Pizza Town USA

Geographically speaking, Pizza-Town USA is located in the State of New Jersey, in Elmwood Park, on the side of US Highway 46, between the Garden State Parkway and the Passaic River. Psychically speaking, it is located in the State of Nostalgia. Raymond Tomo opened Pizza-Town, "America's Favorite Town," in 1958. I can't imagine it's changed much since then. More a roadside snack stand than typical slice joint, it's done up in glossy red, white, and blue paint. Depictions of Uncle Sam abound. The staff works behind a stainless steel–and-glass partition reminiscent of an Eisenhower Era diner or drive-up.These days, Tomo's children, Lisa, Michele, and Bruce run the show, remaining true to the style of pizza their father made — very thin, crisp crusted pies with a robust homemade sauce and just enough high-quality, part-skim regular mozzarella.The pizza is delicious. There's no gummy, undercooked dough here. At the same time, it's not crunchy, tough, or overcooked. There's a nice amount of color on the crust and a bit of charring on the underside, along with little bits of crunchy semolina flour left over from the pizza-peel trip into one of the eight hot gas ovens that line the wall behind the staff.