At Pepe’s, the greatest (and original) of the pizzerias on New Haven’s Wooster Street, you walk into a room with an open kitchen in back where white-aproned pizza men enact a ritual originated by Frank Pepe in the 1920s: bombs of dough are flattened on a marble table, clouds of spice are strewn in an instant, and long wooden bakers’ peels are used to inject pizzas deep into the coal-fired oven. It is a hypnotic scene, untouched by time or fashion.
Crust is what makes a Pepe’s pizza outstanding. It is Neapolitan style — thin but not brittle, with a real bready flavor. Cooked at high temperature on the brick floor of the ancient oven, it is dark around its burnished gold edge, and there is a good chew to every bite. The pizza men aren’t too fussy about scraping the oven floor, so it is likely the pizza’s underside will be speckled with burnt grains of semolina and maybe even blotched by an oil spill where another pizza leaked, all of which give the mottled oval a kind of reckless sex appeal that no tidy pie could ever match.
Frank Pepe, New Haven pizza’s Zeus, started very simply, selling pies that were nothing more than tomato with a few pinches of anchovy. To this day, Pepe’s premier pizza is made without mozzarella. It is called a white clam pie, and it is nothing but crust strewn with freshly-shucked littleneck clams, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and a dash of grated cheese. Without a mozzarella mantle, the dough develops wicked resilience, its mottled surface frosted gold. Mozzarella with onion (but no tomatoes, and perhaps a bit of garlic added) is another long-time favorite, as are the more traditional configurations with tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and sausage. (Pepperoni is especially wonderful, as are freshly-roasted peppers.) Broccoli and spinach are more recent additions to the kitchen’s repertoire; they are well suited to a white pie with mozzarella and garlic. But if you are coming to Pepe’s for the first time, try the white clam pie. It’s Roadfood heaven.
Note: Several other Pepe’s have opened in the Connecticut area, and they are very, very good, even if they don’t have the burnished character of this original.
Sunday | 10am - 10pm |
Monday | 10am - 10pm |
Tuesday | 10am - 10pm |
Wednesday | 10am - 10pm |
Thursday | 10am - 10pm |
Friday | 10:30am - 11pm |
Saturday | 10:30am - 11pm |
Other Nearby Restaurants
-
Lobster Landing
Clinton, ConnecticutHot lobster rolls are grand at this colorful Connecticut seafood shack perched at the edge of Long Island Sound. Dining is extremely informal, all outdoors.
-
Jordan’s
Norwalk, ConnecticutJordan’s is a one-menu-fits-all restaurant/diner/pizzeria with Italian and Greek specialties including Greek-style pizza with a yeasty, crisp crust.
-
Lunchbox
Meriden, ConnecticutThe Lunchbox is a best source of Meriden, Connecticut’s unique steamed cheeseburger, which is extremely juicy with tangy molten cheese on a sturdy bun. *CLOSED*
-
Bufalina
Guilford, ConnecticutVividly flavorful Neapolitan pizzas make Bufalina a best bet along the shoreline in the pizza-rich state of Connecticut.
-
Breadzilla
Wainscott, New YorkA small, bustling bakeshop, Breadzilla is the spot for hot clam chowder with bacon, fresh shrimp salad sandwiches, cinnamon buns the size of popovers.
-
Dayton Street Apizza
New Haven, ConnecticutRich sauce, quality toppings, and thin, crisp crust: Dayton Street Apizza is a New Haven best bet. A full selection of Foxon Park sodas is available.