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De Lorenzo’s Is The Best Pizza In The Universe
I like pizza. I mean I really like it. A lot. I guess I can be kind of a snob, but knowing what you like isn’t really snobbery, it’s just knowing what you like. I don’t like that Dominos (and Food Service) puffy crust. I also don’t like super dense crust. Oddly. I do like cheap, shitty $1 pizza as well as carnival type pizza (frozen shells). So, as a pizza fan, I am always on the lookout for new and exciting places. I am also always talking to pizza fan and comedian Joe Moore about places we could swap, especially because I am always traveling around doing standup comedy shows.
Slicing up a pepperoni pie
One day I was chatting with Joe about comedy, not pizza, when someone came over and asked him what his absolute favorite pizza was. He responded without even thinking “Easy. DeLorenzos.”. He went on to tell me that the place used to be in Trenton and it moved to a small town right outside. He could not stress it more: it was perfect. Now, I don’t usually get that far up in Jersey to Trenton, or if I do, I go way past it, up to Princeton or further. But one day I booked a show in Robbinsville. The name of the town looked familiar to me so I ran it by Joe and he verified it, it was the home of De Lorenzo’s.
After my show I literally ran to my car and drove over to De Lorenzo’s. The town of Robbinsville is cute, and everything is mostly new because it all used to be farmland that was just recently developed in the last 10-15 years. De Lorenzo’s sits in a shopping development with lofts over it and central parking in the back (someone actually thought about planning, that’s a nice change).
The Old Ovens
Inside there are some lovely red booths and white twinkly lights. But I was more interested in the ovens! The ovens, while I do not know if they are original, I believe did come from the old place in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, on Hudson street, where the original place stood for over 60 years. Now in thier 8th year in Robbinsville, the quality still stands.
But enough talk about the past. Let’s talk about the present. I walked into the restaurant and ordered a large pepperoni and homemade meatball pie and a medium pepper and onion pie. And then I had to drive an hour home with those pies in the car. I wanted to die! I wanted to dive right in on the highway and start stuff that amazingly smelling pepperoni, meatball, onion, pepper and garlicy pizza right into my mouth. But I didn’t! Why? For journalism! I hope you all appreciate it! Also, scroll to the end for a Photo Gallery!
Pepperoni and Homemade Meatball
First up: The pepperoni and homemade meatball pie. I have never had meatball on a pie and I had seen the pepperoni they use: not the sliced super thin stuff that comes 6 pounds to a bag (altho that does have a time and place), they use the quality stuff and aren’t stingy with it. The meatball made me almost burst into tears when I saw it: big slices spread all over the one side of the pie and smelled amazing. It was a little peppery but meaty. It was a perfect meatball. I would have loved to just have a bowl of those meatballs. Mental note: ask about that next time. The sauce was slightly sweet and slightly chunky. The cheese wasn’t 6 feet thick, it was just the right amount to not overpower anything else.
Amazing crust
The crust is thin, in that it’s…thin and not a cracker. Some pieces were well done and some were exactly done. As Americans, we are spoiled in that we believe everything should be done exactly the same way all the way around, because we are used to machine and factory made things. We have lost touch with the idea of “homemade”. It’s the tiny little imperfections that make things unique and in the case of this pizza, absolutely amazing.
Sweet Pepper and Onion
The pepper and onion pizza, well, I didn’t know if I would like that as much until I took a bite of it. Why? Because it’s sweet peppers! I love sweet peppers and always get them on hoagies! I never had them on pizza, and man was I missing out! The crust on this guy was a little more evenly cooked around the edges but I could care less. It was also fantastic.
Something else I loved is that there is a whiff of garlic to this pizza, but it’s not overpowering. I guess after 68 years, they know what they are doing, so don’t ask questions, just eat!
What I found interesting about this pizza is that they didn’t cut it into wedges. The only other time I have ever seen a circular pizza not cut into wedges was years ago when I was in suburban Chicago. I was at a house and they flipped open the pizza box and I was completely puzzled. The pie was cut into many squares. “WHY!” I thought. “WHY, GOD, WHY!”. This pizza was cut more into rectangles and frankly, I was totally ok with it because you had a shot at crust in every piece. It was probably easier to eat that way as well, because the point would probably break off between the thin-ness and the weight of the toppings. Or not, this is totally conjecture. Anywho, it was fantastic.
Many food websites as well as Zagat have rated De Lorenzo’s the absolute best pizza in the Country. I agree. When I got home and started texting Joe Moore about how I ate it, he asked me what I thought, because he was afraid he might have been overselling it. Spoiler alert: he didn’t. I wanted to build a speedway so I could go to Robbinsville each week and eat this pizza. I wanted to rub it all over me and build a pizza monument to it. I wanted to call the owners and ask them what I did in life to deserve to eat pizza that was so fucking amazing. I wanted to hug them and thank them. I cannot stress this highly enough GO TO THIS PLACE.
De Lorenzo’s
2350 US Highway 33
Robbinsville, New Jersey 08691
609-341-8680
Lunch: Tue.-Fri., 11-2 • Dinner: Tue.-Sun., 4-10 • Closed Mondays
Loving The Hand Tossed Hut
I live in a city where you can’t walk 5 feet without having some good pizza to eat. Wether you like big sloppy pieces that you could use as a car cover, thick Sicilian pizza, pizza with sauce on the top, the bottom or no sauce at all, crispy wood fire grill type, gas oven type or even little pieces of perfection made in a little South Philly bakery, and anywhere else in between, we got you covered. That’s why I am not a fan of chain pizza. Domino’s and Papa John’s are complete garbage: spongey, overdone crust with salt soaked everything else. Gross.
I do have a small spot in my heart for Pizza Hut. When I was a very little kid, my parents and I would drive allllll the way up to the Northeast to eat at a Pizza Hut on the occasional Friday as a special occasion kind of thing. At the time, it was the closest one to our house and I always looked forward to it. Maybe it was because I was allowed to make my own salad at the salad bar (hello, salad mountain!) or maybe because thier buttery crust pizza was just so damn good. It was different from what the local places sold, and that was ok with me, because it was great.
Over the years I have scaled back my intake of Pizza Hut, mostly because the grease would tie me up in knots. Also, like I said above, local places were so good, and I always feel good supporting the local guys.
A little while back, I signed up for thier email list, mostly because I love the name of it: Hut Lover’s. It makes me giggle, mostly because I am a huge Star Wars Fan. I also do a bit about that in my standup set. But anyway, they were advertising thier new pizza “Hand Tossed” pizza and I felt like maybe this one wouldn’t tie me up in knots. And I was pleasantly surprised!
I thought about calling to order and then I remembered they have an iphone app. I opened the app, chose delivery, pay in cash and then not only was I given the choice of the regular pies and packages they offer, they also list, in detail, all thier daily specials. That was pretty awesome! I picked a hand tossed pizza and in the Super Supreme style. It was $11 and $14.58 with tax and delivery charge ($2.50 but the delivery lady was super nice, so I’m not complaining).
Pizza Hut Thin Crust Super Supreme
The Super Supreme pizza includes: pepperoni, ham, beef, pork sausage, Italian sausage, red onions, mushrooms, green peppers and black olives. This pizza was LOADED. It only took them a half hour to make it and get it to my door, so it was piping hot, which was nice. Nothing worse then a lukewarm pizza showing up, half congealed. They also were not skimpy on the toppings. Literally in every bite I had at least 4 toppings and the pieces were pretty big. A thing that also used to bug me when eating at Pizza Hut was that I felt like I ate 7,000 tons of salt. But the toppings weren’t salty and neither was the sauce.
Closeup of the Super Supreme Hand Tossed Pizza Hut Pie
Closeup of Pizza Hut Crust
Over the years, Pizza Hut has tried to examine every section of the pizza, to try and jam more cheese into it. Let’s face it, when your business is pizza, there’s only so much you can do. With this hand tossed pizza, they decided to cover the outside crust with a garlic parmesan shaker coating. Honestly, it’s delicious. It helps with the seasoning of the whole pie and, well, keeps you licking your fingers. A nice touch, I thought, was that when ordering online, they give you the option of skipping the coating if you so chooses. A nice touch for people who might not dig garlic. It shows the gang at Pizza Hut are paying attention.
But let’s talk about the crust. This thing is supposedly “hand tossed”. I sincerely doubt that the kids working at The Hut are tossing pizzas into the air, but whatever they are doing, they are doing it right. They are shooting for the local pizza parlor look and style and they have hit it, with a flair all thier own.
Closeup of the Crust of Pizza Hut’s Hand Tossed Pizza
The outside crust is denser then the pan and chewy, without the patented Pizza Hut grease. I mean seriously, this pie is not greasy *at all* beyond the usual pizza grease you’d get because…it’s a pizza.
The inside crust is thin and still chewy, but not too thin so that when you pick it up it collapses. You wanna fold it? Go for it (altho the slices are still smaller then a regular pizza place). It is as close to a pizza place then Pizza Hut is going to get. They do it with thier own flair and I have to say, they hit the mark.
I feel weird reviewing things without finding something to not like. This might be the first time I like every single thing. The crust is good, the seasoning is good, the toppings were good and even the delivery was prompt and got here right when they said it would. I am sure you mileage may vary depending on where you live, but for a shade under $15 bucks, I was really impressed with this pizza.
Hat’s off to Pizza Hut for a really great job.
Tony’s For Truth In Tomato Pie
Tony’s in Mayfair
A few weeks ago, Joe Moore (of the sketch team Dog Mountain), his wife Emily (of the Camden County Library System), Brian Kelly (of the sketch group Secret Pants) and I met at Tony’s, in Mayfair, to eat tons of their awesome tomato pie as well as their regular pie. If you aren’t from Philly, and more specifically, from somewhere around the northeast, you might not know Tony’s. It’s actually a bar & restaurant (with great red vinyl booths that you can’t even find anymore), that sits on a weird angle of Frankford Ave, across from the old Devon movie theatre (I saw “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” there for a buck when I was kid.).
Tony’s Tomato Pie
Since there were 4 of us, we ordered a bunch of pies. The first being the Famous Tomato Pie! A tomato pie had the sauce on top (altho some tomato pies have no cheese at all). A lot of people compare Tony’s to Tacconelli’s, for they both have the thin crust people love so much. I love it too, and Tony’s never disappoints.
A Slice of Tomato Pie
It’s not skimpy on the sauce, which is sweet but not as sweet as Tac’s, which I am a-ok with. They also use a square cheese which is delicious and doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a tomato pie. What I am saying is that the cheese is like the supporting player: it makes everything else look good without taking much glory for itself.
The crust is thin but, well, there is a difference between thin and “crumbles like a taco shell once you take a bite out of it” thin. This crust walks that line confidently.
Tony’s Pepperoni Pie
We also ordered a two other pies for our little booth!
Next up is the Pepperoni Pie! It was a pretty awesome pie. They were not skimpy with the pepperoni, and while it wasn’t thick slice, imported, artisinal pepperoni that foodie people whine about, it still was delicious and plentiful. There were no breaks in the cheese, it was a solid covering, with just a little bit of sauce peeping out at the crust. Frankly, that’s the way I like it. I like cheese and I like a lot of it. This pie fit the bill!
Tony’s Green Pepper and Onion Pie
Next up is the green pepper and onion pie. This is one of my favorite combos. The onions weren’t burned but almost roasted and the green peppers were soft and absorbed some of the grease from the cheese so that they were almost buttery.
Again, the cheese was a solid sheet over the pie, but this time there was a little more sauce peeking out of the top to announce it’s presence.
The pizzas at Tony’s are flat out amazing and do not get the props they deserve in this town. It’s a quiet jewel among the throngs of pizza places that clog the streets of Philly. Do yourself a favor and drive on down to Tony’s and treat yourself to some amazing pies (and they also have a full menu of other things as well as a vast assortment of beers!).
Joe Moore has written up some of his thoughts on Tony’s as well, as he is our reigning Pizza Expert here at DidjaEat:
Brian, Joe, Emily and Me!
My favorite pizza in the country is technically a “tomato pie” and depending on who you talk to, it’s a night and day difference. Cheese on the bottom, sauce on top. This really forces the tomato sauce into the spotlight, and you pay more attention to what it’s doing with the pizza when you’re looking at it right in the face like that. Fortunately, Tony’s sauce is great. I think I preferred their tomato pie over the regular cheese-on-top slice.
DidjaEat? 