Pie-Eyed, the Movie: Trenton Bakes, the World Partakes
A true joy of travel springs from finding the regional specialty, made more special when it is truly and steadfastly indigenous. For instance, in a small corridor of Connecticut, you’ll find the steamed cheeseburger. On Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you’ll find the pastie sandwich. And in Trenton, New Jersey, you’ll find tomato pie.
A cousin of the more traditional and common pizza (and to this reviewer’s mind, superior), tomato pie has a higher sauce-to-cheese ratio and typically comes on a thin, crispy crust. Tomato pie is made mainly within a geographic triangle formed by Trenton, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Norristown, Pennsylvania. Filmmakers Vince Amico and Frank Sasso make a solid case for calling Jersey’s capital this tasty treat’s true home.
In their new documentary, “Pie Eyed, The Movie,” they present the people responsible for putting Trenton on the culinary map. Amico, the movie’s narrator and host, takes us on a tour of the city’s most famous pie practitioners, including DeLorenzo’s, Palermo’s, and the Top Road Tavern, all bakeries in the pie business since before most of us were born.
Some may quibble with the low-budget production values here, but the producers do a fine job displaying passion for the pie — theirs as well as everyone else they talk to about it. Curiously, they manage to do this without showing anyone actually eating the stuff or even depicting what the end product looks like. On the DVD, however, you will find an extra feature shows Amico making his own pie from his own recipe, and then his friends and family devouring it. Therefore, we offer this heartfelt advice: do not watch “Pie-Eyed” on an empty stomach.
Order the DVD via the producer’s website: www.pieeyedmovie.com. —R.G.
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