Original Petes-Ewing-Tomato-Pie

Pete’s Steak House

Original Pete's Steak House, 1855 N Olden Ave, Ewing, NJ
Open 7 days, M-Sa 7 AM - 9 PM; Su 7 AM - 8 PM
(609) 771-8575   Website    Google Maps

Original Pete’s Steak House on the corner of Rt. 31 and N Olden is owned by one of the partners who originally owned Pete’s on Hudson Street in Chambersburg. For years, until it closed a few years ago, Pete’s served tomato pie in addition to steak sandwiches, and this tradition continues at the current location. Pete’s serves an authentic pie featuring a crisp crust that exhibits good char and leopard spotting. It provides a good balance of cheese and tomato (perhaps slightly under-cheesed); the mushrooms are fresh and good quality, though we would have wanted a few more. Interestingly, Pete’s seems to add the mushrooms towards the end of baking. This means that the mushrooms release less water (and don’t make the crust soggy), though are less cooked than most. One of the consequences of the crisp crust is that the lip of the pie is quite dry. We ended up not eating much of it despite the fact that it had some char. The tomatoes seem straight out of a can (like the stewed tomatoes my primary-school cafeteria used to serve). Sprinkles of oregano, salt, and pepper made a huge improvement. Ambiance is among the nicest of any restaurant in the competition: 50s/60s memorabilia cover the walls (a 50s bicycle is suspended from the ceiling). Unlike a lot of such places, this collection seems personal to the owner, not the result of a restaurant decorator ordering faux items from a catalog. Service is very good. This is a very good place to go if only some of your party want tomato pie: you can get breakfast any time, plus good cheese steaks, fish and chips, and many other items.