If you’ve read anything about beach pizza, a hyper regional style established in the Salisbury (MA) and Hampton (NH) Beach area, you will probably go into your first bite with a bit of trepidation. The pies are square, which raises few eyebrows in this post-Detroit-style-takeover world, but the crust is appealingly thin, almost cracker-like. Aesthetically – at least before they are prepped for a reheat in the oven – slices don’t look that different from a typical Rhode Island pizza strip (known in other parts of the northeast as “tomato pie”), though they have a bit more pale white cheese dotting the top and the crust is less puffy. But this is where the style deviates greatly: the sauce is notoriously sweet, and if you order it with cheese each individual slice will be topped with a thin circle of provolone, which is barely melted in the very low-heat oven they use to warm up orders.
Do not be put off by this description. Order a slice – with or without extra cheese, the choice is yours. Open your mind to the possibility that there may be more to pizza than what you’ve been taught, and take your first bite. Almost instantaneously you will know if you like beach pizza. The crust is soft yet crispy, the sauce oversugared yet left with enough lingering acidity to be something other than typical tomato sauce while still maintaining its tomato sauce status. If you have cheese on your slice, there may be a bit of a pull as you tear your first bite away; this cheese doesn’t add flavor as much as texture. Ideally, the sun is beating down on you as you finish off your slice on the sidewalk next to the order window in between sessions at the beach. At this point, you will either want another slice or swear off trusting anyone in the Salisbury Beach area about food ever again.
Like every significant regional food, beach pizza has two titans forever battling for the hearts and minds. While it can be found at a handful of smaller storefronts along the shore, most people pledge loyalty to either Tripoli or Cristy’s. Tripoli, which has multiple locations on the beach but first began (and still stands) as a bakery in Lawrence in the early 20th century, is my pick of the two. The products are similar, but Tripoli’s doesn’t modestly present itself as a variation on other styles. Cristy’s sauce is boldly spiced and spread across a lighter, almost New York style crust (albeit more gently baked and then crisped up on the bottom). Tripoli’s sauce is unabashedly sweet with crust that verges into Greek territory in its substantial chew. Cristy’s says “you probably like pizza, here’s a beach version.” Tripoli proudly states “I am beach pizza, and I am here to be a little too sweet, a little too insubstantial in my crust, a little too addictive.”
There’s unmistakable nostalgia in this pizza even if, like me, you grew up thousands of miles away. It might be that if you ate Stouffer’s French bread pizza or Ellio’s as a child, ideally as an afterschool snack before your parents got home from work, this pizza will transport you back to that minute you bit into a half, too hot out of the toaster oven. Maybe you went to the beach when you were a kid and climbed out of the water and sand to stumble over to a snack stand, hot and sticky and hungry, to find happiness perched on a thin piece of parchment. Whatever your route to get to Salisbury, this pizza will remind you of the satisfaction of any number of cheap American calories in simple and familiar packages. Regardless of whether you can pinpoint its source, beach pizza’s power lies in its confident vision of its own conception. You might hate it, but beach pizza doesn’t care. It will be there for you anyway. ■
About Tripoli Beach Pizza
Beach pizza is not from the beach at all; it was invented at Tripoli Bakery in Lawrence at their original location under the guidance of Angelo Zappala in 1944. The next year they decided to set up a stand on the beach at Salisbury where a booming summer crowd might need a quick bite and the style took off, prompting Cristy’s to open the following year along with other competitors like Napoli’s in Haverhill (and later Cristaldi’s as a third competitor at Hampton Beach).
Cristy’s has a notably lower profile than Tripoli, having just the two locations on the beach and offering little else other than pizza. The shop has been run by the same people since 1999, and some digging turned up an old ad that implies they used to sell more than pizza. As far as I can tell there are no comments from the owners of Cristy’s anywhere, adding to the mystery of Tripoli’s knock-off rival.
The provolone cheese that awkwardly blankets each square on request was originally American cheese, but as tastes changed so did the topping. Tripoli also added sweets to their repertoire in the 50s, some of which, mainly Italian cookies and cannoli, you can purchase at their beach stands.
Salisbury has seen a decline in the appeal of its beach businesses as Hampton Beach has expanded and interest in the small-scale attractions it features has waned. An area that once sported an amusement park of roller coasters and other draws saw its last major feature turned into condos in 2004 and is now a shell of its former self. But the crowds remain overwhelming on a hot summer day and demand for the pizza remains as high as it was 80 years ago. ■
Things to know:
There are two locations of each pizza spot on the beach, with one on each side of the state line. The Salisbury, MA, locations in the amusement-style cul-de-sac are more fun, but if you are looking for easy parking the NH Tripoli is a bit off the beach and an easy in-and-out (with soft serve next door). You can also get Tripoli pizza in Lawrence at the original Tripoli Bakery location.
What to order:
Experiment with extra cheese but be sparing with the additional toppings, which don’t really mesh well in the reheat. Tripoli also sells their average Italian cookies and decent cannoli made in Lawrence.
Around town:
Salisbury and (across the state line) Hampton Beach are old-fashioned populist beach meccas, with bad t-shirt stores and dive bars galore. Make sure to save time for the arcade and take in the elaborately constructed tents and buffets people have assembled on the beach as you stroll the boardwalk – but don’t anticipate a traffic-free experience in and out if you’re arriving on a peak Summer day.