Shore 2009: Pizza

There are Mack & Manco’s people (Ocean City) and there are Sam’s people (Wildwood), and never the twain shall meet, though both types of thin-crust slices make a very fine Boardwalk lunch — so long as you can keep the gulls off your plate. (M&M’s saucy slices tend to be slightly more substantial than Sam’s, which are always hot with grease.) And don’t even get a Stone Harbor guy involved in the debate: He’ll root for the stellar Mack’s (above) on 83rd Street. Here, the sauce is a sweet-tangy thin tomato business that mixes harmoniously with generous fistfuls of cheese, and a crispy (but not too) crust firm enough to hold it all up. It’s quality stuff; the more toppings, the better. And someone from LBI will inevitably toss in Panzone’s, where the extra-thick, square Sicilian is a carb-lover’s bready, sauced-up, cheese-covered dream. (With meatballs, if you please!)  (Mack & Manco’s, 8th, 9th and 12th streets and the Boardwalk, Ocean City, 609-399-2548; Sam’s, 2600 Boardwalk, Wildwood, 609-522-6017; Mack’s, 3rd Avenue and 83rd Street, Stone Harbor, 609-368-6224; Panzone’s, 11th and 12th streets on Bay Avenue, Beach Haven, 609-492-5103, and 22nd Street and Long Beach Island Boulevard, Surf City, 609-494-1114)