylan Prime in New York City. He found and retro-fitted a former Snap-On Tools truck, opening in May 2014 at the Flemington Farmer's Market. His Just Peachy Pie — with local peaches, fresh mozzarella, Brie, prosciutto, shaved Parmesan and arugula — is shown in the photo. The food truck moves around; check the website for the schedule.

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Rocco's Pizzeria, Avenel

Among my 2018 goals is to convince colleagues to stop going to the same old pizzeria for lunch and head instead to Rocco's, minutes from the office. It looks like your basic neighborhood pizzeria, but there's some excellent pizza here. My favorite is one with roasted red peppers, mozzarella and tomatoes. It's not on the menu; ask for it.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Holy Tomato, Blackwood

There is no N.J. pizzeria quite like Holy Tomato, with its kooky, kitschy interior — marvelously mismatched decor (Betty Boop, Day of the Dead masks, etc.), flowery tablecloths and more. My favorite pizza here: the Parma, with garlic, tomatoes, oregano, Romano/Parmesan, mozzarella, basil and olive oil. In the summer, get the raspberry lemonade, a terrific thirst quencher.

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Stan's Chitch's, Bound Brook

Tile floors, striped wallpaper, high-backed green booths: call Stan's Chitch's "That 70s Pizza Parlor.'' Good thin-crust — I recommend meatballs as a topping — and you just can't beat the atmosphere. It all makes for a memorable night out.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Dominick's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, Newton

Peter and Sal Lombardi, owner of Dominick's, cut their pizza teeth in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens section. No surprise there are Brooklyn and "New York-style'' pizzas on the menu. The Palermo/grandma, shown here, is saucier than most, with red onions adding court and spark.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Pizzeria Mannino, Pitman

Pitman made my list of 18 Places in N.J. You Must Visit in 2018, and Pizzeria Mannino is the place to satisfy your pizza fix. The Boardwalk, shown here, with mozzarella, aged cheddar, Jersey tomatoes and Sicilian oregano, has swirls of sauce alternating with cheese. Mannino's Cucina Italiana is next door.

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Taverna Della Pizza, Spotswood

There's no great pizza in East Brunswick (yes, I've been to Mancini and pretty much every pizzeria in town). Head instead to neighboring Spotswood and Taverna Della Pizza. Recommended: the Grandma, Grandpa (sauce on top, cheese on bottom), or the capricciosa, with prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella and basil.

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Nellie's Place, Waldwick

Kinchley's Tavern in Ramsey gets all the thin-crust pizza publicity in Bergen; Nellie's might be better. It's a cozy, wood-paneled hangout, with a bar out front and dining room in back. Not-so-ordinary pizza choices here include a Greek salad pizza and a rigatoni plum tomato basil pizza. Try it; you'll like it.

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Cambiotti's Tomato Pie Cafe, Landing

How many Culinary Institute of America grads run NJ pizzerias? I'm guessing not many. Dave Cambiotti, owner of Cambiotti's Tomato Pie Cafe, is among them. The pizzeria opened nearly 20 years ago but still flies well under the pizza radar. Cambiotti modified his grandmother's pizza recipe; the sauce is old-school fresh-tasting. Good pastas and sandwiches here, too.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Joe's Pizza, Pilesgrove

Joe's Pizza does something practically unheard-of in the pizza business: It doesn't deliver. "Too busy,'' says owner Ciro della Ragione (in photo). Get the Upside Down pizza, with the sauce atop the cheese. Across the highway is the Corner Bar, winner of our N.J.'s best bar showdown.

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Nunzio's Kitchen, Sayreville

Ignore the strip mall surroundings and step inside the cozy, comforting interior of Nunzio's. The Sicilian is one of the thickest anywhere in Jersey, and the sausage, shown above, is the real deal, not that cheap stuff out of a can or container found at the overwhelming majority of N.J. pizzerias.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Rexy's Bar & Restaurant, Haddon

Rexy's, opened in 1943, offers sandwiches, salads, pastas, pizza - and brunch on the weekends. But start with the pizza. It's thick, cheesy and chewy; the spicy sausage pizza ranks among the state's best sausage pies. The bianco, with mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, olive oil and basil, is a wondrous white pizza.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Mr. Bruno's Pizza and Beyond, East Rutherford

Mr. Bruno's Pizza and Beyond in East Rutherford is not to be confused with Bruno's in Clifton, long one of my favorite Sicilian pizzas in New Jersey, or Mr. Bruno's in Lyndhurst, which our Pizza Patrol named the state's best Sicilian in 2009. The two Mr. Bruno's are sort of connected; read this story for the not-altogether-friendly family history. In any event, the East Rutherford Mr. Bruno's makes excellent pizza. Try the Sicilian (at left in photo) or the Nonna's, a thin-crust Square Sicilian with plum tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

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Fiamma, Millburn

Neapolitan-style pizzas are all the rage these days, but they're not all created equal. Fiamma, with locations in Millburn, Westfield and Montclair (Morristown coming soon) cooks its pizza in a wood-fired oven, and oak is the only wood used. "No matter what you cook in that oven, it's 100 times more flavorful with oak,'' one of the owners told me. Recommended: the Sorrentina, with crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, wood-fired sausage, roasted peppers and basil.

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Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Emilio's Restaurant, Manchester

Good grandmas are not easy to find in New Jersey. Grandma pizzas, that is. Emilio's makes a sassy, saucy one (see photo). The sauce is homemade; you can taste the difference. I brought one back to the office, where it was an immediate hit. A half sausage/half mushroom was also commendable.

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Aumm Aumm, North Bergen

Aumm Aumm is the most stylish pizzeria on this list — a tin-ceilinged restaurant/bar that can get lively. (Aumm Aumm, interestingly enough, means "hush hush'' in Neapolitan dialect.) Neapolitan-style wood-fired-oven pizzas are on the menu. The last time I was here, I remember taking two pizzas back to my car and eagerly making quick work of a couple slices.

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John O'Boyle I The Star-Ledger

What's your favorite secret spot?

What's your favorite under-the-radar N.J. pizzeria? Come on, it's time to share. Let us know in the comments section.

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Amanda Brown I The Star-Ledger

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