Pizza Den

Marlton is on the east side of town, if we are talking about the Hill, and here was where you went to not only get great subs, steaks, and other sandwiches (breaded eggplant parm was pretty good), killer pizza… this was the Den of Pizza. And do you even know what a panzarotti is? Oh my God — think a calzone… deepfried. Ahhh, come on — it’s not like it’s breaded and really greasy like fried chicken. A calzone is dough, so after it is cooked, it is just a nice, brown, crisp crust on the outside, and all that cheesy, meaty, calzone –love on the inside. This is something that I never saw outside of South Jersey, even after all these years.
It’s so funny… Pizza in the land of Goomba I-​talians from South Philly. That is where so many people of them ended up — they grew up, and moved across the river to New Jersey. I can’t believe now looking back how many damn pizza places there were. You had a different, independently-​owned family pizza place in every neighborhood. We didn’t have friggin’ Domino’s…there WAS no Domino’s. We had places like…
The King of Pizza, the People’s Pizza, Scotto’s Pizza, Vito’s Pizza, Montagnaro’s Pizza, Echo Pizza, Vitarelli’s Pizza, and then saw a Pizza Hut, and the whole time we had Pizza Den — to name just a few.
What was great about this place, was that over the years, you became familiar with the 6 or so guys that worked there, and had worked there for years, that is just felt like home. Great pizza to go, and I can’t explain it… the way the cheese sat and looked on the pie… Again, that orange hue, and really gooey. Not like down the shore, like at Scotto’s, where the cheese actually slides OFF the pie if you are not careful, this had it’s own unique ratio and texture, and actually, this was how it was in this whole geographic area, the pies were very similar and very good.
This is where I first had a Venetian White Pizza… essentially a pie with no tomato sauce, but had cheese, slices of tomato, garlic — lots of flavor, and interesting to us, cause it was different.
Anyhow, as far as I know, this place is but a memory, but it used to lie near the Old Marlton Pike. But to a bunch of guys (and girls) that worked there, this was a place we grew up with. Thanks for the great food, thanks for the memories.