Carlino's Market

128 W Market Street
West Chester, PA 19382
(610) 696-3788
Website

Carlino's started as a DiBruno's-style shop in Ardmore, but has since branched out to West Chester. The West Chester iteration is much larger, though just as claustrophobic as the original. They offer a wide variety of pre-made Italian food, as well as cheeses, meats, coffee drinks, and two sandwich counters.

When you look at the layout below, it seems like there is plenty of space. But when you are actually there, the mere presence of five people in the below area causes chaos. In my half hour of shopping and eating, I was in the way, or annoyed at someone in the way at least a dozen times. One of the issues is the islands displaying additional goods for sale scattered around the store. It broke up the flow of traffic, and led to bottlenecks at every turn.

There is no question they offer quality goods, the cured meats alone could occupy me for hours. Plus they offer illustrations by Hawk Krall himself, one of my favorite local artists/food experts. See illustrations below.

One of the best things they offer is the tomato pie. It is thick, chewy, has great acidity from the tomatoes, and is just simple perfection. I am a big fan. It was the best thing I ate on this trip by far.

The "Ultimate Italian" was not so ultimate. It came on a decent roll, though it was no Liscio's, and held prosciutto, mortadella, Calabrese hot salami, hot capicola, rosemary ham,and aged sharp provolone. While the meat was definitely all high quality, the cheese was lost, and it was pretty dry overall. In a different geographic location, this would be a fantastic hoagie. Around here, it was good, not great.

The bread left a LOT to be desired...

The mortadella had beautiful pistachios studding it, and the hot salami was a nice touch. The cohesive package was just nothing special.

The beef meatballs "Sicilian Style" held fried eggplant, ricotta, and grated locatelli. This was the most disappointing of the bunch. The meatballs were under-seasoned, the locatelli was sparse, the eggplant soggy, and the bread fell apart in the three minutes from receiving to eating. Would not recommend this one.

I felt there should have been more salt and a bit of spice to really make this sandwich worthwhile. In addition, the bread was not hearty enough to contain the ingredients without ripping.

It was like they got their rolls backwards here: the Italian was dense and stiff, almost stale and the meatballs were in a spongy, seeded roll. So maybe if they were swapped, I'd be writing with a different opinion. But alas, my one experience at Carlino's will likely remain my only.

Luigi and Giovanni's

Catering & Specialty Foods
3601 Chapel Road
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(610) 353-2080
Website

Newtown Square has Cut Above as their hoagie mecca. I love that place. But I was recently tipped off to a little joint I never even knew existed, a couple hundred yards from Cut Above Deli. It's part DiBruno, part Whole Foods, and part Cut Above.

They offer packaged meats (for cooking or eating) as well as three meat counters- one for the fancy stuff, one for the raw stuff (butcher), and one for hoagies and lunch meat. Amazing.

They have a wide selection of awesome rolls.

And here is the deli counter. Notice the fresh strombolis sitting on top? I certainly did.

I decided to start with the Italian, as that is a great barometer of how good a deli is.

If you look at the insides of this seeded roll, you will see a variation on the DelCo meat wrap, ham and salami wrapped with sharp provolone, tucked on top of hot and sweet peppers, onions, tomato, and lettuce. This is a damn good hoagie. Everything is in balance, just enough meat, multiple threads of cheese woven throughout, and plenty of veggies so you can pretend it's somewhat healthy (it's not). The roll was crispy and chewy, and the meat was freshly sliced. It was also about $6.50. So that's tough to beat.

The stromboli was impossible to resist, so I ordered one as well.

The paper thin bread was tightly wound around the spicy pepperoni and provolone. This was ridiculously good. I am always a sucker for a boli though, as it's the easy take and eat in the car option when you can't wait to get home. Basically a high-end hot pocket. And I am totally okay with that. If you are in the area, it's worth checking out Luigi and Giovanni's for certain. Not to mention the various square pies, pre-made Italian foods, and the incredible meat and cheese selection.

If you're having a get together and don't feel like cooking a damn thing, hit them up and you won't be disappointed.

Tony's Place

6300 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19134-3619
(215) 739-5660
Website

In the never-ending hunt for great pizza, the great Northeast is usually underrepresented, yet they offer pies in many venues that are significantly better than their Southern counterparts. I heard Tony's Place offered a tomato pie, and I was anxious to see if it would save me a trip to Trenton.

Tony's place is not a fancy "gourmet pizza" type place. It's a bar/family restaurant that serves a pretty decent, comparably inexpensive thin crust tomato pie. Now don't get it twisted, this is not tomato pie, but rather, tomato pie. (The following pictures are a bit dull because the lighting here hasn't changed since 1951)

The drink special was $2.25 Woodchuck ciders. Although I usually don't drink the cider, I had to do it here, on monetary principle alone. The side salad is pretty large and quite a steal at around $3.50. Nothing crazy, but more variety and size than I expected for the price.

On to the pizza. I went with the traditional tomato pie with hot cherry peppers and sausage first. The sauce goes on top, and the cheese underneath. Upon ordering I asked for it well done, and she asked if I wanted it crispy, so I was a bit flummoxed. However, I decided to just hedge my bets and go with crispy. Crispy it was. The crust was the best part (followed by the sausage). Very thin, and very crisp, it was a nice change from the thick, greasy "medium" thickness that many places around the city serve and often call "Greek style." I am looking at YOU Central Pizza. Anyway, the pizza was good, the sausage had a nice kick of fennel, and was in perfect proportion. The problem arose with the sauce, however. It just lacked flavor. I may be spoiled, but is it too much to ask for the sauce to have some salt and garlic? This was under sweetened, under salted, and just made my two other favorite sauces (Franco's and Tacconelli's) shine.

The red and white pizza was hard to pass up, as it had a tinge of patriotism to it (even though it was missing some bleu). It was a white pie, with olive oil and garlic, swirled with sauce. Now we were getting closer to home. This had a bit more of the flavor I was looking for. Garlic, oregano, olive oil, a bit of tomato, and a satisfyingly crunchy crust.

I would certainly eat at Tony's Place again, and the fact that a pie is less than $11 is another major plus. Although the sauce is a bit lacking, the crust is definitely light and crunchy, however I am still a Tacconelli's guy for thin crust in our fair city.

De Lorenzo Tomato Pie

530 Hudson Street
Trenton, NJ 08611
(609) 695-9534

My first out-of-the-city mission in the Chevy Camaro courtesy of "Driving the Northeast" was for a slice of world famous, Trenton-style tomato pie. I have never been into Trenton-proper, I've only ever driven through - as there is really no reason for me to be there - unless, of course it's for the pizza.

There is a decades-old rivalry between two "tomato pie" places in Trenton: De Lorenzo and Delorenzo. Yea, it's ridiculous. Luckily when I was driving around the terrifying hole that is Trenton, I felt well protected, for one - I think most of the shady characters thought I might be driving an actual Transformer, and two - because I could handily beat about every other vehicle I had seen all day.

The Camaro was a bit clunky at first, as I was used to my city car, but it started to grow on me immediately. The sound alone when you start it up, a low growl that is powerful without being too overbearing, makes you immediately smile every time you get into the cockpit. Yes, by the way, it's not so much a driver seat as a cockpit. Anyway, after I had inadvertently driven past Delorenzo's and realized they were closed for the week, I whipped the SS around and headed to De Lorenzo's. Luckily there was a spot directly across the street, as I had already grown quite protective of this car and Trenton is not the kind of place to leave a fine piece of machinery such as this unguarded.

The interior of this place is old school Italian. Celebrity pictures, Yankees paraphernalia (gag) and a single oven. Questionable taste in athletics aside, the interior is inviting, and the staff is all very friendly. It's as though you walked into your neighborhood pizza place that your parents were introduced to by your grandparents.

There are no menus, and only pizza with limited toppings to choose from. I hedged my bets and got a small plain and a small sausage and pepperoni for two people. Some Kolsch beer helped satiate our thirst while we waited.

The tomato pie came out first, sparse sauce and cheese on a perfectly baked crust. Things were looking good. The sauce is simply crushed tomatoes with some salt a bit of spice. Simple, perfect. The cheese was just enough, and let the real star of this dish sing.

Why is it that out of all the pizza places in Philly, there are a only small handful that get it right? The crust at De Lorenzo's was amazing. Thin, crispy with plenty of air bubbles and a well done crunch to it.

They cut the pizza with a knife, which lends to an unorthodox division of slices.

The pepperoni and sausage came out soon after. I was initially worried that it would be too much, but it turned out to be just enough. This sausage was sooo good. And the high heat of the oven crisped up the pepperoni to the point of almost burning. It was just what the doctor ordered. Not too greasy and an incredibly crispy crust. Thin crust perfection.

 

This crust is still crisp after more than ten minutes outside of the oven.

Look at the perfect air pockets.

The pizza master at work.

The nice older lady working the old school cash register had to get up from eating her own pizza to cash me out. Don't worry, there was no pizza left for me to bring home.

A couple of things you should know before you go. This particular location was apparently opened before the state required bathrooms, so when you go, keep in mind that there are NO BATHROOMS. Seriously, it's also nearly impossible to find somewhere to relieve yourself in Trenton. So plan ahead. Also, they are obviously cash only, and close around 9. They do not take reservations, and did I mention that they have amazing pizza?