New Jersey has argued about its pizza for as long as anyone can remember. This summer, one of the country’s most closely watched rankings settled at least part of the debate — and it did so in Jersey City’s favor.
Razza, the wood-fired Downtown Jersey City institution led by chef Dan Richer, has been named the third-best pizzeria in the entire United States on the 50 Top Pizza USA 2026 list. Not the third-best in New Jersey. The third-best in America.
What 50 Top Pizza is — and why the ranking matters
The recognition carries weight because of who’s handing it out. 50 Top Pizza is an international guide widely regarded as one of the most authoritative arbiters of the craft, with dedicated rankings for Italy, the United States, Europe, Asia and the world. Its inspectors evaluate pizzerias on the quality and consistency of the pizza itself — the dough, the ingredients, the bake, the service — rather than on hype or popularity. Cracking its national top tier is treated within the industry as a genuine mark of excellence, which is what makes Razza’s third-place finish so hard to wave off as hometown bias.
What Razza did to earn it
For anyone who has waited for a table on Grove Street, the ranking is less a surprise than a coronation. Richer has spent more than a decade — Razza opened in 2012 — turning the restaurant into a national reference point for what American pizza can be, building a reputation on an almost obsessive focus on ingredients, dough and technique. His approach has been influential enough that he literally wrote the book on it, authoring the acclaimed cookbook “The Joy of Pizza.”
The 50 Top Pizza guide singled out exactly that fanaticism. Razza’s program leans on locally sourced produce, artisan cheeses and a naturally leavened, wood-fired crust that treats a simple Margherita with the same seriousness as a tasting menu. Richer has long championed New Jersey and regional ingredients, milling grains and sourcing tomatoes and dairy with the care of a fine-dining kitchen. It is the kind of place that has quietly convinced pizza pilgrims from around the country that a trip across the Hudson is worth it — and now has the national ranking to prove it.
Jersey City wasn’t the only NJ winner
Razza led the New Jersey contingent, but it did not stand alone. Bricco Coal Fired Pizza in Haddon Township also cracked the national Top 50, earning recognition for the blistered, coal-fired pies that have made it a South Jersey favorite. Its inclusion means the honors were spread across the state — a North Jersey standout in Jersey City and a South Jersey one in Camden County — rather than concentrated in a single scene…