by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: May 04, 2009

New Haven Connecticut has enjoyed a well deserved reputation because it is home to Yale University which was founded in 1701. Yale is the third oldest university in the United States. Beginning in the first quarter of the 20th century, New Haven started to attract Italian immigrants who wanted to begin a new life in America.

There are four pizzerias in New Haven that critics dub the leading pizzerias in town. Beginning with Pepe's which opened in 1925, Wooster Street welcomed other pizzerias, including The Spot and Sallys. The Spot was originally owned by the Bocamiello family who opened their pizzeria in 1936 after displacing Pepe from his original pizzeria because they wanted to open their own place.

Sally's was founded by Pepe's nephew, Sal Consiglio in 1938. Both Pepe's and Sally's have earned a national reputation, and they are praised by pizza lovers everywhere. Modern Apizza is the only one of these places not located on Wooster Street.

Pepe's and Sally's are the oldest of the New Haven pizza establishments (since the Pepe family didn't buy The Spot until many years later,) and their age, coupled with the fact that celebrities such as Ronald Reagan, (who loved Pepe's,) and Frank Sinatra, (who loved Sally's,) gave the two places some free publicity. There has been a rivalry since the two establishments since Sally's opened in 1938.

New Haven pizza is a plain traditional Neapolitan thin crust pizza that is served with chopped garlic, oregano, tomato sauce, and mozzarella with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano sprinkled on top of everything.

The best and oldest of the New Haven pizzerias bake their pizzas in coal fired brick ovens. They know that these ovens produce a far superior pizza because the open fire, coupled with the high heat and the coals, give the pizzas a crispy crust, a perfectly browned top and the smoky flavor that is characteristic of wood or coal fired ovens.

Pepe's has won wide acclaim for a white pizza that is topped with freshly shucked little neck clams. The clam pizza has become synonymous with New Haven, and pizza connoisseurs claim that there is no place that serves a better clam pie than Pepe's. The other three places serve a clam pizza, but critics claim that Sally's clam pizza uses or tastes like it uses canned clams. The other three are recognized as good clam pizzas, but none compare to the one served at Pepe's.

All four of these leading New Haven pizzerias have good pizza crusts. Some of the reviewers claim that Pepe's and The Spot have the quintessentially perfect pizza crust. Perhaps that is because they are the oldest pizzerias in town. When comparing the tomato pies, the reviewers liked all but the one served by Modern Apizza. The complaint was that it was too bland.

Each of the establishments serves an all meat pizza, but only Sally's managed to get a good review on that count. The critics thought that the other three places didn't hit the mark.

Considering ambiance, slippage of ingredients, oiliness, how good the pizza was when it was left over, whether it was cold or reheated and the overall impression, all four of these places rated well. Their overall impression was that The Spot wasn't as fun as the others, that Pepe's is the diva of the New Haven pizzerias, but it has its bad nights, and that Modern Apizza is an unexpected surprise. The reviewers claimed that Sally's is pizza with attitude.

New York may be the place where pizza originated in the United States, but New Haven pizza wasn't introduced that much later. Just as New York pizza has a uniqueness all it's own, so does the New Haven style pizza, and there is no place where one will find a better white pizza that is topped with fresh clams.

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