Pizza can be traced back to the Roman Empire. Pursuit of excellence goes back further — at least to Aristotle who said: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."

The bar pies at Vic's Italian Restaurant in Bradley Beach are excellent and, according to one of its two general managers, Travis Semblewski (the other is his brother-in-law, Edward Dolive, Jr.), since Vic's went from bar and grill to an Italian restaurant in 1947, four generations have maintained the habits needed to stay in the top echelon of pizza-making.