PAPA'S TOMATO PIE RESTAURANT
804 Chambers Street, The Burg
Trentonian, The (Trenton, NJ) - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Papa's Tomato Pie Restaurant is celebrating 96 years in
business! We have been serving the Trenton area since 1912.
And we are the second oldest pizza restaurant in the United
States.
The founder of Papa's was the owners grandfather, Joe Papa, from
Naples, Italy, which is the birth place of tomato pies as
we know it today. He opened one of the first pizzarias in
Trenton, located on South Clinton Avenue. As years passed,
he moved to Butler Street, with two locations. One at 109
Butler. The second was built right across the street,
which is now known as Neapolitan Hall. Then moving to
Chambers and Roebling streets in 1945, where it still
operates today as a family run business of four
generations of pie makers.
Starting with the owners grandfather, Joe Papa. He was 17
when he opened his first restaurant, making dough by hand
long before machines, and cooking in an oven using coal.
He also peeled and cooked tomatoes for the pizza sauce,
and used olive oil and resh-cut mozzarella while my grandmother,
Adalene, made the meatballs, the macaroni sauce, and helped
him prepare in the kitchen. Joe Papa was one of the first
businessmen in Trenton, chairman of the Feast of Lights for
many years, and president of Neapolitan Hall. Always in a suit
and tie, he taught many a pie maker who went off to own
businesses of their own, like Tony Gervasio of Gervasio's
Restaurant and Chick and Jimmy DeLorenzo from DeLorenzo's
and many others. Both of the owners grandfathers' sisters married
successful pie makers as Dominik Picca of Picca's on Whittaker
Avenue and Tony of Long Branch, which is still in operation.
My father, Dominik "Abbie" Azzaro, started working for the owners
grandfather in 1945. He met the owners mother, Teresa "Tessie" Papa,
and shortly after married. He worked for the owners grandfather until
he passed away in 1965. Then, he and the owners mother took over the
business. She helped him by taking care of all the paperwork.
He not only continued with the family recipes, but he stayed
open until 3 a.m., serving breakfast to local Chambersburg and
Villa Park patrons. At that time, there were many bars in the
area that came to Papa's when they closed. To mention a few,
Mickey's, Freddie's, Gus Hines, Four Ovals, De Georges Elderado,
Bartolini's, Botel Inn, Count Felix, The Little Spot,
Dart Tavern, Liberty Tavern, and many others.
Another fond memory was being open in the late afternoon
when the teenagers came in and danced in the aisles. We
had a big teen clientele. They came in after the football
games between Trenton High and Trenton Catholic. Then there
was the famous Sports Night at Trenton High. The Red Team used
Papa's as their home base. Most of the girls were from
Chambersburg . Those same teenagers are now in their 60s,
and a group of them return the last Wednesday of every month,
still eating the same tomato pies, just not dancing in the aisle.
Some of our well-known patrons were Mary Roebling, Anthony
Carabelli, Bobby Prunetti, Kathy Di costanza, Jimmy Durante,
Frank Stallone, Louis Prima, Sam Butera, and many more stars
and dignitaries.
9 comments:
In the late 70's my newly married sister and her husband were living in CA. Total culture shock after growing up in the Burg. Work friends and neighbors had no idea what she was talking about when she mentioned tomato pie and then argued with her after she explained. I had to cut out Papa's ad from the yellow pages and send it to her, so she could show them that "tomato pies" weren't just a little quirk of hers, but a staple here in the Burg.
Hi Judi:)
I love localisms:)
Tomato Pie, Pork Roll, Hoagie,
Scrapple.
Water pronounced Wooder
Trenton pronounced Tren in
etc:)
Remember all of it, tomato pies, scrapple, pork roll, cheese steaks, etc.
Does anyone remember the name of the bar and restaurant that was katty-corner from Papa's on Chambers & Roebling in the 50s and 60s? I think the owner was Jimmy Polardo.
Bob:
Might that have Bartonli's?
Mack - great post on a great place, my mouth waters for one now.
Hi Mack: Just got back from Florida visiting my daughter in Boca Raton. Regarding Papa's Tomato Pies, I'm living proof of Papa's pies in the 1920s and 30s. That's a long time ago but that was before DeLorenzo's or any other tomato pie place that I can recall. It was the only place my father could get a pie with AAh Liege (anchoives) as a topping. All these other toppings came much latter. We always went to Papa's on Butler St. for our pies and they were 25 cents each. During the feast his place was always crowded and was a popular hang out for most everyone in the Burg. Happy New Year to you and your family and to all your readers.
To Bob Reck: I think the Luccidi Family built that corner at Roebling and Chambers in the 30s. After that it may have changed hands many times.
Bob,
That was the Botal Inn. I was working there on weekends as a senior at THS.
I HAVE TO SAY ABBIE IS AN ICON,A LEGEGEND. I WORKED FOR ABBIE FOR ABOUT 4 YEARS. FUNNY THINNG ABOUT ABBIE HE ALWAYS THREW ME A BONE ON NITE'S I WORKED. I OFTEN THOUGHT HE DID THAT WITH ALL HIS WORKERS, I WAS WRONG. THIS GUY WHO WHEN I FIRST MET, HAD ME A BIT SCARED, HE WAS UNIQUE IN MANNER; BUT AS TIME WENT ON HE WAS A MENTOR, A VERY STREET WISE GUY, WHO YOU COULD ASK ANYTHING, I OFFTEN THOUGHT OF HIM MORE AS A GRANDFATHER. HE IS A VERY RESPECTFUL MAN WHO WOULD GO OUT OF THE WAY TO SAY HELLO TO U, EVEN YEAR'S AFTER. ALMOST 25 YEARS LATER MY FATHER HAD PAST, AND WHO WALKED UP TO THE CASKET FOR VIEWING AN ELDERLY MAN WELL DRESSED, AND PAID HIS RESPECTS TO MY DAD AND ME. THAT MAN WAS "ABBIE",TODAY IT IS VERY HARD TO FIND MEN OF RESPECT & SUCH HONOR. I HEAR TODAY, ABBIE IS NOT DOING SO WELL, BUT THE ONE THING IS HE LFT A MARK ON SO MANY. I WISH ABBIE MANY MORE YEARS.I WILL ALWAYS KEEP THIS GUY SOME WERE IN MY HEART & MIND.
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