Pizza Today - April 2017 - 40

tomato and no cheese. It's served at
room temperature from the counters of
local bakeries. Trenton tomato pie, on
the other hand, is more recognizable
as a Neapolitan pizza derivation. It's
round and lightly topped with mozzarella and tomatoes. Unlike contemporary cheese-laden pizzas, Trenton
tomato pie puts crushed tomato on top
of a gentle layer of low moisture mozzarella. Each purveyor has a slightly
different take, but all versions are dense
and crunchy without the characteristic
flop of a New York slice.
The origin story for tomato pie
is a familiar one. Neapolitan

immigrants settled in Trenton to work
in the factories, with some taking necessary neighborhood jobs. Joe Silvestro
opened a restaurant called Joe's Tomato
Pies on South Clinton Avenue in 1910.
They baked thin, crunchy pizzas with
a light amount of cheese topped with
roughly crushed tomatoes. One of Joe's
employees, Joe Papa, split off in 1912 to
open his own restaurant, called Papa's
Tomato Pies, just down the street when
he was only 17 years old. Although it
has moved several times over the past
105-plus years, Papa's has operated
continuously since it first opened. That
makes Papa's the oldest continuously
run tomato pie restaurant in the United
States.
Owner Nick Azzaro talks about
running the pizzeria like it's a lifestyle
rather than a job.
"The history of tomato pie is the
history of my family. We were there
when it all got started," says the thirdgeneration owner.
Papa's may be the oldest, but the
most famous name in Trenton tomato
pie is DeLorenzo's. Pasquale and Maria
DeLorenzo emigrated from the town
of San Fele, about 145 kilometers
east of Naples. Their four oldest sons,
Jimmy, Joe, Johnny and Alexander
("Chick"), opened a restaurant on the
corner of Hudson and Mott Street in
the late 1930s. By 1947, business was
swift enough to support a second loca-

4 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / A P R I L 2 0 1 7

tion down the block on Hudson Street.
Chick split off to open his own DeLorenzo's, leaving his brothers to move
their operation to nearby Hamilton
Ave shortly thereafter.
"We have no idea how they got into
the business," says owner Sam Amico,
grandson of Chick DeLorenzo. "They
were a big family and needed to figure
out a way to support themselves." Very
few of the early American pizza makers had any experience with pizza or
baking before starting their businesses,
which explains the immediate departure from processes and techniques of
the old country.
The original tomato pie restaurants all started with coalfired ovens but most converted
to natural gas in the 1940s and
1950s. "It was easier to use, cheaper

to run, took up zero storage space, and
baked pies more evenly," says Sam
Amico. DeLorenzo's on Hudson Street
scrapped their coal-burning oven in
the mid-1950s in favor of a pair of gasfired units. Papa's took the intermediate
step of retrofitting their coal-burning
oven with a natural gas system before
trading in the whole thing for a new
Baker's Pride oven. The decrease in
temperature that came with a switch to
natural gas resulted in a crunchier crust
thanks to the longer bake time.
After 89 years in business, Joe's
Tomato Pies closed its doors in 1999,
leaving Papa's and DeLorenzo's the
only remaining tomato pie restaurants
from the old guard. Although they're
still in business, both have closed their
Trenton locations and moved to new
digs 10 miles down the road in suburban neighborhoods. DeLorenzo's Pizza
moved to nearby Hamilton, New Jersey,
and their cousins, DeLorenzo's Tomato
Pies, are in a brand new shopping center in Robbinsville, New Jersey. You'll
find Papa's Tomato Pies just two blocks
away, in the middle of a construction
site that promises to be a bustling
new shopping complex. Customers
aren't fazed by the move, as most have

already fled Chambersburg for greener
pastures. The new locations may not
have the dusty charm of Trenton, but
the parking's much better.
Pizzerias in New Jersey and
beyond have either added tomato
pie to their menus or built entire
concepts around it. Joey's Pizza of

Hamilton (not related to Joe's Tomato
Pies) has an Old Fashioned Tomato
Pie on its menu that features a blend
of fresh and low-moisture mozzarella
topped with crushed tomatoes. Mercato
Tomato Pie in Newark, New Jersey,
uses a coal-fired oven to achieve a bake
closer to that of the original tomato
pies of Trenton. Gennaro's Tomato Pie
in Philadelphia is making pizza closer
to the Trenton version than the rectangular Philly bakery style. Tony's Pizzeria Napoletana in San Francisco (and
its Pizza Rock cousins in Sacramento
and Las Vegas) have a Trenton Style
Tomato Pie on their menus, specifically
calling out "DeLorenzo's Style" for a
version of the pizza with sausage.
With the only real identifier of
tomato pie being that the tomatoes
are lightly crushed and go on top
of the cheese rather than below, the
name itself is more a marketing tool
than culinary guide. As the national
delivery chains gained market share, the
word pizza has earned a reputation for
referencing fast food. For new pizzerias,
using names like flatbread and tomato
pie provide an opportunity to escape
that association that could devalue it in
the eyes of consumers. Old New York
pizzerias like Totonno's, Sam's Restaurant, and John's of Bleecker Street apply
tomatoes on top of cheese while calling
their product pizza. According to Nick
Azzaro of Papa's, "There's no difference
between a tomato pie and a pizza." That
may be true from a culinary perspective,
but Trenton natives will defend their
regional style as an entity unto itself. n
SCOTT WIENER is the founder of Scott's
Pizza Tours in New York City and
SliceOutHunger.org.


http://www.SliceOutHunger.org http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM

Pizza Today - April 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - April 2017

Pizza Today - April 2017
Commentary
Contents
Contributors
Expo Spotlight
Interact
Conversation
Man on the Street
Respecting the Craft
On Tap
Destinations
Knead to Know
Most Annoying Server Habits
Handling Gratuity
Trenton Tomato Pie
Rotini
Adding Pasta to Your Menu
Negotiating a Commercial Lease
Pizza Today on the Road: So Delicious
Pizza Today on the Road: On Point
Product Showcase
Pizza Today Yellow Pages
The Marketplace
Reader’s Resource
Trending Recipe
Pizza Today - April 2017 - CT1
Pizza Today - April 2017 - CT2
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Pizza Today - April 2017
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Cover2
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Commentary
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 4
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 5
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Contents
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 7
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 8
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 9
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Contributors
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 11
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Expo Spotlight
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 13
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Interact
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 15
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Conversation
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 17
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Man on the Street
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 19
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Respecting the Craft
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 21
Pizza Today - April 2017 - On Tap
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 23
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Destinations
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 25
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Knead to Know
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 27
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 28
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 29
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Most Annoying Server Habits
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 31
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 32
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 33
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Handling Gratuity
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 35
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 36
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 37
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Trenton Tomato Pie
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 39
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 40
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 41
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Rotini
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 43
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 44
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 45
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Adding Pasta to Your Menu
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 47
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 48
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 49
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 50
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 51
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Negotiating a Commercial Lease
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 53
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 54
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 55
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Pizza Today on the Road: So Delicious
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 57
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 58
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 59
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 60
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 61
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Pizza Today on the Road: On Point
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 63
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 64
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 65
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 66
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 67
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 68
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Product Showcase
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 70
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 71
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Pizza Today Yellow Pages
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 73
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 74
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 75
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 76
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 77
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 78
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 79
Pizza Today - April 2017 - The Marketplace
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 81
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 82
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 83
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 84
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 85
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 86
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 87
Pizza Today - April 2017 - 88
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Reader’s Resource
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Trending Recipe
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Cover3
Pizza Today - April 2017 - Cover4
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