Table of Contents
The Quick Version
- Jersey Shore boardwalk pizza is its own style: thin, crispy, foldable crust, a sweeter sauce, and cheese laid down before the sauce. Manco & Manco has made it that way on the boardwalk since 1956.
- The cheese-first order came from Trenton. Italian families in Trenton built the tomato pie in the early 1900s, and the method traveled 90 miles east with the families who brought it down for the summer crowds.
- Consistency is what has kept it going for 70 years. Same recipe, same hand-tossed show at the counter, now run by the third generation.
Boardwalk pizza is not just pizza. It has its own crust, its own sauce, and its own rules. Those rules were not invented on the beach. They were carried there from a factory town 90 miles inland, and Manco & Manco has been serving them on the Ocean City Boardwalk since 1956.
It Started in Trenton, Not at the Shore
New Jersey has been making pizza almost as long as America has. The first pizzeria in the state opened in Trenton in 1910, five years after the first one in the country opened in New York.
Trenton did it differently. Italian families working the city’s steel mills and potteries built a pie they called tomato pie. Thin crust. Light, crisp bake. Cheese and toppings laid down first, then crushed tomatoes spooned over the top.
The first pizzeria in New Jersey opens, in Trenton
From Trenton kitchens to the Ocean City boardwalk
Toppings down, then tomatoes spooned over the top
Not a variation. In Trenton, that was the pizza. Everyone else was doing it backwards.
That order matters. Sauce on top keeps the cheese from steaming the crust underneath it. The crust stays crackly. The tomato tastes brighter because it never gets buried.
That is the recipe that eventually came down the shore.
Why the Boardwalk Was Ready for It
Ocean City was founded in 1879 by four Methodist ministers who wanted a Christian seaside resort. No alcohol. It is still a dry town today. The boardwalk that runs the length of the beach was built in 1928.
No bars meant the boardwalk itself was the nightlife. Families walked it. Kids ran it. And everybody got hungry.
Boardwalk food started catching on between the world wars. After World War II it took off, and pizza took off with it. Cars, paid vacations, and a booming Philadelphia day-trip market put more people on the boards than ever before.
A pie built to be eaten on the move, folded in half, no fork required, was the right food in the right place at exactly the right time.
What Makes Boardwalk Pizza Its Own Style
Three things set it apart.
A Thin, Crispy Crust
Foldable, no fork required.
A Sweeter Tomato Sauce
Swirled on top, never buried.
A Generous Layer of Mozzarella
Sometimes with a little cheddar mixed in.
It is made to be eaten walking. Folded in half. Talked over while you cut through the crowd on a summer night.
There is no official record of who made the first one. What is documented is the family tree. The shore’s oldest pizza names trace back to Trenton kitchens, and they brought the tomato pie method with them when the summer crowds got too big to ignore.
The Cheese-First Trick
Most pizza gets sauce first, then cheese. Manco & Manco flips it. Cheese goes down first. Then a swirl of tomato sauce gets added on top, straight from a refrigerated dispenser.
Most Pizza
- Sauce
- Cheese
The tomato gets buried under the cheese.
Manco & Manco
- Cheese
- A swirl of tomato sauce on top
The crust stays crackly and the tomato tastes brighter.
It looks like a signature move. It is really a 100-year-old Trenton habit that never left the family. It is also why every pie looks the same and tastes the same, slice after slice, year after year.
Craving One Right Now?
1956: The Mancos Come Down the Shore
The Manco family had already been making tomato pies in Trenton. In the summer of 1956 they opened a pizza window at 918 Boardwalk in Ocean City. Slices sold for 15 cents. Customers kept coming back, so the Mancos kept building. A second location followed at 7th Street and the Boardwalk. A third opened at 12th Street and the Boardwalk in the late 1980s.
A pizza window opens at 918 Boardwalk. Slices sell for 15 cents.
A second location at 7th Street and the Boardwalk.
A third at 12th Street and the Boardwalk.
A new home inside the former Strand Theater on 9th Street.
Every new location ran on the same playbook as the first one. Hand-tossed dough. A recipe that never changes. Pizza made right in front of the people eating it.
More Than Pizza. It Is a Show.
Behind the counter, skilled piemen toss and stretch dough in the air for everyone to see. The wait for your slice becomes part of the fun.
That is not a modern marketing add-on. Open kitchens were how boardwalk pizza worked from the start. You picked your stand by watching the pie get made. It has been the Manco & Manco way since day one, and it is a big reason the brand became known for more than what is on the pie.
A Tradition Passed Down Three Generations
Ask why customers keep coming back, and the answer is one word. Consistency. Same recipe since 1956. Same commitment to the people who show up for it. Today, the third generation of the family, Mary Manco and her husband Chuck Bangle, carries that forward, alongside a team where employees have stuck around for decades.
That kind of loyalty does not happen by accident. It gets earned one summer at a time.
From the Boardwalk to New Places to Enjoy It
Manco & Manco kept growing without losing what made it a Jersey Shore staple in the first place. In June 2017, a new location opened inside the former Strand Theater on 9th Street, giving the brand a bigger, year-round home in Ocean City. The brand also expanded off the boardwalk to Somers Point and made it all the way to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, so Phillies fans can grab the same slice between innings.
Wherever you see a Manco & Manco sign, you are getting the same dough, the same sauce, and the same standard set back in 1956.
Come Taste the Tradition for Yourself
There is only one way to really get what makes Jersey Shore boardwalk pizza special. Try it yourself. Whether you have been coming for thirty years or you are visiting Ocean City for the first time, a fresh slice from Manco & Manco is part of the experience.
