While on a business trip in Eastern PA this summer I swung down to Jersey and a place near and dear to my heart, Ocean City! I lived in Ocean City for a summer while in college and it was amazing. I surfed in the morning and evenings, worked at T-shirt shop on the boardwalk, and roamed the streets of Ocean City with my friends, eating ice cream and pizza. My favorite pizza place in Ocean City was, and still is, Manco and Manco's pizza. It's a very traditional New York style, hand tossed pizza that's sold by the slice or pie on the boardwalk. I immediately fell in love with it that summer. When I created this challenge for my 30@30 I knew I would somehow have to make my way back to Ocean City to try it again. Would it be as good as I remembered? I would be crushed if it wasn't!
On many days during that summer I would visit a particular Manco and Manco's on the boardwalk during my lunch break. I would grab a couple slices, cover them with paper plates (tip so Seagull's leave you alone) and savor each saucy bite! So one of the great things about actually living and working in a beach town such as Ocean City is the amount of free stuff you could get from other businesses. For me this consisted mostly of free coffees and macchiato's from a neighboring cafe, monkey bread from a place down the walk, and sometimes free pizza late at night from other parlors. However, despite my propensity to gain free food and drinks (I swear to you I ate free McDonald's all of July and August) I could never get free pizza from Manco and Manco's! I would try so hard almost everyday to flirt with the girl at the counter, talk it up with the bakers, and still....nada! One day they gave me 30 cents off, but that was almost worse than having to pay full price. Despite their financial stinginess I swore by those cheesy slices all summer.
My return trip this summer was terrific! I walked the beach, checked my old house, snapped some pictures, and eventually made my way to Manco and Manco's. And I am soooo glad to say it was just as good as I remembered, if not better! What a relief to know its a quality slice of pizza, not just a quality memory! As I thought about how to rank it, I decided this one stays outside the system, mostly because I didn't have an appetizer or any kind of specialty slice. How could I properly grade this slice of heaven without fulfilling all the requirements?
Thus Manco and Manco's will not enter the contest....and I am okay with that. I know that every time I venture out to NJ I will, without a doubt, find myself back at Ocean City, sitting on the boardwalk eating Manco and Manco's pizza...at full price as always.
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