Review: Salvatore's Tomato Pies - Madison WI

Authentic Trenton tomato pie in Wisconsin? Indeed, but first a little background.

Wisconsin's Trenton Tomato Pie

What's the difference between a pizza and a tomato pie? Some folks in the Philly and Jersey region use the words as synonyms, even though in Philadelphia a tomato pie is thick, square, nearly cheeseless, and served at room temperature while in Trenton a tomato pie is round, thin, and topped with cheese and tomato sauce like any conventional pizza.

Salvatore's Tomato Pies, Madison WI

The key, according to the most devout Trenton Tomato Pie enthusiasts (especially those in the Facebook group devoted to making and eating the real thing) is that with a pizza, the sauce goes on first, topped with cheese. For a tomato pie, the cheese goes on the thin crust and then the sauce - often chunky - is added on top.

Is this a pizzeria or a biker bar?

Trenton was once rife with tomato pie joints - Joe's, Maruca's, Tony Goes, DeLorenzo's, Pica's, Schuster's, Papa's (arguably the oldest pizzamaker in America), La Roma, Sam's, Frank's. (See mackstruckofwisdom.blogspot.com for this and all sorts of Trenton history.) 

Today, there are no tomato pie places remaining in Trenton proper, but DeLorenzo's has three suburban locations and Papa's too has moved to nearby Robbinsville, NJ; Maruca's lives on at the Jersey Shore.

Our shot of the kitchen caught the pizzaiolo in mid-flip

The current pizza renaissance is largely about authentic Neapolitan pizzamakers popping up all over, but it's good to know that the Trenton tomato pie is thriving too. Most of the new places are making superb versions, but all within shouting distance of Jersey. One distant exception, though, has been on my radar for years - Salvatore's Tomato Pies. The first store opened in Sun Prairie Wisconsin, and Salvatore's has since added a Madison location.

The cozy dining room

A business trip took me to Madison, a capital city in the Midwest known best for its fried cheese curds, on a cold week in November. At the close of the conference three of us drove to the downtown isthmus (between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona) to see and taste this Trenton tomato pie. Madison is, along with Seattle, that rare major U.S. city built on an isthmus.

Puffy cornicione on the Fig & Bacon pizza

Chef and owner Patrick DePula grew up in Chambersburg, the Little Italy of Trenton. According to Salvatore's website, Patrick's grandfather immigrated from Casandrino (Naples) Italy and founded a grocery, the Trenton Unity Market. His father was a baker, his uncles and aunts owned restaurants, food supply businesses, and bakeries. "Salvatore" has been a family name since the first DePula came through Ellis Island. (For the record, my own grandfather came to Ellis Island from Naples in 1907 at the age of 7, and he remembered pizza being sold on the street when he was in Italy).

The Woodsman

I began this blog in 2011, the same year that Patrick opened that Sun Prairie restaurant, and it's been on my wish list the whole time. Could it live up to my high expectations? I understand that this pie is so good that there are hour-plus waits on weekends, and the neighboring taproom permits folks to bring their tomato pies in to eat. With about eight tables seating 30 or so, we were lucky to grab a corner table (on a frigid Thursday night) without waiting.

The Trenton Tomato Pie, with Sausage

The space itself is full of old time charm, with a high tin ceiling, glass block windows, and other touches that hint at a rich history. It could easily be your comfortable neighborhood bar or mom and pop restaurant; despite a few modern flourishes, it feels like the 60s or 70s there in all the best ways.

Fig & Bacon slice

The menu has salads, appetizers, and even tacos, but we kept our focus squarely on the pizza. Pies come in 10" and 16" sizes; I was happy to be with two east-coast pizza lovers who eagerly joined in to order Way Too Much tomato pie. In addition to our choices from a solid selection of bottled and draft beer, we chose:

• Fig and Bacon (10") - Wine poached mission figs, gorgonzola cheese, balsamic red wine reduction, Jones Farm bacon
• Woodsman (10") - Sauteed crimini mushroom, roasted shiitake and oyster mushrooms, leek, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, truffle oil, cracked black pepper, chive.
• Build Your Own Tomato Pie (16") - Topped with Berkshire Italian sausage.

Tomato pie with sausage

The two smaller pies arrived first. Despite the exotic toppings, my focus was, of course, the crust. This did not look like a tomato pie; the puffy cornicione was more Neapolitan style in appearance. But unlike a soft and often wet-centered Neapolitan, these pies were crisp and rigid like a true tomato pie would be, and there was no soggy spot in the middle.

Happy east coast pizza experts Tracy and Rich

The fig and bacon pie was a great mix of savory and sweet, and the textures were ideal. Crispy, chewy, and bursting with contrasting flavors. The mushroom pie was a level up from that, with more complex flavors, earthiness, and umami. 

Underside of that amazing crust

For both pies, the crust was outstanding - full of crunch, flavor, and an al dente chew. I felt that these were some novel hybrid of Neapolitan and Trenton styles, and I loved it. Of course, with no red sauce, these couldn't be tomato pies!

The real test was the 16" tomato pie. It arrived shortly after the smaller pies and, in the dim light, I did not detect the signature concentric swirl of sauce that Salvatore's applies, much like Maruca's and the superb thin crust pizza at Norma's (Mannheim, PA) which she calls "Boardwalk style."

Salvatore's describes the tomato pie as "the classic - not a pizza, but built in reverse: crust, olive oil, mozzarella/romano, then sauce." I quickly forgot how good the smaller pies were, because this one was transcendent. That beautiful crust is made from wheat that is locally grown and milled by Lonesome Stone Milling. Can you improve on a Trenton tomato pie crust? Apparently!

Even though this is a modern hybrid of two ancient styles, the taste, the smell, the texture of this pie is throwback. Throwback to the times when every pizza was made from scratch by new immigrants and the next generation. The aromas alone were intoxicating here. 

I know the sauce and cheese were both top quality, with yet more local sourcing, but I was wolfing down slices with such gusto that I barely paused to notice. This simple sauce and cheese tomato pie was perfectly balanced, all elements in harmony.

When we ordered, I had grilled our server about the sausage, and she assured me that it would be applied raw so that it would cook on the pie, the only proper way. However, the pie arrived with large uniformly sliced chunks of sausage that revealed pre-cooking. Initially dismayed, I quickly got over because this was such flavorful sausage, cut in thick slices that didn't dry out on the second heating. But oh my, how good it would have been if done properly.

From https://www.facebook.com/thetomatopie

In a few months I'll be writing about the 19 top pizzas of 2019. Spoiler: Salvatore's is going to be a top contender. This is spectacularly good stuff, would be just as big a hit in Trenton as it is in Wisconsin. It was so good that I took the leftover slices back, stored them in my hotel mini-fridge, and took them back to Texas with me. In the ultimate act of kindness, I gave the only remaining slice of that sausage pie to my wife, who concurred on just how good it is, even re-heated.

Don't miss this tomato pie if you're in the area; if you're not in the area, it's worth the trip. Absolutely destination pizza.