What to Order at New Haven’s Famous Apizza Places and Obscure Pizzerias
New Haven’s delicious pizza—and apizza—scene is an easy road trip or train ride from Boston. Here’s where to go and what to order.
Sally’s Apizza’s tomato pie with mozzarella. / Courtesy photo
New Haven-style pizza—known has apizza—has made its way into the Greater Boston area in recent years, from the debut of the first of several Frank Pepe outposts nearly a decade ago to the late-2023 arrival of Sally’s—with several more locations on deck. Want to visit the original spots? New Haven, Connecticut, is an easy road trip or train ride from Boston, so head south for a weekend of eating.
And while no one should have to narrow down New Haven’s renowned (a)pizza scene to a scant 10 favorites, let alone pick a single perfect pie from each, we’ve attempted it to help you make the most of your visit. This guide is tailor-made for your next pizza crawl, featuring a mix of legendary pizzerias serving thin-crust, often coal-fired New Haven-style apizza (which is typically pronounced “ah-beetz”) as well as local favorites serving other styles, from Greek to New Haven-ish.
Atticus Market’s pizza. / Courtesy photo
Atticus Market
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings only, Atticus Market turns out brilliant pizza billed as New Haven-ish, a play on the typical New Haven-style pie starring sourdough, local whole grains, and seasonal toppings. Yes, it’s slightly pointless recommending a single pie at a place that often changes its specials weekly as regional produce rolls in and out of availability, but in the spring, keep an eye out for pizza topped with charred ramps, dotted with white beans, and drizzled with anchovy salsa verde.
771 Orange St., New Haven, Connecticut, atticusnhv.com.
Bar
This New Haven-style pizzeria is many things, from a casual brewpub to a raucous nightclub, and it bustles with college students thanks to its central location downtown. BAR’s mashed potato bacon pie is one of New Haven’s most recognizable cultural exports, a surprisingly delicious combination that shows up elsewhere in the country as an ode to the Elm City, sometimes credited directly to the source, sometimes less transparently.
254 Crown St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-495-8924, barnightclub.com.
Ernie’s Pizzeria
This dark-horse pizzeria on the western edge of town piles on the mootz (that’s New Haven lingo for mozzarella), offering the closest thing to a New York-style pie that you’ll want to order in New Haven. Ernie’s is squarely no-frills, unless you count the recommended meatball topping as a frill.
1279 Whalley Ave., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-387-3362, facebook.com/erniespizza.
Frank Pepe’s apizza. / Courtesy photo
Frank Pepe Pizzeria
Without Pepe’s, there’d be no New Haven apizza as we know it—heck, this Wooster Street originator even lays claim to creating the takeout pizza box! Do as the Italian immigrant factory workers did when Frank Pepe first started feeding them here in 1925: Order a tomato pie, free of all cheese aside from a sprinkle of parmesan, and savor the interplay of thin, charred crust and zippy red sauce.
157 Wooster St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-865-5762, and other locations beyond New Haven; pepespizzeria.com.
Gioia’s pizzas. / Photo by Melissa Olguin/EPG Creative
Gioia Cafe & Bar
Newcomer Gioia is making waves on New Haven’s historic apizza block with a trendy glow-up of a space formerly belonging to Tony & Lucille’s, which helped popularize calzones nationwide. Side-stepping direct competition with Pepe’s and Sally’s across the street, Gioia puts right angles on its thicker grandma-style pies—named, adorably, Wooster Squares after the neighborhood park. Try the house-made sausage version with broccolini.
150 Wooster St., New Haven, Connecticut, 475-250-3451, gioianewhaven.com.
Modern Apizza
In addition to the crust itself, toppings have always set New Haven apizza apart from other regional styles. The pick at Modern, the third of the city’s “Big Three” alongside Pepe’s and Sally’s, involves one of these local specialties that might strike visitors as strange: slim slices of breaded eggplant that call to mind eggplant parm. Enjoyed best when paired with one or more salty friends such as black olives, banana peppers, and bacon.
874 State St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-776-5306, modernapizza.com.
One6Three
One6Three is a small neighborhood favorite in East Rock with a few tables and several counter seats just a couple feet from the oven. No wood-fired pie is more beloved than the Fungus Among Us, a beautiful harmony of sautéed mushrooms, roasted garlic, herbaceous cheeses, and a light touch of truffle oil.
163 Foster St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-777-5141, one6threect.com.
Sally’s Apizza’s white potato and rosemary pie. / Courtesy photo
Sally’s Apizza
Family drama rarely tastes as good as the rivalry between Pepe’s and Sally’s, which Salvatore “Sally” Consiglio opened just a few doors down from his uncle’s place in 1938. Many locals pick a side, but the truth is everyone’s a winner. At Sally’s, an under-the-radar standout is the white potato rosemary pie, whose uncommon herby flavor uplifts a starchy star so thinly sliced it practically melts on your tongue.
237 Wooster St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-624-5271, and other locations beyond New Haven; sallysapizza.com.
Yorkside Pizza
Yorkside is a casual, Greek-owned restaurant in the heart of the Yale campus. As such, you’ll find tons of college students gathered around the emblematic Greek-style high crusts glistening with olive oil here, even by the slice—a relative rarity in New Haven. Order the one with house-made gyro meat, feta, tomato, and onion so you can carbo-load next to the Yale football team before they tackle Harvard.
288 York St., New Haven, Connecticut, 203-787-7471, yorksidepizza.com.
Zuppardi’s apizzas. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Zuppardi’s Apizza
Most pizzerias outside of New Haven get the stink-eye when they claim to serve New Haven apizza. Not so with Zuppardi’s, in part because it opened in 1932 in New Haven before moving just across the border into West Haven, and in part because it’s the absolute king of clam pie, one of New Haven’s signature toppings. Forget chopped bits—that’s for the novices. At Zupp’s, the white pie is blessed with fresh-shucked, whole-belly clams.
179 Union Ave., West Haven, Connecticut, 203-934-1949, and other locations beyond West Haven; zuppardisapizza.com.
