Tomato Pie, Morristown, NJ

[scott123]

When I saw this place open last year, having never tried Trenton Style pizza, I got really amped. I read every review on Yelp and, since nothing was too damning, I gave it a shot.

Worst pizza that I've ever eaten in a pizzeria.  The only thing that beats it is frozen pizza, which is completely unforgivable.

Quite a few reviews on Yelp referenced the lack of cheese, so I spent the 3 dollars on the extra cheese ($19 total, including tax- 19 bucks!!!!). Did I say it was 19 bucks for a 16" plain extra cheese pizza? With a crust about 1/8" thick? Anyway, the additional cheese was a little more cheese than I would have liked, but it didn't make much of a difference. Mozzarella should have buttery and nutty notes.  This was completely tasteless.

Or maybe the cheese had some flavor and it was overpowered by the sauce. Between the cheese, sauce and crust, the sauce was, by far, the most egregious offender. You know how if you saute garlic a bit too much, it goes bitter?  Well, imagine mixing equal parts bitter garlic (or equal parts garlic powder) with tomatoes (an absolutely obscene amount of horrible tasting garlic), cooking it to drive any tomato flavor off and what's left is the sauce of Tomato Pie. It was as if someone purposely set out to make the least tomato-ey tasting sauce possible- and succeeded. Maybe it's one of those countless rip-off brands of San Marzanos, I don't know.  I do know that the only flavor that greets you when you bite into this pizza is bitter garlic.

And the crust?  I saw a guy hand stretching a pizza, so I don't think the dough goes through a sheeter, but the pinched edge certainly is a tell tale sign.  Honestly, I really don't mind California Pizza Kitchen, and that's sheeted.  The undercrust had the faintest yellow tinge and the very tip of the edge was brown, but, other than that, this crust had no color whatsoever. And zero taste.  It's pretty standard these days for local pizzerias to do same dough flavor impaired doughs, but the lack of flavor in this dough was record breaking.

No pictures. I've knocked myself around many times for not having a still camera, but today I really regretted it.  This pizza may have looked worse than Lombardis.

Caveat: Delorenzo's didn't achieve national fame with pizza like this.  I'm not using this experience to judge Trenton Style pizza, nor should anyone else.  If I want the real deal, I probably should go to Trenton.

[petef]

I'm a little confused. What pizza shop in Morristown NJ did you go to and why was that one supposed to represent a typical "Trenton Tomato Pie" ?

---pete---

[scott123]

"Tomato Pie" is the name of the restaurant, Pete.

http://tomatopieofmorristown.com/

While they don't talk about the pizza as being Trenton Style on the web site, I've seen it referenced in reviews such as this one here:

http://morristown.patch.com/articles/tomato-pie-its-not-pizza-its-not-meant-to-be

The legendary DeLorenzo's in Trenton has created what many consider its own gold standard for tomato pies. Now, Tomato Pie of Morristown hopes to keep all of those willing to drive the hour or so to our state capitol right here at home and in their new South Street restaurant.

But, I'll be honest: DeLorenzo's did not wow me. Granted, I ate there only once, and at their nearby (to Trenton) Robbinsville location, but I couldn't see what the fuss was about. Some are gobsmacked by this opinion, others know what I mean.

So, I went into my Tomato Pie of Morristown experience with low-ish expectations. I expected a good meal, but did not expect I would suddenly prefer tomato pies over pizza anytime soon.

After eating there, this remains the case. But, hey, that was pretty good–certainly better than what I had down in Robbinsville.

Though the tomato pie has humble beginnings, Tomato Pie's beginnings lie in the bustling downtown Morristown scene. Which means the place is fancier than what one may seek if they're just looking for a quick slice. The pizza, which my friend and I ordered with fresh garlic, onions and mushrooms (thankfully, fresh) was thin and crispy. The slices came in several sizes, as if the chef just sliced from one end to the other and then a few times down the middle.

As advertised, the cheese was first to the dough, which is then cooked briefly, then the sauce and toppings are added before going back in for one final cook. These tomatoes were extremely flavorful. Even good pizza sauces don't necessarily highlight the tomato part of the sauce; they tend to highlight the spices. Here, the freshness of the star stands out.

What's really strange, though, is that the pie I had last night was definitely sauce first, then cheese, so, either the reviewer got their facts wrong, or Tomato Pie has revamped within the last year. My money is on a revamp.  In an area where pizza is usually $12, I'm sure they had/are having a heck of time selling pizza for $15, especially since very few people around here are going to understand or care about what a Trenton Style pie is.

Honestly, at this point, I don't care about the history of the restaurant or any potential affiliation with Trenton.  I wouldn't feed this stuff to my worst enemy and, for them to be charging $15 for it is only more salt in the wound.