ETA: Actually, there is another tomato pie place on that list, the one in Pennsylvania. I seem to recall that Loach might be from there, so perhaps that’s the one he’s referring to, but it looks similar to the Trenton pie to me. See here for pictures of their pie.
It used to be the case at those New Haven pizza restaurants I mentioned that when you ordered a pizza (which they called an “apizza” from the dialect of the people who started these places), you had to specify if you wanted mozzarella (or “mootz”) on it. Otherwise you’d get grated Parmesan.
Also, they would slice the pizzas up, but not necessarily in nice wedges. See this photo for an example.
And the oven at Pepe’s is an enormous coal-fired brick one, perhaps fourteen feet deep. So the pizza peels that they use to put the pizza in the oven and take it out have handles perhaps ten feet long.
Also, there’s Amico’s, who is reportedly founded by members of the same family. I’ve gotten them several times when I’m at work. Good stuff.
But, the local pizza chain that I find transcendent is Mama’s Pizza. It’s a pretty heavy, dense crust with great chew, brushed with garlic butter. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. There are other good pizzas, but its crust is the one I dream of.
That’s what we call tomato pie in my area (Philly suburbs). It comes as a big uncut rectangular sheet, is typically cut into small squares before serving, is seasoned somewhat differrently from a pizza, and is meant to be eaten cold. It’s typically ordered as a side for parties or events that have buffets.
With the place that I use, you order it ahead of time then pick it up the day of the party.
I just noticed that pulykamell’s link mentioned Coropolese as the standard for tomato pie in the Philly area. As I mentioned in an earlier post, that’s where I get mine and it is widely regarded as the best.
Okay, the linked pics since my post look enough like pizza to qualify in my book.
I suppose it’s subjective. The tomato pie that pulykamell and I are talking about is similar enough to pizza that some may consider it pizza, but different enough that some may not.
Certainly in my area they’re considered different. If someone orders pizza they don’t expect a cold square of tomato pie, and vice versa.
Well, the one in the link of best pizzas is the Trenton tomato pie. I agree that the Philly tomato pie is different enough to be a separate category.