Jumping through hoops in order to secure a meal tends to make the food taste worse. Expectations escalate, as does the hanger. By the time you finally have said meal, it’s usually not worth all the trouble. So if a pizzeria is tucked away inside a South Philly brewery, keeps very few hours, only accepts orders in person, and takes 45+ minutes per customer, they better be making one hell of a pizza. Lucky for us, CJ&D’s inside Cartesian Brewing makes one hell of a pizza. Calling this tiny, family-run operation a restaurant would be like calling that one extra from every episode of Law & Order: SVU a movie star. For now, the goal is for CJ&D's to sell enough pizza by night to allow chef CJ to have family time during the day. So they’re only slinging pies on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for a few hours. The menu consists of four Trenton-style pizzas. For the uninitiated, this simply means cheese is laid directly on top of the dough, and then covered in sauce. As for the crust, it’s a thin and crunchy, no-flop situation, and each slice is well-lined with puffs of char bubbles along the edges. Everyone from grandparents with wobbly toddlers to friends drinking IPAs orders at the counter (no online ordering or calls accepted), then waits patiently in the brewery for their pizza to cook in the single-’za oven. One at a time. The process may seem precious and painstaking, but it’s what makes every pizza at CJ&D’s so good. Every crust crackles when you chew or fold it in half. Creamy, sliced mozzarella doesn’t sog under tangy, sweet crushed tomato sauce or juicy pepperoni cups, half full of that iridescent orange grease. And pies come out so hot that you’ll have to do the “hasafashafsas” after that first greedy bite. You won’t even be mad about it. We’re grateful CJ&D’s doesn’t rush perfection—so don’t expect them to. On Sunday afternoons, the wait for one of these bad boys can enter two-hour territory (they’ll share time updates on Instagram). Our first piece of advice is to pop over to Essen or Cannoli King for sweet treats in between. The second: if you’re dedicating your afternoon or evening to this pizza—which you absolutely should—don’t waste your time by only ordering one. By the time you actually secure it, you’re going to want more.