The many lives of tomato pie

By Mari Uyehara, The New York Times

On the website for Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut, ordering the “Original Tomato Pie” is accompanied by a warning: “By selecting this, you are acknowledging that this pie has no Mozzarella on it.”

In New Haven apizza nomenclature, the tomato pie, also known as a plain pie, is a thin-crust pizza blistered in a coal-fired oven and then covered with a thin layer of sauce and a sprinkling of grated Pecorino Romano.

New Haven might be best known for its white clam pizzas, but the heartbeat of the city just might be the humble but mighty tomato pie.

Jennifer Kelly, one of Frank Pepe’s granddaughters, estimates that 75% to 80% of the tables she served before retiring ordered it. “That’s my favorite pie,” she said. “It is the pie that my grandfather started. It was a pie that I was raised on. It’s simple. And it’s just delicious.”

While America has gone wild with pizza ...