Pizza Near You: Owner Of Popular Razza Pizza In Jersey City Has New Book Out

JERSEY CITY, NJ — This week saw National Pizza Day, just another incentive to support local restaurants hit hard by COVID-19 closures and other measures. The many great Jersey City Italian restaurants — from family-owned Carmine's on Eighth Street to 50-year-old Vinnie's III on Danforth Avenue — always have a little something special to offer.

And one of the newcomers on the scene, Razza Pizza — once praised by the New York Times as having the region's best pizza — now has something unique to share besides food.

Recently, Dan Richer, the owner and chef the critically acclaimed restaurant, published a book: The Joy of Pizza.

A description for the book notes, "Dan Richer has devoted his life to discovering the holy grail of pizza: the secret to making a truly transcendent pie. The pizza at his restaurant, Razza, has been named the best in New York by The New York Times—despite the fact it’s in New Jersey."

(See the now famous New York Times story: Is New York's Best Pizza In New Jersey?)

You can find out more about the book here. And show your love for local pizza by registering and posting your favorite Jersey City pizzeria, or specialty pizza, in the comments below.

Pizza Day Origins

It’s not exactly clear how National Pizza Day started, but the first observance appears to have been in 2000, according to the website nationaldayarchives.com, which keeps track of unofficial holidays like this.

The first known pizza in history — basically, a flatbread with toppings — was served in Naples, Italy, in the 1700s, according to History.com. Immigrants from Naples coming to the United States for factory jobs in the early 1900s introduced their crusty pizzas to major U.S. cities now famous for regional takes on pizza.

Before the pandemic, 13 percent of Americans ate pizza every day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pizza was the pandemic hero, with some chains claiming year-over-year growth of more than 15 percent in 2020.

Several national chains are offering National Pizza Day deals, including these curated by NBC’s “Today”: BRAVO Italian Kitchen, Brio Italian Grille, Buca di Beppo, Cali’flour Foods, Chuck E. Cheese, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Pasqually’s, Pieology, and PizzaForno.

The site retailmenot.com lists some of those deals, too, but also other names almost everyone can recognize, including Cicis, Domino’s, Godfather’s, Little Caesars, Olive Garden, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and others.

What's your fave? Register and comment below to let us know! And if you've got a business or restaurant tip in Hudson County, Email Patch here. See more local business openings and closings below:

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