Although we’re attempting to lose some weight here at This Old House, Mike and I had a hankering for some good New Haven pizza after a garden supply run at the nearby Agway yesterday. Having grown up in New York, I was spoiled with the abundance of rich ethnic foods like awesome pizza, chinese food, and bagels like you can’t get anywhere else. When I moved to Connecticut, I missed it dearly, I won’t lie. New Haven Pizza, however, comes close and apparently has a culture all it’s own.
“ New Haven-style pizza, locally known as apizza, is a style of Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. It originated at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, in business since the 1920’s… and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably Sally’s Apizza, Bar Bru Room, Grand Apizza, and Modern Apizza. This geographically limited pizza style has gained considerable culinary and historical importance. What sets New Haven-style pizza apart from other styles is its unusually thin crust. Brick or occasionally high temperature gas oven cooking bakes the crust to a very crispy shell (often burnt black in spots, desirably known as “the char” but leaves the inside soft and chewy”
Frank Pepe’s is the most well known, but we are firm believers that the best pie in New Haven can be found at Modern Pizza… operating since the 1930’s!
If you come to any of these establishments during peak hours, you might wait an
hour or so for seating. The pizza is so good, there are always people willing to wait.
We usually stop in just short of peak, like 4:00 on a Saturday
afternoon, so there is no wait time.
The Veggie Bomb! (available with gluten free crust)
Traditional pepperoni and Mootz – YUM.
We always bring something home too….
Some fun pizza facts:
94 percent of Americans eat pizza regularly
93 percent of Americans have eaten pizza in the last month
The highest-grossing single-unit independent pizzeria in the nation, Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, is in Anchorage , Alaska. Its annual sales are approximately $6 million.
There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States
Pizza comes from the latin root word Picea which means the blackening of crust by fire.
Domino’s Pizza is the world leader in delivery
Pizza Deliverers claim women are better tippers
Most expensive pizza created was made by the restaurateur Domenico Crolla who created a $2,745.00 priced Valentine pizza which included toppings such as sunblush-tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, medallions of venison, edible gold, lobster marinated in the finest cognac and champagne-soaked caviar
So, spill it. When was the last time you had pizza? How often do you eat pizza? What are your favorite toppings?
