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New York City and Chicago may be the American cities best known for their pizza, but another city — in Connecticut of all places — has carved out its own slice of the pie.
In New Haven, pizza fans can now bike between famous pizzerias, sleep in a pizza-themed hotel suite and even visit a museum exhibit devoted to the city’s signature food.
Just in time for National Pizza Month, historian and self-described “pizza guru” Colin Caplan has launched a new pizza crawl aboard the Elm City Party Bike, a 15-passenger pedal-powered trolley.
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The bike has operated in the city for the past nine years but, for the first time, is being used specifically for pizza tours.
Guests can choose their own pizzerias or take a guided tour with Caplan — who is also a professional tour guide, author, architect and founder of Taste New Haven — sampling similar pies from several restaurants and comparing them.
Colin Caplan, right, a New Haven historian, author and tour guide, calls himself the city’s official “pizza guru.” (Arnold Gold/Connecticut Post via Getty Images)
“We’re going to try cheese pizza from three or four different places, and then we’ll rate it at the end, and you can decide what’s better,” Caplan told Fox News Digital. “It’s a great way to team build, to have the pizza together, to be outside, to frolic and have some fun.”
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But the rolling pizza party is just one example of how deeply the dish has become woven into New Haven’s identity.
The Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale even offers a Pizza Suite decorated with the city’s signature food, along with gift cards to famed New Haven pizzerias Sally’s Apizza and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana — two of the spots that make up the so-called “Holy Trinity” of New Haven-style apizza; the third is Modern Apizza.
Opened in 1925, Frank Pepe is one of the oldest and best known pizzerias in the United States. (Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public via Getty Images)
Visitors build entire trips around the city’s pie, Caplan said.
“We actually have people who are doing staycations from all over the country,” he added.
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New Haven has increasingly earned a place alongside America’s better-known pizza destinations, Caplan said, set apart by its signature style, which is locally known as “apizza” and features a thin, crispy, chewy and slightly charred crust.
New Haven pizza stands out for its thin, charred crust and simple toppings, a tradition carried on by famed pizzerias, including Frank Pepe. (Mark Mirko/Connecticut Public via Getty Images)
“Let’s face it, New York City has always been the center of pizza in everyone’s mind,” Caplan said, noting Chicago and Detroit as runners-up. “Everyone knows about these big cities and the pizza scene. What New Haven has had to do was prove itself.”
A traditional pie in New Haven can be remarkably simple, he said, topped only with tomato sauce and some grated Pecorino Romano.
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“People are obsessed with cheese,” Caplan said. “But, I want to tell you something, the real pizza, the original pizzas, they didn’t have tons of cheese.”
Pizza fans travel to New Haven to visit famed spots, including Sally’s Apizza. (Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post via Getty Images)
In addition to its more traditional approach to cheese, the city is also known for its white clam pizza, famously associated with Frank Pepe.
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Caplan’s go-to topping, however, has an unexpectedly salty twist: anchovies.
“That little brininess, that little bit of salt, that extra protein, that flavor … it is, to me, complete,” he said.
White clam pizza, made famous by Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, has become a signature of New Haven’s pizza scene. (The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Anchovy-topped pizza was also the original option in New Haven for diners who wanted something other than a plain pie, he said.
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Those traditions are part of what Caplan believes makes New Haven’s pizza culture worth traveling for, and it’s about more than just determining which city has the best pies.
Sally’s Apizza, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Modern Apizza, above, are known as New Haven’s “Holy Trinity” of pizzerias. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“People are coming for pizza, but they’re seeing the culture. They’re seeing what we really have here,” he said.
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“For a small city, we pack a big punch.”