Opened in February of 2022, seemingly as a response to Lillo’s Tomato Pies not too far down the highway in Hainesport, NJ. This has more of a strip mall, commercial, wannabe franchise tomato pie feel. Aesthetically, this is an absolutely gorgeous pizza; a super sharp-looking gussied up tomato pie with rich red & green colors and a beautifully blackened crust, immediately raising my expectations upon first glance. Tremendously thin, the dough is fantastically firm & terrifically tasty with a sensationally smokey charred undercarriage. The pie looks & feels coal-fired, with a remarkably crispy texture & super crunchy heavily charred crust that borders on burnt. Greasier than expected, the cheese is slightly subpar, with excess oil dripping from the butterfat in the significantly salty generic shredded mozzarella blend. Not terrible but a creamier fresh mozz would go a long way on a pizza like this. In typical tomato pie fashion, the sauce is smattered atop the cheese. Zesty, zingy, zippy, tastefully tangy, flavorfully fresh & sensationally sweet, the sauce sings with plenty of personality & pizzazz, despite being a smidge too savory from the substantially salty grease infiltrating the tomato taste. The fresh basil adds color, class & garden flavor, elevating this pie well above average pizza. Overall, the taste & texture are very solid, combining to make a quality pizza pie. This joint can hold its own among the top tomato pies in NJ and ranks as one of the better pizzas in all of South Jersey. They face some stiff competition from Lillo’s Tomato Pies right down the road; but this is also travel-worthy pizza, very good in its own right.
