Just in the off chance that you hadn’t heard, Newark is now home to a new pizzeria. And we’re not talkin’ Domino’s…or Papa John’s… or Little Ceasers…
Nope. Newark has gone artisanal! Newark has gone coal fired! Enter: Mercato Tomato Pie. A friendly staff, old-world Neapolitan recipes, and exposed brick are just the first course! Mercato Tomato Pie is a family restaurant with a rich 50+ year history of serving quality food to generations of customers. The coal-fired, handmade brick oven is a massive 225 sq ft. and reaches temperatures near 1,000°F. Farm-fresh tomatoes, hand-made cheeses, select pepperoni and sausage, and other quality toppings are used to create their delightful pizza pies.
The restaurant’s patriarch Vilmo Fonte moved to the United States from the Abruzzo region of Italy as a young teenager in the 1940s. Vilmo had neither the financial means nor the backing, but he worked his way up in the restaurant world to become the proprietor of many successful restaurants.
Oh, and they also come equipped with some Italian vocab to get you in the right frame of mind.
Mercato
‹mer·cà·to› ~ pronounced [merˈkato]
– market
Famiglia
‹fa·mì·glia› ~ pronounced [faˈmiʎʎa]
– family
Pizzaiolo
‹piz·za·iò·lo› ~ pronounced [pit.tsa.ˈjɔ.lo]
– a man who makes pizza
Napoli
(Naples) ‹na·po·li› ~ pronounced [nä′pō-lē]
– the capital of the Italian region of Campania – the city is world renowned for its celebrated foundation of pizza, combined with its fine wine and historic Neapolitan cuisine.
So stop in for lunch, or after work for a pie. And feel free to hit them up on Twitter to let ’em know what you think.
