DeLorenzo's on Hudson st. (Trenton NJ) to close

Sad news indeed, but inevitable, I guess. Times and places change.
Read all about it:
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/12/famed_delorenzos_hudson_street.html
 
 

I hate to ask a stupid question but is there any difference between a tomato pie and a pizza?

Yes and no.  Yes: the crust is thin, the toppings are relatively sparse, it's more about the tomatoes than the cheese, and the cheese goes on first.  No: there are more differences between the various things called pizza in the U.S. than between a Trenton tomato pie and an NYC pizza; if someone from another part of the country came to Trenton and was served a tomato pie they would certainly recognize it as a pizza.
 
Many places in and near Trenton serve pizza AND tomato pie, so the differences are significant to the locals.  By the way, there are tomato pies served in other areas of the country, such as Utica, NY and Providence, RI that have little in common with Trenton tomato pies (except for the fact that they too are variations of pizza).

Yes, and then there is the Phildelphia and suburbs variation which is also called Tomato Pie, but (although less than 30 miles away) has virtually nothing in common with Trenton Tomato Pie, except, as you said, they are both "pizza". The Philly version is ALL sauce and no actual tomato.
 
My favorite:
http://www.corropolesebakery.com/?page_id=13

I find parallels here with the Shakey's chain of pizzerias in southern California. Latinos now account for a large percentage of their customers. Similarly, Latinos seem to now do the baking in most of the old-line slice joints in NYC.
 
One thing the newspaper story did not explore is why the family is just closing this location. Maybe they just did not have a business succession plan? Is there no Latino family that would like to run a tomato pie place?
 
I note that DeLorenzo's has a review here on RF that will have to be modifed/removed.

I am sad to hear that the Hudson St location is closing. I loved the atmosphere there and for a fellow that doesn't travel by automobile, the location close to the train station was great.  

There's always Papa's, which is the superior and original (you can not argue with that) Trenton tomato pie. Once you've had one from Papa's, you can't go back to any existing DeLorenzo's location, related to each other or not. In addition, Papa's has a rest room and the Hudson Street location of DeLo's did not.

True enough that Papa's predates De Lo's, and in fact it may even predate Lombardi's in NYC, which is often said to be America's first pizzeria.  I like Papa's but I don't think it holds a candle to De Lorenzo.  When we lived in Trenton we were sometimes too lazy to drive for a De Lorenzo pickup, in which case we ordered from Papa's (they deliver).  Good enough.  Plus, they make both tomato pies AND pizza.

I tried my very first Trenton Tomato Pie today at DeLorenzo's(the open one).  Very good pizza.  The crust reminds me of a New Haven style pizza, very thin, but crispier.  The sauce was perfect, not bitter and not overly sweet.  I expected less cheese, but it did not distract from the finished product.
 

 
Again, that's not a blurry photo, it's the steam from the piping hot tomato pie
 
If you need to hit the Head, it's in the kitchen.....Very, very clean.  And look, someone left the blueprints for a Delorenzo's Tomato Pie on display.
 

 
Nice place.  We got there around 11:15 AM and had no problem getting a seat.  By the time we left, the place was jammed.  Friendly service from waiters in white shirts with black bow ties.  What a classy joint

That pie pictured above is from DeLorenzo's on Hamilton Avenue.  Same name but no connection whatsoever with the DeLorenzo that just closed on Hudson Street (brothers opened the two restaurants many decades ago but they have always operated totally independently of each other).  The pies from that DeLorenzo's are not bad but are decidedly inferior to a Hudson Street pie, which can now only be obtained in the Trenton suburb of Robbinsville, where you can often spy Eileen from the closed Hudson location sitting by the cash register.

Thanks Bruce, did not know that.  I am looking forward to hitting the Robbinsville location for a comparison. 

My wife and I finally got to Papa's Tomato Pies. I say finally because we thought we had been there aboout 4 years ago, but we were actually at Championship Tomato Pies. Ed Levine, in his otherwise excellent book "Pizza" wrote about Papa's but gave the address as 931 Chambers Street and called it Papa's Championship Tomato Pies.
 
The real Papa's is at 804 Chambers St, he confused the two places. The pizza was OK, but not worth the drive to Trention (about an hour for us). And the bar smelled, well, a little like urine. We wondered what the hell Ed Levine was thinking.
 
Anyway, a few months ago I came across some blog or other where someone wrote aboout the error, which the first time I realized I had been to the wrong place.
 
So, off we went yesterday for lunch (The only day they open for lunch is Friday). It was worth the wait. Exellent! Great crust and sauce, better than I remembered from either DeLorenzo's.  I agree with Harriet, above, it's the best in Town, just don't get confused and go to Championship.
 
http://www.papastomatopies.com/
 
Just a heads up, unlike the other some of the other Tomato Pie places, they do not serve beer or wine, but you're welcome to bring your own (not that we did, we got there at 11:30 in the morning..).

DeLo's on Hudson was my favorite. I would skip going to Route 33, because I like the Hudson atmosphere. 33 is loud, noisy, full of babies crying. It's horrible. Only way I'll ever go there is getting it to go.
 
DeLo's will always be a favorite, because their pepperoni is special.. smaller round slices, and spicy. I have no idea where they get it or I'd buy a four or five pounds of it and just munch away one day.
 
As for getting pizza, I'm not willing to even give Papa's a chance I like DeLo's pepperoni so much, but I did see a Mustard Pie (it has mustard in the pizza crust) on their website and I have to try it.

What I don't get is that article says they're closing because they're getting old. But then it says they might open a place in Pennsylvania.. what gives?

I don't know. Growing up we alternately called them apizza and tomato pies. Same thing.

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/11/delorenzos_pizza_in_trenton_an.html
 
The other Delorenzo's in Trenton, the one called "Pizza" instead of "Tomato Pies," is closing as well. Although they're also moving to the suburbs, like the other place did.