🏖️BEST OF THE BEACH ALERT🏖️ Opened in 2022, BLVD Pizza are the new kids on the black (literally boulevard) among LBI pizzerias. Offering traditional & gourmet circles & squares, I opted for the “Plain Jane,” which is their standard circular cheese pizza. Most pies on LBI consist of super soft & soggy dough; but I was delightfully surprised to see this dough buck that trend. Somewhat thinnish, incredibly firm but not ultra crispy, the dough has a wonderful golden undercarriage with a light tasty char, resulting in a reasonable balance of soft & crispy to go along with an outrageously crunchy crust. The layer of mozzarella cheese is super thin, very light, borderline scant; but a fabulously melty & creamy texture combined with some shaved Pecorino Romano for an outstanding sharp & delectable flavor. The sauce is a thick, hearty & heavy crushed plum tomato blend, adding substantial weight to the pie. With such a high volume of sauce, the balance is off in the sauce-to-cheese ratio, leaning heavily towards the large quantity of tomato sauce, which I actually don’t mind. I prefer extra sauce than a dry, undersauced pie. Not particularly sweet, the sauce is more of a subdued plain marinara with a somewhat simple & polarizing flavor, in need of some tang & spice; not a bad blend, just missing some pop & a little extra oomph. A touch of garlic powder, some crushed red pepper or even a few leaves of fresh basil could add some score-bolstering flavor enhancement. Overall, this is a quality pizza worthy of a top-3 spot on LBI. Anywhere else, this might come in around a 7.9; but among Jersey Shore pizza, it’s a clean 8.2 rating. With some sauce adjustments, this score could skyrocket thanks to the other awesome ingredients. As solid as this pie was, their specialty square pizzas such as The Grandma, Grandpa & Brooklyn’s Finest pies look tremendous. This fairly new spot is truly a breath of fresh (salt) air in the LBI pizza game & should be making waves for years to come. 🌊