Trenton: State Capital, Pizza Capital

Pizza isn't any sort of crazy special ethnic food in New Jersey, so sorry for this less adventurous update. Every town has a minimum of one pizza joint, and some have a whole lot of them. We're lucky like that. Trenton is a town with some really good pizza. As as matter of fact, I'd say Trenton has the best pizza in the entire state. A lot of Italian immigrants settled in Trenton, especially in the Chambersburg section of town. A couple of these Italians opened pizzerias (though they call pizza "tomato pies" in Trenton) 60+ years ago, including members of the De Lorenzo and Maruca families. The Marucas opened up a pizzeria in Seaside Heights, as well, and the Trenton one closed. The De Lorenzos have stuck to Trenton, and become absolutely legendary there and elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, Maruca's is the best pizza at the shore. DeLorenzo's is my favorite away from the shore. When it comes down to it, I can't pick an absolute favorite, honestly. They're both sublime eating experiences. But I work in Princeton now, and a friend works near me, and we like to get together sometimes. When he told me he'd never had DeLorenzo's, which is only about 15 minutes from where we work, I punched him and told him we had to go this week.

In Trenton you now have 3 De Lorenzo's locations to choose from (there's a new one in Robbinsville), but the oldest are the 2 in Chambersburg: the Hamilton Ave one and the Hudson St. spot. These places serve 2 things: pizza and soda (or water). No sandwiches, no salads, no garlic knots, no wings…you get the idea. This is truly a church of pizza. We went to the Hamilton Ave spot, as it's very easy to find and open on Wednesdays and has a bathroom, should we need it after a hard day's work (and the pizza is nearly identical to the Hudson St. location). As "adult sodas" are allowed here, my friend had one of those and we waited for our half-sausage-half-plain pie to arrive. Well, everyone and their mother has reviewed this pizza, with the perfect crust texture and flavor, real Italian sausage chunks, chunky tomatos with a minimum of spices and quality cheese…all perfectly proportioned. My friend Sean's review of the pizza was simple and appropriate: That's a good pie. If someone says it once, you don't think much of it, but he said it several times, sometimes changing "good" to "great" or adding a "real" before "good." That should be all you really need to hear.

If you want De Lorenzo's, do a little research and look up the 3 locations I listed. I will say I like Hudson St. best for the experience of eating in a row-home that was converted into a pizzeria 63 years ago. If you go on a weekend evening, bring a cooler with some adult beverages in it. There will be a line out the door, and you will have to stand in it for a while. The cool thing is there's a cop on premises at all times, and he never has an issue with people enjoying a bottle (or 2) of suds outside while waiting. Just don't get TOO rowdy!