What Shall We Get? A Pizza Expert’s Guide to Connecticut’s Primo Pies
New Haven native Colin Caplan is an authority on pizza. He runs five pizza tours, including a six-hour Pizza Lovers Tour of New Haven, produced a 2019 documentary titled “Pizza: A Love Story,” and set a Guinness World Record this year by hosting the Largest Pizza Party with 4,525 attendees. Caplan shared his favorite orders from the top five pizzerias in Connecticut, ranked by the Connecticut Pizza Trail and his own list. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Modern Apizza
The mozzarella pizza here is sublime, delivering the perfect blend of flavors, textures, and gooey satisfaction. For meat lovers, the Italian Bomb features three types of meat and four vegetables balanced with sauce and cheese on a thin, flavorful crust.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
Try the classic original sauce and grated cheese pizza, enhanced with garlic. This is the authentic Neapolitan tomato pie, perfected in Pepe's iconic coal-fired ovens. For a true New Haven experience, the white clam pizza connects the Native Quinnipiac shoreline staple to the beloved immigrant flatbread.
Sally’s Apizza
The original sauce pie with added garlic was the favorite of founder Salvatore Consiglio.
“Mozzarella pizza here is sublime and complete, and combines all the flavors, textures, and gooey joy that pizza should deliver.”
“For the true pizza lover, Pepe’s white clam pizza codifies the New Haven experience, connecting the Native Quinnipiac staple food of the shoreline to the imported immigrant flat bread we all adore.”
“The original sauce pie with garlic added was the favorite of founder Salvatore Consiglio.”
Summary: Colin Caplan’s expert picks highlight Connecticut’s best pizzerias, blending tradition, exceptional flavors, and local heritage in each perfected pie.
Would you like the summary to be more detailed or more concise?