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As the largest city in Florida, Jacksonville has an impressive culinary scene, with a bevy of esteemed restaurants for the enthusiastic foodie to try. However, there are times when the glutton within us howls to be sated, and this is when we opt for that most venerable of comfort foods: pizza.

Breaded eggplant pizza

Moon River Pizza

The dough at Moon River Pizza is made afresh each day, hand-rolled, hand-tossed, and then stone-baked to perfection. Their White pizza (mozzarella, feta, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, black pepper, and garlic) is a favorite, but there are also plenty of toppings available for customers’ own creations, including breaded eggplant, artichoke hearts, and anchovies. This hip hangout also has TVs installed for sports games, a disco ball, an ever-changing wine list, and a selection of beers on draft. New York-style pizza | © Larry/Flickr

Picasso’s

Pizzeria, Restaurant, Italian

Deep-dish pizza
© Eric Chan/Flickr
With a name like this, you’d expect a restaurant to serve pizzas that are a work of art, and Picasso’s doesn’t disappoint. Customers can choose from a number of styles: the St. Louis has a very thin, square-cut crust with a creamy base, the New York is cooked in a brick oven and is daubed with garlic butter at its edges, and the Mediterranean has extra virgin olive oil and hand-minced garlic in place of tomato sauce. They also have a host of toppings designated as premium or gourmet, like Genoa salami and an exotic mushroom mélange.

Carmine’s Pie House

The motto here at Carmine’s Pie House is “Revisiting Traditional Italian”, and they specialize in both thin and crispy New York-style and Chicago deep-dish pizzas. You can buy these by the slice or go the whole hog, adding toppings like cappicola, shrimp, Kalamata olives, coconut, black beans, and tofu. They also offer calzones and strombolis, try the Club Med, which comes with a side of tzatziki and features gyro meat, fresh tomato, feta, red onion, spinach, garlic, mozzarella, and garlic butter. Look out for their creatively titled signature pizzas as well: what could be more appetizing than The Pope of Greenwich Village? Sicilian pizza | © Garrett Ziegler/Flickr

Joseph’s Pizza

Owned and run by the same family since 1956, Joseph’s Pizza is the place to go for traditional pizza and an atmosphere that feels just like home. Their pizzas are made in a double-baked thin-crust style (with your choice of regular or whole-wheat flour) and are all named after cities or towns in Italy. The Naples (where pizza originated) is made up of prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, ripe olives, goat’s cheese, mozzarella, and olive oil. Pizzas in the style of New York and Sicily can also be ordered. Buffalo mozzarella | © Abby/Flickr

V Pizza

Restaurant

For the owners of V Pizza, authenticity is paramount. Shipped over from Naples, the pizzeria’s ovens have been handmade by Stefano Ferrara, whose family have been producing them for centuries. Their ingredients are also imported from Italy: 00 Flour, San Marzano tomatoes, Calabria peperoncino peppers, Prosciutto di Parma, pancetta, and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana. The restaurant is a preservative- and GMO-free zone. All of these ingredients go into making artisan Neapolitan-style pizzas like the Insalata, topped with arugula, burrata, cherry tomatoes, shaved Parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil.

About the author

Josh is a graduate of the University of Leicester’s English and American Studies program, and spent the third year of his degree abroad at the University of Oregon. It was there that he indulged his long-held interests in archaeology and the American West, and developed a new one in Mexican food. He hopes to pursue all three and return to the U.S. in the future, and perhaps forge a career either out of writing or wandering around the woods all day.

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