Top Road Tavern & Pizza 1042 Brunswick Avenue, Trenton (609) 393-5911
(Directions) John make pies Tuesday through Saturday

A real Trenton tomato pie needs to be crisp (even in the center) without tasting like cardboard.  It differs in this respect from most “thin crust” pizza, which is most likely gluey in the center.  John, a pieman who returned recently to Top Road from retirement, is a master at achieving the perfect tomato pie crust.  He’s perhaps not quite as obsessive as DeLorenzo’s, but he’s good.  Really good.

Ingredients aren’t quite to the standard of the other premium tomato pie vendors in town: Papa’s, DeLorenzo’s, or Dominicks. The sausage, cheese, and sauce are OK but, for example, Top Road serves canned mushrooms, which are a real downer to those of us who love mushrooms on our pies. Nevertheless, the rest of the pie is good enough that I would suggest skipping the mushrooms.

The Tavern itself seems to have been last remodeled in the early 1950s. If you’re a baby boomer, it will remind you of the old-fashioned places your parents dragged you to as a child. If you’re Gen X or younger, it will seem quaint. The left side of the Tavern is the restaurant, the right side is a bar frequented by a clientele of a certain age. People are quite friendly, and you can get a pitcher of beer (or any bar drink, for that matter) with your pie.

John works Tuesday to Saturday. Word is that the quality of the pies declines marketly on the other nights.  The Brunswick Avenue location is in the heart of Trenton’s Little Poland district, so you might want to show up early and wander around before dining.

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