I remember many years ago hearing my dad talk about something he'd eaten as a kid growing up in Philadelphia, PA--something called a tomato pie. He described it as being pizza-ish, but not quite. He thought it was a precursor, or early form of one of the most popular meals in the U.S., and probably around the world, too. Anyway, a few weeks ago I was hurrying through Shop-Rite on my weekly shopping trip when I saw something new--tomato pie, from a Philadelphia establishment called Gaeta's. I picked one up, and brought it home excitedly.
As it turns out, tomato pie isn't an early form of regular pizza exactly, but is instead a contemporary offshoot of it. The origin of pizza is decidedly murky--some claim it's thousands of years old, made by Romans, others say it's Middle Eastern, and on and on. The main issue seems to be agreeing on what precisely constitutes a pizza. Baking up dough in a flat shape and then putting meats and vegetables and maybe some kind of sauce on is probably an ancient practice, but does that count? That's an argument we won't solve here, of course, but fortunately the history of Philly-style tomato pie is a bit better known. Reportedly by the late 1800's, in Sicily, people were making a type of it. The lack of mozzarella cheese on it was practical--the parts of South Sicily we're talking about didn't have many dairy cows (or water buffalo, see my post on July 16, 2013 for more information), so very little cheese was available. Many of these same Sicilians, and Italians, came to settle in Philadelphia in 1900-1910 especially. With a few changes, such as deleting the anchovy and onion toppings, these folks continued to make a newish version of this tomato pie. Some credit Iannelli's Bakery, which opened in 1910, with either being the inventors, or at least one of the first makers of it. Other famous makers of tomato pie were Marchiano's Bakery, Cacia's Bakery, Sarcone's Bakery, and Scalea's. All of these places still exist, in one form or another.
So now we know something of its history, what exactly is a tomato pie? There are different versions of it, but the basic template is a thick crust, usually of focaccia bread dough, which is very reminiscent of Sicilian style pizza. Upon this is a thick coating of tomato sauce, which has various herbs and such mixed into it. Unlike traditional pizza, as I mentioned before, there is no mozzarella cheese layer atop the tomato sauce. Some places sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top, but it's nothing like the complete layer a regular pizza has. And that's basically it. The shape of the pie is usually square, or rectangular, again like traditional Sicilian style pizza. Perhaps the oddest thing about tomato pie is that it's usually not served hot out of the oven--instead it's at room temperature, or even cool.
The place that made the tomato pie I tried, Gaeta's actually has a pretty long history of it, since they use the original recipe developed by Scalea's Bakery. Gaeta's used to be in the Germantown section of Philadelphia (which doesn't really fit in with the restaurant's Italian heritage I guess), but has since to Castor Avenue. The Gaeta's menu is pretty limited--they basically just serve tomato pies, regular pizza, and "breads," which are breads with pizza toppings stuffed inside, kind of like a calzone, it looks like. They also make a tomato pie with cheese, which puzzles me a little. Isn't that just Sicilian style pizza? Anyway, Gaeta's is takeout only, but they're big on shipping to grocery stores, like Shop-Rites in Southeast Pennsylvania and of course Southern New Jersey. If Google reviews are accurate, Gaeta's and Marchiano's make the best tomato pies, as they boast an excellent 4.9 (out of 5.0) rating. So by most accounts I had a very traditional, and very good example of this local cuisine.
Gaeta's tomato pie: I ate this before reading up on it in detail, so I followed the preparation instructions on the label. These were putting it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 6-8 minutes. The pie was rectangular in shape, 12 inches by 9 inches (or about 23 cm. by 30 cm.), and looked like a Sicilian style pizza without cheese, save for occasional bits of parmesan cheese. It had a very powerful tomato-y odor, not surprisingly. And it tasted like...a Sicilian-style pizza without mozzarella cheese. Which isn't a bad thing. I've enjoyed pizza in various forms--"regular," New York style, white, Chicago deep dish style, for example, and Sicilian style is cool. It had a thick, chewy crust, and the tomato sauce was nice--presumably there were abundant herbs in it, such as oregano. I can't say I liked it better than most of the pizza I eat (which is usually New York style), but it was still respectably tasty. It was a pleasant, different take on an old favorite. I definitely would recommend it, unless you're a person who hates Sicilian style pizza, or only likes white pizza (which for those who don't know is regular pizza without tomato sauce, and usually with ricotta cheese on it, too). I learned later that I ate it the "wrong" way by heating it, so maybe next time, and there probably will be next times, I'll eat it unheated, right out of the box. Oh, and for those concerned with practical matters, this tomato pie set me back $6.99, so the price was reasonable as well.
Finally, in reading up on pizza for this post, I discovered there are many variants of it that I have never heard of, or tried. Such as a charred and clam-studded version from New Haven, Connecticut, a Detroit style kind which is square and topped with marina sauce, a chicken and barbecue sauce version from California, and even a very new sort which uses a mustard sauce instead of tomato sauce. So I'll have to try these when/if I can. Moreover, there is a Southern New Jersey variant of tomato pie, known as Trenton style. But this isn't like the Philly kind at all--it's basically regular pizza, with mozzarella cheese, crushed tomatoes, and a thin, crunchy crust. Or, in other words, it doesn't seem that different from everyday New York style pizza. Which is disappointing. But, I'll be a completist and try this one too, if I get the chance.
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