Review: Palermo's III, Ewing NJ

For four years during the 80s, I lived in Ewing NJ, a suburb of Trenton. During that time, there was no pizza or tomato pie worth eating in any of the boroughs surrounding Trenton - Ewing, Hamilton, Hopewell, Bordentown. If you wanted the real thing, you went to Trenton's Chambersburg section.

But as Trenton evolves, the pie makers have taken to the burbs. The top three Trenton legendary pizza shops are now in Robbinsville or Hamilton, and others have begun making tomato pies outside the city. Recently, we had the excellent tomato pie across the river at La Villa (review HERE). A summer trip to the still-wonderful Trenton Farmers Market provided the occasion to stop for a tomato pie at Palermo's III in Ewing.

Palermo's III, Ewing NJ

Palermo's is a pie maker with three locations. The flagship location is in Bordentown. Palermo's II is in Roebling (the town that supplied the steel for the Brooklyn Bridge cables), and Palermo's III in Ewing. Most of the good things I had heard were about the Bordentown location, but I anticipated that a successful formula could travel to at least three locations.

I arrived in the early afternoon, and it was quiet in there. I think two other customers came by while I waited for the pie I had ordered, including an elderly gent ordering "Italian hot dogs."  The staff was friendly, and the gentleman at the counter explained to me (and showed me) the difference between their Sicilian pie (rectangular with a thick crust), pizza (round, thin crust, tomato sauce, cheese) and tomato pie (round, thin crust, crushed tomato, cheese). 

He explained that they could do almost any of their specialty pies in the tomato pie style. I was intrigued by the "Vince" which featured spicy sausage and potatoes. Sausage is my preferred pizza topping. The potatoes were a bold choice, but I've enjoyed potato-topped pies at Jules Thin Crust (review HERE) and especially at Sally's Apizza in New Haven (review HERE). 

A Vince divided, minus one huge bite

Still, I feared that the potatoes may be too wet and heavy for a tomato pie crust, so I asked that instead of a pie covered in sausage and potatoes, that the sausage go on one half and the potatoes on the other. 

My plan was to take the pie home, about an hour's drive. That's not the best or fairest way to evaluate a pizza, but in my experience a thoughtful reheat at home on a perforated pan restores a pizza to 98% of its fresh-outta-the-oven glory. Sometimes, if the pizza is improperly cooked or overloaded with wet toppings, the re-heat can substantially improve the pie. Still, I felt compelled to take a few bites from a sausage slice as I placed the box into my trunk. The crust was a bit droopy but the few bites were salty, spicy, savory, and overall delicious.

The sausage side

Later on at home, I re-heated two sausage slices and two potato slices, in my standard method of 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees on the perforated pan.

The sausage slice had a crust that was thin and certainly well cooked (originally and by the re-heat) yet it was limp for the first few bites. Probably a bit too much sauce and cheese for that crust. The tomatoes had a bright and fresh flavor. The sausage was generous chunks of real Italian rope, and the entire slice was seriously spicy, as advertised. I'm not certain if the fire came from the sausage or the liberal coating of red pepper flakes. The cheese was a role player, and there was a bit too much for a tomato pie, but it was in harmony with the other toppings.

The potato side

The crust, however, disappointed. It was constructed and cooked properly, but it was low on flavor and character. Crispy outside, but little chew inside. It was little more than a vehicle for the excellent toppings. In fact, I suspect it's the exact same crust they use for their ordinary-looking pizza, and may even be mass-sourced. I'm a so-so pizzaiolo and I can make a better crust in my 550 degree home oven.

Well cooked

What about the potato pie? Of course, the crust and cheese and tomato were identical to the sausage side. The potatoes were a significant letdown. They were cut thickly (might have been much better on that gent's Italian hot dog), they were wet and heavy and lacking flavor. Not only did they add nothing to the pie, but they detracted from it. I quickly removed the potatoes. When I reheated the other potato slices, I filled the void with fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes, BBQ beef, asiago, and garlic. Much improved!

Potato slice at Palermo's III with oversized slices

Potatoes on pizza done right, at Sally's in New Haven CT

Conclusion? Ordering the potatoes on the pie was my mistake, but the crust was the real failing here. Because it was an attempt at tomato pie and the sausage and crushed tomatoes were excellent, this is still an above-average pie. Far from destination pie, however. Still, it's fixable. Change the recipe or the supplier for that dough; the toppings and technique are on target.

Doctored-up on the re-heat

The crust gets a 5, the cheese a 6.5, the tomatoes a 9, the sausage a 9.5. Not gonna hold the potatoes against them; Vince and apparently others must enjoy thick slices of potato on a tomato pie. Overall, this pie gets a 6.5.

Review: La Villa Pizza and Family Restaurant, Morrisville PA

There are several notable and distinct styles of pizza -- the soft-crusted, puffy and charred Neapolitan, the medium-thick crisp-yet-foldable New York style, the thin crust rectangles of Roman style, the thick doughy crusts of Sicilian style, and the thin, crisp, rigid crust that forms the base of the Trenton tomato pie (close relative to the New Haven pie, and not to be confused with the Conshohocken/Philly cheeseless tomato pie - see primer HERE). 

Square tomato pie at La Villa in Morrisville PA

Some Trenton purists insist that tomato pie is not pizza. I would suggest that while every pizza is not a tomato pie, every tomato pie is a pizza. The Trenton version is to add the cheese before the tomatoes (chopped or crushed canned tomatoes, usually not tomato sauce). The cheese does not get buried as it does in some Chicago deep dish pies or on an "upside down pie" but the tomato is the signature.

Conshy tomato pie from Tony Roni's

Even as Trenton is home to this distinct style (which is my favorite type of pizza), the number of tomato pie slingers still within the city limits has dwindled. Trenton was once home to the legendary DeLorenzo's (Hudson Street, reviewed HERE), the other DeLorenzo's (Hamilton Avenue), Papa's Tomato Pies (reviewed HERE), Joe's Tomato Pies, Sam's Roma Tomato Pie, Romeo and Juliet's, and Maruca's.

Trenton is evolving. While wonderful mainstays like Halo Farms and the Trenton Farmers' Market remain vibrant, the heady restaurant scene of the city's Chambersburg (the 'Burg) section has essentially ended. Trenton was once filled with a great mix of upscale Italian restaurants, old-school red gravy places, and tomato pie and pizza joints, but one by one those places closed or moved.

Exterior of La Villa

Trenton's loss is the suburbs' gain. The Landolfi family runs a great deli in Yardley PA (across the river) and now makes pizza in Pawley's Island, SC (review HERE). Nearby Robbinsville was lucky enough to land the two best Trenton pie slingers: DeLorenzo (Hudson) and Papa's Tomato Pies.

Landolfi's pie in South Carolina

At the same time, Trenton natives or Trenton-inspired folks are opening up tomato pie shops within shouting distance of the city. Palermo's in Bordentown, Nutt's in Titusville, and La Villa across the river in Morrisville. I've read a bit about each of these, from my Trenton-area friends and from a tomato pie group on Facebook. A recent trip to the Bucks County Grange Fair gave me plenty of reason to get to La Villa.

At the Grange Fair

La Villa, on South Pennsylvania Avenue near Bridge Street, is walking distance from my 1987-1995 home. There were no worthwhile pizzas or tomato pies in Bucks County then, sans for a short period when the Agabiti family ran a pizza-and-video-rental store on Trenton Avenue. When Blockbuster killed their video business, the pizza went away also. So I usually would make the drive to Trenton for DeLorenzo's (when I could get them to answer the phone; they opened at 3pm and the phone was usually off the hook by 3:05) or Joe's.

Inside La Villa

La Villa is housed, ironically, in a building that was once a Pizza Hut. I recall eating a "Philly Cheesesteak" pizza there around 1990, and putting ketchup on it, and liking it! I confess, I'd probably still enjoy a pie like that, even though I know it's crap.

At some point, a large dining room was added on. It's a big space for a pizza place, but they do have a full menu of other Italian foods. We arrived around 2pm on a Sunday afternoon and the place was quite busy! That's a good sign.

La Villa makes ordinary pizzas and "specialty" pies with a great variety of toppings, but we came for the "Chambersburg tomato pie." The tomato pies are $12.95 for a round, and $13.95 for a square. Other than the square Trenton pie I had at Spatola's Pizza (review HERE) in Paoli PA, my experience at Joes, Papa's, and DeLorenzo's was solely with round pies; hence, we opted for the square.

I was dining with Mrs. PQ, who likes pepperoni as a topping; I prefer sausage, so we order half sausage, half pepperoni. The pie came out reasonably quickly from our pleasant and helpful sever.

It did not look much like any tomato pie I've known, other than the lovely piles of crushed tomato. But once I pulled out a slice, I found a very thin yet crisp and sturdy crust, loads of vibrant red crushed tomato, and a modest amount of conventional mozzarella (although more than found on a DeLorenzo pie).

As always, it all begins with the crust, and this one was nearly perfect in texture. It also delivered a good flavor, if not quite at a DeLorenzo's or Papa's level. Crisp outside, with a good inner chewiness that was remarkable for a crust so thin. I enjoy a "crackerlike" crust but this had a lot more going on.

Under the hood

The crushed tomatoes were just right - bright and tangy, perhaps a hint of sweetness. The pepperoni was good (is pepperoni ever "great?"), and the sausage was the real stuff, beautiful hunks of savory genuine Italian rope sausage.

On the first slice, we agreed that this was wonderful pizza. Every element was good or great, and they also worked in harmony; this pie was exceptionally well-balanced. We ate about two thirds of it and took four slices home, which were fabulous again upon re-heat. If I still lived nearby, this would be my certain go-to pizza. Destination pie? Absolutely.

Conventional gas ovens

The crust earns a 9.5, the tomatoes a 9, the cheese an 8, the sausage a 10, the pepperoni a 7, the service a 10. You don't need a brick oven, a coal oven, or a wood-fired oven to make top-shelf pie. Some irony that destination pizza comes to Morrisville now that I've moved to West Chester.

Review: Ramagi Brick Oven Pizza, Brooklyn

UPDATE: Ramagi closed in 2016 and a new pizza restaurant - Streetsweeper - has replaced it. 

On a trip to the lower reaches of Brooklyn (Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst), we decided to include a pizza stop. Since there really are few (if any) worthy pizza places in Bay Ridge, Dyker, or Bensonhurst, I checked online for some worthy pizza. I ruled out three excellent places - Totonno's, L&B, and DiFara (click any of them for the PQ review) because I wanted to try something new.

Three pizzas in four days!

I found a nice list of Brooklyn's 10 Best Under-the-Radar Pizzas at Flavorwire.com, and we settled on Ramagi Brick Oven Pizza in "rapidly gentrifying Prospect Lefferts Gardens." This was an interesting experiment, because in the same week we'd visited two pizza joints in comeback neighborhoods. First, we had B.O.P. Pizza in Fell's Point, a Baltimore neighborhood that gentrified successfully and completely many years ago. Then we traveled to Philly's Fishtown, still very much in transition but drawing swarms of hipsters, to sample the awesome pizza at Pizza Brain.

Prospect Leffert Gardens looks yet very rough; I didn't see much "rapid gentrification" and in fact this lovely storefront looks very much out of place in this hardscrabble neighborhood (with a Papa John's location across the street). And beyond the scooters parked in front, not much hipster activity such as a bow tie, vintage clothing, or even an Urban Outfitters location.

Traditional pie with sausage

The inside was small and cozy with bare brick walls. The staff was friendly with us and a small stream of customers. There are some appetizers (calamari, caprese, garlic knots, wings) and a few salads in addition to the pizzas. 

The have a margherita with fresh mozzarella for $19, a pie with baked ziti on it, and several other varieties. We opted for the "traditional" pie with tomato sauce and conventional mozzarella. It's only thirteen bucks! We added some cost and some flavor with a sausage topping.

The pie arrived quickly. It had a classic look, and it really delivered. The crust was similar to the pizza we had at Pizza Brain; delicately crisp outside, al dente chewy inside, and sturdy enough to support the toppings. The sauce and cheese were conventional, but not ordinary. The creamy mozzarella was the perfect complement to the tangy sauce, but it was the experience as a whole that made this pie sing. The generous chunks of real Italian sausage were perfect for this pie.

Somewhat belatedly, I'm getting a feel for why folks wax rhapsodic about a "New York slice."  I've eaten plenty of bad New York style pie, but this pie was wonderful. Now if we can only persuade New Yorkers to stop folding slices and turning them into pizza sangawitches, we'll be making real progress.

Happier when fed

It's splitting hairs to put precise labels on every pie, but Pizza Brain makes the quintessential American Pie; this is its New York cousin and another winner. Crust gets a 9, cheese and sauce a 9, sausage a 9, service and ambiance a 9. Destination pizza and certainly deserves to be ON your radar.

594 Rogers Ave
(between Hawthorne St & Winthrop St) 
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Review: Pizza Brain, Philadelphia (Fishtown)

Few pizza joints have generated a buzz as Pizza Brain did for its September, 2012 opening. We're living now in the pizza renaissance, where true foodies are crafting lots of high-end pies (mostly Neapolitan) in the trendiest neighborhoods. In combining a pizza passion with a "museum" and art concept, Pizza Brain's owners rightly caught the media's attention.

Click any picture to enlarge

Wikipedia describes the concept as "a place that serves delicious artisan pies in a museum-like space that captures and commemorates pizza as a cultural icon."

Easy-to-miss exterior at Pizza Brain

Inside near counter and kitchen

I've been wanting to get there, even though there's been a lot more buzz about the museum angle and charismatic staff than about the pie. Many of the stories told us a lot about the owners, the concept, the history, the museum and its contents, the neighborhood -- and then concluded "Oh yeah the pizza is pretty good."

Guest pizza critics from Houston and Brooklyn

VACK (vegetable avoiding college kid)

"Pretty good" would have been GOLD Jerry, GOLD, just ten years ago, but now Philly offers a lot of great pizza competition. We've tasted and reviewed a lot of them here (click on any one to link to a recap) -- Tacconelli's, Gennaro's Tomato Pies, SLiCE, Zavino, Nomad, La Porta. Not to mention Stella and Osteria, as well.

A mural at the outside dining area

I shudder to even think about it

I had the task to be Philly tour guide to three young adults - one from Houston, two from Brooklyn. We didn't hit many of the typical tourist stops - not even Liberty Bell, Reading Terminal Market, Independence Hall, The Art Museum (these kids have never even heard of "Rocky.") Instead, we began with lunch at John's Roast Pork (a seriously awesome sandwich included in my Philly Cheesesteak ranking, HERE), then visited Rittenhouse Square, City Hall, The Mutter Museum of medical oddities (not really the place to whet your appetite), and Eastern State Penitentiary.

Eastern State Pen. Worth your time!

To reward myself for this tour guide task, I included a pizza stop and decided to visit Pizza Brain to see how gentrification is playing out in Fishtown, but more importantly to see the Pizza Museum and taste the pizza there. Fishtown is a longtime blue collar neighborhood north of center city now seeing some rising real estate prices and hipster movement with upscale shops and restaurants and clubs. It still looks rough to my suburban eye, but we saw a steady flow of young adult backpack hipsters on bikes and scooters.

From www.PizzaBrain.org

We arrived around 5pm on a Friday, well ahead of the crowds sure to show up later for a collaboration event with Federal Donuts (which I love - reviewed HERE - but I'm still not sure about donuts on pizza). Out front, a small crowd of extremely hip hipsters (bow ties and all) loitered in front of the adjoining Little Baby's Ice Cream shop.

More outdoor art

We were greeted warmly by a TALL guy with a wild shock of red hair; I recognized him - Brian Dwyer - from other stories I had read about Pizza Brain. He was sincerely enthused, gave us the overview, invited us to tour around and then come back to be seated and order our pies. Instantly, we liked him and the vibe here. It confirmed what we'd read on the Pizza Brain website: 

...it’s a community-driven business; a pizza shop with a conscience – meaning we strive to do things in a socially, ethically and environmentally responsible fashion. 

Pizza Brain does house a fabulous collection of pizza-related things - album covers, videos, tchotchkes, and some very funky art and murals in the outdoor seating area. "Museum" is probably an overstatement, but this stuff is authentic, varied, often unique, and a collection unlikely matched anywhere. We arrived parched from our day's trekking around Philly, and we were delighted to find some artisan bottled sodas. 

Our excellent server, and some of the LP-based pizza museum. From www.PizzaBrain.org

Strolling the museum and sipping on a green apple soda imported from Mexico, I liked this place even without tasting the pie. And importantly, the college-age kids with me were digging it too. It may have been a watershed moment for VACK (vegetable-avoiding college kid, a transplanted Brooklynite), who saw a gentrifying neighborhood that he may actually be able to afford after graduation, unlike Park Slope or Williamsburg.

The red pie

We decided to order two pies, one red and one white. Our red (my selection) was the "Forbes Waggensense" that include crushed tomato, mozzarella, fontina, grana padano, fresh basil, and smoked pepperoni. Spoiler: I have very few gripes about Pizza Brain, but I'd like to see more cured meats available. PB offers pepperoni and also smoked bacon, and that's it. It is very vegan-friendly and that's a good thing, but bring on the garlicky Italian sausage and maybe even meatballs and prosciutto. However, God bless PB for leaving out the Buffalo chicken!

We allowed VACK to choose the white pie, and he wanted nothing to do with the goat cheese,  bechamel sauce, or vegetable ingredients that topped many of them. I had made the mistake, earlier in the week, of allowing him to choose the pizza on our Baltimore trip to B.O.P. Pizza (reviewed HERE) and this was a risky proposition. Brian offered to craft a custom white pie, with mozzarella and smoked bacon, and without bechamel and goat cheese. It didn't sound too exciting, but I expected it to please our finicky VACK.

The red pie came, first, and it looked wonderful. Thin crust, beautiful golden browning on the cornicione, the pie looked to be cooked perfectly. The four of us dug in quickly and found negligible tip sag, even though the thin slices contained a generous amount of crushed tomato. 

Crust was beautiful all over

For any pizza, the crust determines if it can be a great pie, and this one qualified easily on that metric. The crust was crispy on the outside, firm enough to support the toppings, tasty all by itself, and still had an ideal al dente chew on the inside. I asked Brian how he categorizes his pie, and he said "thin crust American." It surely is not a Neapolitan; it has much in common with the wonderful tomato pies of Trenton and New Haven, but it's a little softer. This could be the pizza crust that so many pie makers aim for (and miss) when they claim to make "New York" pizza. Regardless of the name, this crust was close to perfect.

The toppings were high quality stuff, but this was a gestalt pizza experience. Clearly, the pizza chef(s) had thought about what works together on a pie -- both the ingredient choices and the proportions. These cheeses worked together with the brightly flavored crushed tomatoes, and the smoked pepperoni was surprisingly subtle in how it affected the overall experience. All four of us loved this pizza. It exceeded my expectations.

The white pie

The white pie came next. It had that same wonderful crust, but after a few bites we realized the mistake of straying from the pies on the menu as imagined by the chef. By omitting the goat cheese, veggie toppings, and the bechamel sauce, we missed a lot of the flavors. Nothing was wrong with this tame pie -- the cheese and bacon were excellent -- the only problem was our ordering error. We took home some leftover slices, to which I later added tomato and garlic before a reheat, and that helped a lot.

So what's the bottom line? Pretty simple. A fun and delightful space, with engaging staff who know and love pizza and have a keen sense of customer service (Brian was busy the entire time, even sweeping and polishing windows when not taking orders for pie). A very cool collection of pizza stuff, and most importantly, destination pie. American Pie (we wrote about it HERE, too). 

The crust earns a 10. The cheese, sauce, pepperoni all get a 9. The ambiance and service, 10. The cool sodas, 10 (wish it came with a cup of ice, though). If you care at all about pizza, this is a stop you have to make. Pizza Brain makes pizza that is a little different than any other, without being weird pizza. I rank it right alongside the giants of the Philly pie scene - Tacconelli's, Gennaro's, and La Porta.