Everyone has an opinion on pizza. Especially in New Jersey.
Kudos to Trenton Cycling Revolution for even trying to settle this very Central Jersey debate over this one very local style of pizza called Trenton tomato pie.
After pedaling 33 miles, we had a winner … with the caveat that there needs to be another ride next year because we only got to seven places and didn’t even touch east and south of Trenton.
First, what’s a Trenton tomato pie? Thin crust, mozzarella cheese that goes on first instead of last (not too heavy), then the chunky red tomato sauce, both tangy and sweet.
Please, not as sweet as some we had. Where was the tang?
And not that thick crust that Philadelphians insist makes a tomato pie. Sounds more like a Sicilian.
The heart of Trenton tomato pie territory was Chambersburg, once the Italian section of Trenton. But even stalwarts DeLorenzo’s and Papa’s have moved to the suburbs, following so many of their customers.
The seven stops
Here’s the rundown of what turned out to be an all-day adventure on a surprisingly warm and sunny November day:
About four dozen of us started our ride on the edge of downtown Trenton and headed … across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania.
Stop 1 was La Villa Pizza and Family Restaurant in Morrisville. It’s just off the D&L Trail and East Coast Greenway, in a building that in a prior life might have been a Pizza Hut. As with all our stops, we milled around in the parking lot, waiting for our pizzas to come out.
How unusual! A square, not round, pizza! (They actually do both, and also tomato pies with extra toppings.) Loved the tang of the sauce, seasoned with real garlic. I got an inside piece, so not much crust, just very thin. Was it softened by steaming in the box? No matter, this one was delicious.
Four miles up the D&L Trail was Franco’s Tomato Pies, a two-table spot at the end of a Yardley strip mall. Back to the usual round pie. To pace ourselves, we are eating half of a normal slice, so pies are cut into 16ths instead of eighths.
I’m already starting to notice differences. The sauce on this one was noticeably sweeter … not my style. A little pale; what would it be like well-done?
We soon head back to the trail — well, as quickly as you can herd a pack of nearly 50 riders — then back across the Delaware River to New Jersey on the wonderful separated bike/walk trail on the I-295 bridge and onto the D&R Canal Trail.
Our goal was It’s Nutts, a place I’ve driven by many times and always wondered about. Sadly, the sauce on this tomato pie was bland. Would red pepper flakes have made a difference?
But the cakes and ice cream are worth stopping for. Your call on the mix of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting on this multi-layered one:
Or maybe this should be a stop on my next ride for weird pizza?
We had a few ways to get to our next pizza spot. I’d have taken the canal towpath south until I had to get on the road. Or I’d have continued a bit further north on Route 29 to the through road and found my way to Salerno’s III Pizza and Restaurant in Ewing.
But our fearless route-finder had spotted a trail on Google Maps … so off we went on what turned into a path through the woods, hauling bikes over downed trees and following a single track … until we reached a parking lot. And then it was more trail until finally, finally we were on a road on the back side of Washington Crossing State Park. Perhaps not quite what the route planner had in mind (never trust Google Maps without verifying with satellite view!), but it was all part of the adventure.
I have friends for whom Salerno’s is their go-to pizza place. I called it middle of the pack. Hey, it’s all personal taste. There’s no right or wrong answer. To be fair, the pizza probably sat for quite a while waiting for us to show up, given that trek through the woods. (Another lesson from these rides: there will always be another moment when we regroup and the order can be placed closer to arrival time.)
After going south of I-295 to reach Salerno’s, we had to turn north again. Our goal was Candela Brothers Pizza and Italian Cuisine in a Lawrenceville shopping center near the Lawrence Hopewell Trail. I’d been told this place is a Lawrence institution, so this was one I was pleased to see on the list.
Just be sure to ask for a traditional tomato pie. Say tomato pie, and you’ll get a regular plain pie. You know, the kind slathered with cheese that slides off the tomato sauce underneath.
That’s what we got. On the bright side, it was a good reminder why tomato pies are superior.
And then we got tomato pie.
There were lots of ooh and aahs when the pizza box was opened for the great reveal — wow, there’s fresh basil on this pie! It definitely had an advantage over the others for being freshly made and piping hot, but that was a lot of sauce. Too much.
I have no objection to scooping up what falls into the box because anything tomato is good, but that’s not what I expect from my pizza. On top of it, the sauce was too smooth for my inexpert take on a Trenton tomato pie, more like marinera.
It was time we headed back to Ewing and to a pizza spot in a supermarket-anchored strip mall. Mama Flora’s Trattoria also put fresh basil on its pie, and it gets bonus points from me for having an owner who is also a cyclist. A sauce that leaned tangy instead of sweet plus was nicely seasoned, and a thin crust with a bit of chew at the edge. For me, it was among the day’s best.
Or do you think it’s a bit heavy on the cheese?
We were running out of daylight as we made our way back to our starting point in Trenton. Our seventh and final pie, the organizers decided, would be delivered to us in the parking lot where we started. Jerry’s Pizza was our only made-in-Trenton tomato pie, though we heard that despite its name, it’s not a pie-forward sort of place like the others. Apparently the salads are great. Delivery, though, took a long time, and we had cast our votes for the top 3 before it arrived.
But here’s a look at the pie:
And the winners are…
The wisdom of the crowd gave top honors to Candela. For me, it was No. 3. My top choice, Villa, finished second. Mama Flora, which I ranked second, was third.
I admit it: I am freshly motivated to do a taste-off between Papa’s and DeLorenzo’s in Robbinsville, two greats just a half-mile or so apart. Just need a sunny weekday (because DeLorenzo’s isn’t open at lunch on weekends) and some fellow tasters.
Want more pizza? 3 ‘weird’ pizzas (think mustard or cumin) on a 23-mile bike ride
Exploring by bicycle 