This New Jersey Pizzeria Is Over 110 Years Old And It's Still Run By The Same Family

If there's one type of food that Americans adore it's pizza. Everyone has their favorites. There are the big chains, local hotspots, and family-owned institutions. Then of course you've got the Chicago deep dish versus New York thin slice debate. But if you're looking for the oldest continuously-open family-run pizzeria in the U.S., it's located outside the big cities — and can be found in a small town called Trenton in New Jersey, where PaPa's Tomato Pies has sat in various locations for a whopping 113 years.

It's perhaps unsurprising that this pizza place is located in the Northeast, given the area's strong Italian-American heritage, boasting varying pizza styles, like New England style pizza and New Haven style. But the longevity of PaPa's Tomato Pies truly is something to behold. It was first opened in 1912 by an Italian immigrant from Naples named Giuseppe Papa, or Joe, as he was known. Joe started out working at Trenton's very first pizzeria when he was 15-years-old and just two years later he opened his own restaurant.

The business flourished due to the care taken by Joe and his wife Adalene, who made all the dough by hand and cooked the pies in coal-fired ovens. They did everything by hand, from peeling their own tomatoes to cutting fresh mozzarella. When Joe passed away in 1965, his daughter Tessie and her husband Abie took over. Today, the restaurant is run by their son Nick Azzaro and his cousin Michael – making PaPa's Tomato Pies a true family affair.

Many generations of families have enjoyed PaPa's Tomato Pies over the years, including high schoolers, local football players, and even factory workers who would seek out breakfast at 3am during Abie and Tessie's days. On Trip Advisor, people have called it a New Jersey institution with "the most amazing" pizza that has a "crispy crust, tangy tomato sauce, and just the right amount of seasoning."

The unusual mustard pie is apparently the order to go for, though the plain tomato pie is also popular, and there are also pasta dishes available, like rigatoni alla vodka. If you're feeling adventurous though, try the mustard, which has a thin smear of spicy brown mustard that's added to the dough beneath the tomato sauce and cheese before baking. And so you're not surprised, the cheese is put on the pizza before the sauce, which is classic Trenton style.

Mustard pizza might sound odd, but regulars and skeptics alike have praised it, calling it "unique" and "phenomenal". Dave Portnoy even featured Papa's Tomato Pies in a Barstool Pizza review, where he said it was a "bucket list pizza place". If you want to try it, you can walk into the restaurant seven days a week or order takeout. Keep an eye out for the family, who continue to run the kitchen just as their forefathers would have wanted.