#61 Pizza Shackamaxon

January 26th, 2019

Philadelphia, PA

We were very sad when Pizzeria Beddia closed. Even though we had to plan our whole day around going there early, waiting in line, and then waiting for our pizza, it was worth the trip every once in a while to be one of the first 40 in line and eat that amazing pizza. When we heard that a new pizza place had moved into the space, we were very excited to try it because it had big shoes to fill.

Pizza Shackamaxon doesn’t make and serve whole pies. They will, but they’re set up as a slice shop in a city that doesn’t have too many good ones. In this respect, they are essentially set up as the opposite of Beddia, which didn’t serve slices. On their website, Pizza Shackamaxon says “We pride ourselves in being a “slice-first” shop (one of few left in our area) because this means we have the pleasure of serving the many over the few.” I wonder if this is a direct dig to Beddia. If you want a whole pie, you’ll have to order it, and then wait for however long it takes to make.

The big question, obviously, is how do these slices compare to Beddia’s? Well, they are pretty delicious. We took my mom and James, and we each tried a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato pie. Well, James didn’t get his own slices, he just had to try ours. They keep it simple here – only offering cheese, tomato pie, pepperoni, and a special, focusing on local, fresh ingredients.

We ordered our slices and decided to eat at one of the standing tables in house. While trying to juggle our slices (and our baby), we dropped one of the tomato pie slices. We probably would have eaten it anyway, but the guys here were kind enough to bring us a new slice and help us clean up the mess that we made on their floor.

It’s REALLY hard to find a good tomato pie slice. I think this may be one of the only ones that we’ve ever had that tasted just as amazing as it looked. We like our tomato pie slice overloaded with sauce, and this sauce was so flavorful. And the cheese slice was just as amazing. It may not have been as tasty as that cheese pie at Beddia, but it is absolutely worth making another trip back here for, and they are open for lunch.

To visit:
Pizza Shackamaxon
115 E Girard Ave #3907
Philadelphia, PA 19125 

#63 Tacconelli’s

March 25th, 2016

Philadelphia, PA

I can’t believe that I somehow missed posting about Tacconelli’s back in 2016. Back on the original list (2015), Tacconelli’s was ranked in at #63. It disappeared from the 2016 and 2017 lists, but made it back on the 2018 list at #60.

Tacconelli’s is a Philadelphia classic, having been making pizzas since right after WWII. The restaurant is much older and the brick oven has been used in the family for baking and selling bread since 1918. They started making tomato pies, which had a lot of sauce and very little cheese. The restaurant is now on its 5th generation of owners, but it is still a one-oven, one-man operation.

Because there is only one pizza maker and one oven for baking the pizzas, the best way to make sure that you get a pizza is to call ahead and reserve your dough. They serve pizzas from 4:30 pm onwards, but you can call ahead as early as 10 am.

When we went, we tried the recommended white pie with spinach and fresh tomatoes. The crust was charred as much as a New Haven pie. The crust was thin, and they didn’t skimp on the toppings, although they recommend that you not order more than two toppings per pizza. Not too cheesy, either.

We were glad that we had called ahead here and reserved our dough. Usually, they sell out of dough well before closing. When we got there, we saw that many families would reserve two doughs and take one to go. That’s a really great idea that we may copy next time. Also, because they only can make one pizza at a time, you should be prepared to wait a bit for your pizza. Fortunately, they let you bring your own salad, and beer and wine! We didn’t do this and we were starving by the time our pizza came.

Two other pieces of information that you should know. First, they are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Second, the original location is in Port Richmond in Philadelphia. There is another location in Maple Shade, NJ. This is run by a Tacconelli family member, but is NOT associated with the original.

We should really go back here soon. We know so many people who grew up ordering this pizza, and it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been there once.  Especially now that it is back on the Best Pizzas list!

To visit:

The Original Tacconelli’s Pizza
2604 E. Somerset Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134

#97 Tony’s Famous Tomato Pie

November 22, 2015

Philadelphia, PA

Last November, we headed down to Philadelphia to cheer on some friends who were running the marathon. We took up our normal cheering spot at mile 11, and after a few hours of cheering in the cold, we were certainly ready for some hot pizza.

We drove down the road a bit to Tony’s Famous Tomato Pie, and got there about an hour after it opened. We actually weren’t sure if it was open when we got there because it was in such a quiet area of town, and we were the only ones there.

Since we are both originally from PA, we love a good tomato pie, and we’ve had a bunch of different styles. This tomato pie was a bit untraditional because it was on a very thin crust, so Philadelphia tomato pie purists may not want to go out of their way for this one.

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Even though the crust was thinner than we were used to for a Philly tomato pie, it managed to stand up to the sauce. The cheese is underneath the sauce, so it isn’t quite like a New Haven tomato pie either, and there was no grated cheese on top. Apparently, this is called a “Trenton-style” tomato pie (but with more sauce). The sauce was good, but it could have used a little more kick to it to really make it shine. We’ve had better tomato pies in Philly, but this one certainly wasn’t bad.

It could have been the fact that we were cold and hungry, but we ate this pie so quickly. The location of the restaurant is a little out of the way for visitors who are staying downtown, but we’d go out of our way to stop here again, especially to warm up after marathon-cheering!

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Eric makes the best faces while eating pizza, doesn’t he?

To visit:

Tony’s Famous Tomato Pie
6300 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19135