Sam's Pizza Palace has been my slice go-to in Wildwood since my wife (aka "Girl Slice") and I started vacationing at this Jersey Shore town in 2005. I still stand by it, and hope to eat there for many summers to come.
The crust is light, airy, crisp, and usually pleasantly salty. There's a near-perfect cheese-to-sauce ratio. Unlike a lot of Jersey boardwalk pizza, there's no spiral pattern to the sauce here. And the cheese Sam's uses is simply mozzarella. It's pretty much a standard NYC-style slice.
You always get a slice hot from the oven because the place is always packed (see above) and slice-pie turnover is fierce.
I can't recall a time I ever stopped at a single slice.
We returned recently over Memorial Day weekend and of course made a beeline there our first night in town. Everything was pretty much spot on, though the crust was a little bland and underdone this time. Given the number of consistently superb Sam's slices I've had in the past, I'm willing to chalk it up to start-of-the-season kinks.
New to me this year is that I finally tried the white broccoli slice, which seems to be a thing here (and at rival Mack's down the boards). The crust on this pie was closer to the Sam's I know—well-done and crisp if still a little less flavorful than usual.
This is the Jersey Shore, with strong Pennsylvania influences, so of course you have to order a birch beer with your slice. Or slices.
Pro tip 1: Skip the long dinnertime line at the door by offering to eat at the counter. There are almost always stools available. And you get to watch the stunning efficiency of the Sam's team at work (above).
Pro tip 2: Watch the damn seagulls! They will steal your damn pizza.
Sam's Pizza Palace
2600 Boardwalk, Wildwood NJ 08260 (at Juniper; map)
609-522-6017; samspizzawildwood.com
About the author: Adam Kuban is the founder of Slice, where he has been blogging about pizza for more than eight years. You should follow him on Twitter: @akuban.