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Hi everyone, thought it would be fun for our friend Joe Cruz to share this little story/guide to eating the big 4 pizzas in the self proclaimed “Pizza Capital of the US”. pizza tourism is something a lot of folks are getting into these days, and New Haven has consistently been held to the highest regards. what better way to link them together than by bike to burn a few calories between cheese bombs. New Haven is also a pretty fun little city to ride your bike around on a summer day — a few reasons why here!

my words are in pink, Joe’s are in plain. anyway, here are Joe’s photos and write up along with some other things.

story and photos by Joe Cruz

Autumn is the best season in New England, but it is never wrong to reminisce fondly of summer adventures…

In addition to sharing late July birthdays, Ronnie and I are bonded in our dedication to the aesthetics, history, and cultural significance of pizza. Happily joined by Tenzin, we finally on July 30th realized a long-talked about tour of some of the most admired pies of New Haven: Pepe’s, Sally’s, Modern, and Bar.

We’d each at various times visited these famous purveyors of apizza before (well, I’d never been to Bar). My first time to Pepe’s was in autumn ’87, visiting a friend at Yale. But the back to back tastings of this outing gave all of us fresh and significant clarity. At each place we ordered just a plain cheese pie, which is to us the absolute and archetypal form of this culinary expression.

Forthwith, a review:

Frank Pepe (Pepe’s)

Tenzin indicated that this was pie was “disappointing,” and they were “not blown away.” “You shouldn’t have grease dripping down your hand.” Ronnie and I agreed that the sauce needed more salt and a tangy-er taste. For all of us, the char was okay but the overall effect was surprisingly bland for such a famous pie.

Sally’s

This is the taste of Ronnie’s childhood, as Sally’s is the apizza he ate with his grandmother. Aw, that’s so nice. Ronnie still loves the crust and char and the bubbles. I emphatically agree on all counts. To me, the sauce is divine. Tenzin noted that the cheese ratio was great, but the crust was too crunchy. Still, in summary this was for us a formidable, world-class pie, and we thought it would be very hard to beat.

We then took a break and a ride up to the top of East Rock for views of the city. 

East Rock digestive half time

East Rock is the southern terminus of the Metacomet ridge that extends all the way to southern Vermont where Joe lives. it s a cool feature of New Haven, and is located within an easy bike ride from all of the famous apizzarias. Both sides of my family are from New Haven, and have been for a few generations — my parents even met in New Haven Harbor. My dad captaining a tug boat, and my mom a student collecting water samples. that was nottttt good water.

so we finally got to the crawling part of the crawl since both Sally’s and Pepe’s are within a foxon park bottles throw away from one another. crawling in this instance is a nice ride through a historic city.

we stopped first at Coffee Pedaler for some cortados and phase 1 digestion. Coffee Pedaler is arguably to factually the only worthwhile coffee shop in the state. Been open for a while too — not sure why good coffee just won’t catch on here. you know the kinda coffee I mean … the stuff the young christians make! (lol you know I’m right). if you know of any others in the state, let me know in the comments.

we also stopped at Atticus Market (who also have incredible pizza, and made by a cyclist!) to grab some kombuchas for more digestion, then pedaled them on up to the top o’ east rock for a nice view of the harbor and a soft chat about Italy trips.

enough context, lets get back to the apizza!! back to Joe Crus words:

Modern

Oh my, we went quickly through our initial slices and this pie disappeared more or less straightaway. Tenzin judged that, “The cheese didn’t look promising but left no grease on my fingers and was really flavorful. The crust doesn’t look as charred but had a perfect char flavor!” Ronnie speculated that the cheese was fuller fat, or at any rate was somehow richer, and really added something. He liked the texture of the cornmeal on the bottom. Ronnie added that, overall, “it is almost like a croissant that gets caramelized on the edges.” For me, the flavor of the cheese was so spectacular it makes me want to jump in the air, I flat out loved this one in every way.

with the shadows getting longer, we pedaled through the New Haven Green — one of the oldest in the nation. completed in 1638, it was laid out large enough by the Puritans to host the 144,000 people who would apparently be spared in the second coming of Christ. can’t make this stuff up — or some can.

the catwalk, formerly Stage Door Johnnies, is a landmark 🙂

Bar (its a pizza place)

This pie was notably thinner than the others, and cut into a grid. That latter fact made me suspicious, but I was surprised by how good the salty tangy sauce was. The slices were a bit greasy, which detracted just a smidge for me. Tenzin was more skeptical and thought that the saltiness was making us think that this apizza had more flavor than it did. But they still really liked it, ranking it right up there with Sally’s. Ronnie remarked approvingly on the thinness of the crust, but was highly dubious of the saltiness. He placed it at the bottom of his ranking.

Bar certainly had the nicest seating, although the other 3 have their old world charms. I have been served by people in Sally’s over the years that in no way would have been hired if they weren’t family.

okay onto the final rankings

Ultimately, the ranking for us was clear:

1. Modern
2. Sally’s
3. Bar
4. Pepe’s

There was complete consensus on Modern at the top and Sally’s in second of this quartet, though Tenzin and I thought Sally’s and Bar were notably close. Ronnie, on the other hand, places Bar even below Pepe’s. Overall, Pepe’s had a quite poor showing.

So there it is. Of course, these thoughts should be understood in context. New Haven arguably competes for the title of the best pizza in the USA and, by extension and at least according to my taste, the best pizza in the world. (I am a native New Yorker, so my thoughts about this are not uncomplicated.) These are all pizzas to dream for. Ride your bicycle around New Haven to try them, and while you’re at it visit the incredible history of the town including its fantastic brutalist architecture.

strava route here

growing up eating pizza like this , I certainly just thought it was pizza. it wasn’t until I went to college in Colorado before I realized it was not like this everywhere. Since then I have leaned more towards the Neapolitan style for its typically more outwardly fancy ingredients, but this little pizza crawl has really made me appreciate and have pride in my state’s cultural capital, and their biggest cultural export.

XO RR and Joe