A couple’s Jersey roots fuel one of Philadelphia’s best pizza spots

Though it’s become wildly popular among Philly pizza enthusiasts since opening in 2023, CJ & D’s Trenton Tomato Pies is only open three days a week. That’s because family comes first for owners Daria Silvestro and Chris Volk.

When Philadelphians hear the words “tomato pie,” they likely think of a room-temp, rectangular pie with a focaccia-like crust, topped with a mix of crushed tomatoes, oregano, and grated cheese—the kind you find at supermarket bakeries throughout the Delaware Valley.

About 40 miles up I-95 and just across the Delaware River in Trenton, New Jersey, “tomato pie” means something entirely different. It’s a pizza, just assembled slightly out of order—cheese on bottom, sauce on top—and baked to well-done, thin and crispy perfection.

That’s the kind of tomato pie husband and wife Trenton-area natives Daria Silvestro and Chris Volk serve up at CJ & D’s Trenton Tomato Pies, which operates out of South Philadelphia’s Cartesian Brewing. Since opening in August 2023, the couple’s pies have been winning the hearts and stomachs of Philly pizza enthusiasts, including those who aren’t exactly sure what it is they’re ordering their first time through.

“When someone comes to the register and they say ‘What’s a Trenton-style pie?’ My typical spiel is that it’s thin-crust, it comes well-done by default, cheese is on bottom, and sauce is on top,” Silvestro explains. “Most places don’t do garlic but we do because we love it, and it tastes good, so, why not?”

The Trenton tomato pie is in Silvestro’s blood. Her grandfather’s family opened Joe’s Tomato Pies in Trenton in 1910, widely considered to be the city’s first tomato pie shop. It preceded other legendary Trenton tomato pie establishments such as Papa’s (whose namesake, Joe Papa, learned the trade at Joe’s) and DeLorenzo’s—both of which are still in operation.

The roots of CJ & D’s can be traced to when the couple moved to South Philadelphia and were surprised they couldn’t find a Trenton-style pie in a city with no shortage of pizza options. Volk, an experienced baker, began trying his hand at making Trenton tomato pies at home, eventually mastering them to the point where they were about to start an evening pizza pop-up at South Philly bakery Essen in early 2020, before the pandemic prevented the plan from coming to fruition. 

“It actually turned out to be this beautiful thing,” Silvestro said. “Maybe a week or two into the shutdown, we just wanted to feed our neighbors, so we had this socially-distanced pizza party where everybody came up one at a time to get their slice and not touch any of the other ones. They were just so bowled over at how good it was that they said ‘You should just sell this out of your house,’ so that’s what we did.”

For the next two years, the couple sold pizzas out of their house on Saturdays. They would put the word out on Instagram, and end up handing out about 25 pies out of their front door each week. Silvestro said it was a fitting place to do business, seeing as that’s where the whole idea began. 

“It all got started with CJ (Volk) making them at home,” Silvestro said. “There was one day when he got it absolutely right. And my face completely lit up. And he internalized that and said ‘This pizza is my love letter to you.’ And it went from there.” 

As a former Trenton-area resident who has eaten countless tomato pies from Papa’s and DeLorenzo’s over the years, I feel qualified to second Silvestro’s claim about her husband getting the Trenton tomato pie absolutely right. Every bite of every slice—from the pointy tip to the last bit of perfectly-charred crust—is crispy and full of flavor, whether it’s the tangy sauce on their red pies, or the strategic deployment of garlic and ricotta on their white pies.

They also nail another Trenton-area pizza staple: the mustard pie, which is believed to have originated at Trenton’s Schuster’s Tomato Pies in the mid-’70s. It starts with a spiral of Gulden’s spicy brown mustard on the dough, followed by the garlic, cheese, and sauce on top. The end result is a delightfully tangy collision of flavors that Silvestro likens to eating a hot dog with ketchup and mustard.  

(As if the Trenton tomato pie perfection wasn’t enough, they’ve recently started serving fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, which Volk bakes on-site, that are pretty much to die for.)

If there’s one drawback to CJ & D’s pies, it’s that they’re only available three days a week: Wednesday and Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons. And given how popular they’ve become, there’s usually a wait, though you can while it away quite pleasantly by enjoying the beers on offer from Cartesian (the recently-introduced Pizza Dough Pilsner pairs great with any of the pies) and watching a game on the TV behind the bar. Sellouts, especially on busy Friday nights, also occur. (Pro tip: Getting there between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on a Wednesday all but guarantees you a pie, with a completely reasonable wait time.)  

The limited hours of operation are by design. Daria has a full-time job with The School District of Philadelphia, managing the district’s teacher coaching programs. Volk is a stay-at-home father to the couple’s three-year-old daughter. While the couple is thrilled with how popular their pies have become and that they’re a go-to pizza spot for families in their neighborhood, their priorities lie elsewhere. Pizza is a passion, but family comes first.

“We know that we’re never going to get this time back (with our daughter), and there’s never going to be a time when we look back and say ‘Oh man, I wish we sold pizzas for one more day a week,’” Silvestro said.