Is New Haven Pizza Better Than New York Pizza?

to me this is the best tip is you come to New Haven go to maybe two or three pizzerias and then you come over here the Christopher martinis and have a White Russian with you well when I was a kid we didn't say pizza Abby Abby Abby and that's what you say it anyway either I'm gonna go out and get me in one of these hats and shirts when I get back to Brooklyn bet you you're watching the pizza show on munchies a New Haven there's no pizza there is only a beat and the locals here who quickly correct me oh I'll beats I beats uh beats Bobby's a beats is unique to New Haven there's 6 nationally ranked pizzerias within a 5 square mile radius so it's no wonder that this city is known for its pizza from the tomato pie traditionally top of fresh tomatoes a light dusting of aged grated cheese garlic olive oil to the white clam pie made popular by frank pepe and made possible by New Haven's proximity to the Long Island Sound whether you're walking down Wooster Street paths alleys and Pepe's are hanging out with a true New Haven er one thing is clear this distinct style tells the rich history of the city there's no better place to begin my visit than sitting with the longest-running mayor of New Haven John de Stefano jr. so what is that beats oh no Haven style of beats is very easy it is flat and thin to me it is cooked a little bit more than someone else's it is not ladled with cheese and it doesn't have next Tuesday night's meatloaf dinner on top of it if you if you will it's by its simplicity authentic and real I've heard a lot about New Haven ax beats but I've never actually tasted it the dough it's all fermented nice it's all crispy I have to say I am surprised that this is my first trip to New Haven I've heard a lot of people talk about it but being from New York you're just skeptical of everything right you think that New York has the best pizza you've been told that your whole life there's no way that could be another city in America that has the kind of culture that we have but they do the ovens are incredible like you don't see this many ovens in New York this old style of coal ovens and every pizzeria really like the most surprising thing is how long all these pizzas have been opened for it's like it seems like the average age of all these pizza is like 70 years the roots go really deep this is a pizza town there's no doubt about it I think Pizza culture here runs deep why is that i beets to me is that family my father was a cop in New Haven about Friday night so I knew that I could stay up when I was a little kid because my dad would always at 11:30 come home with a pizza from Sally's and that's what our beats was when you say a place like Sally's I remember Sal and yourself first the true measure of accomplishment in New Haven was having the secret number of salaries for most up until recently there were two phones there was the phone that was listed in the phone book that was always off the hook and then there was the other line and if you've been around a long time you got the secret number now the secret number entitled you to call Sally's when no one else could get through and be able to order your pizza now I got the secret number before I became mayor so I take that as a single standard of accomplishment of my personal and professional life there's one guy in town who's the Oracle of New Haven history especially upbeats history colin has dedicated his life to researching and preserving pizza relics from the last century my house is like a ghost village he's using these materials for an upcoming book chronicling New Haven and American history through Pizza these are all actually atlases and maps of New Haven this is from 1901 there's like probably eight million colonies of mold living in here you can see right here here's Wooster Street Wooster streets history is related to the Italian immigration here it's the remnant of the old Little Italy 1892 up in New Haven Italian ladies worked in the course a company that a lot of the men worked in the rubber company the hardware company and they ended up actually getting pizza delivered to them interesting so sort of like the pizza delivery started first yeah rather than people actually go into the bakeries all going to the pizza exactly oh yeah people like Frank Pepe and other guys would come out with their pizza and peddle it I got some old matchbooks and this is from Sally's and this is the menu probably from the early 60s so if you wanted a small cheese and tomato that was just Romano with sauce or what we call sauce they call it submit tomato it was 50 Cent's okay for the whole small pie and they wanted a large dollar 50 telephone books are another resource this one from 1947 New Haven directory here you got Frank Pepe's ad and he was called old reliable that's what he was known as you don't visit New Haven we're not going to Frank Pepe's almost the street the oldest pizzeria in town this is the home of the white clam pie which has been ranked as the best pizza in America there are eight Pepe's locations in the US but I went to the original on West Street and met up with Gary by Monty Frank Pepe's grandson just watch the pizza don't worry about what's behind you of course I want to learn about the pizza and I'm also really excited to get to know the family behind the legend my sister's one of those servers here she's been here probably I don't know 25 30 years hurricane Gloria came and I was home and Iowa storm was passing over Connecticut and my mother called me up and she goes Genevieve you get down here and help run this business you come out we're open when I came down I had to help my mother open the business we had no lights and my brother Gary amounts and my uncle Ralph we're using a flashlight in the oven he never stops I didn't scribe like Frank Pepe's pie my grandfather's from the Naples region so to me a politic style thin crust just be chewy you know that's the whole thing with the the oven this is the original plain tomato pizza and this is our nationally acclaimed clam pizza I can't wait thank you Gary okay we'll have a minute oh my pleasure in the tour family's budget so in New York we do the fold you guys do the Foley yeah that's the way to do it now I know what all the fuss is about this is amazing here with these coal ovens I mean this is something that best all-around pizza I think I've seen magical things happen in the oven this is the original oven this one was from like late 1800s there's the fire yeah it heats the entire game back the parts open heart yeah Wow so how long have you been in the pizza a game and 40 years yeah all my life was he your first half yeah basically yeah with my first and only jobs I went to a technical school and I wanted to be an auto mechanic my mother said no I want you to work with your brain not with your hands I took electronics I did okay I started working this high is amazing when I really really like special Clem's you could taste like the Brian eNOS you go taste the garlic oregano it's really really nice these clams have a nice sweet flavor yeah we shuck about 80 to 90 bushels a week just in this location so we actually had to get a couple of different suppliers but they all take from the specific beds that we want them to take from oh is that like all local beds yes that's what I can sell great yeah all I need to know I'm making a pizza Frank Pepe's right now like a dream come true this Pizza done I don't know apparently I need another 20 years this is a froze pizza' this is somebody maybe I just need a little more do you have some come out like that to repot thanks for making me feel better oh please is this beautiful guy when I was making the pizzas it was a good feeling I love working up the oven and could make your break we figured it out that I was on the bench myself we call it being on the bench banging out the pies for 12 13 years straight died banged out 1.2 million pizzas Wow so that's insane good pizza all those years in the pizza kitchen making pizzas yeah what do you do to blow off steam I belong to a couple of car clubs I'm a little bit of a speed freak car people they're just like my pizza people yeah so fellas my friends this motley crew makes up blood sweat and gears one of the many car clubs Gary's a member of I spell my orders once racing cars as Garry's escape but the pizza always finds a way into the equation can we see the helmets yeah absolutely my friend did this one I go just put something together whatever you want to do and he came up with this so that's why I call the car pizza time now okay that run to the wall Gary the guys wanted to give me a ride in Gary's car which is the Chevy Nova 72 a 600 horsepower I won't I'm ready blood sweat years baby I love it I think I want to get me one of these the New Haven community is very close-knit whether you're chillin with the blood sweat and gears crew while you go into the local pizzeria my next stop is zoo parties upbeats and West even run by two sisters Laurie and Sheryl soups is a family heirloom originally run by their grandfather then by their mother and father the sisters have preserved the family tradition of making really great pizza this is my sister Cheryl Cheryl and she probably can tell you more of the history than I can because she's a lot older than excited this is Cheryl's oldest son Craig II this is blad adopted family I've on and Omar so family right here Jimmy I love it everybody hears family it's like the dynamic which is like good cop bad cop our personalities are totally totally different ironically Cheryl and I live next door to each other not that we don't work well together we actually do you want to know what the favorite part is when a customer walks in and goes whoa you're both here usually when we end up working together it's because I'm in the back making pizza Frank know we're ready for you or anything you know I'm making it all things fresh you are certainly a regular back here you got the way of doing it how old Miriam a your first pizza 10 years old 10 years old you remember it at this board yes my father would be on one side I'd be on the other and he taught me ovens everything and I did it and it's a sausage pie one of your most ordered pies and it's our most popular a little bit heavier is that look good that looks good just got to get the edges now to get the edges first bite has to be good as the last no that's a good one now that has to cook a little longer and we're gonna put fresh boots on it and then put it back in and then you're gonna eat it okay each worker cutter just watch your finger see that's I went right into my hand one day I've made pizza what a lot of people a lot of people that I look up to but I think that was my favorite moment really yeah I really would because you see you just grabbed it goin be such a natural light that how is it sue parties the beats isn't notably different from the others I've tried so far but its roots in classic Italian baking there's part of Mines you have a great loaf of bread this makes a lot of sense because Laurie and Charles grandfather trained as a classic Baker and their father carried on the tradition I want to carry on his legacy is what I want to do he worked very hard for it and so did my mother I kept his tradition I did what he did I still by the way he did in fact one of our buyers two weeks ago said to me it's like talking to your father when I talk to you they use bakers pride gas ovens here not coal ovens and they still make their pizza the same way the grandfather did including a few modern twists hate like when cornmeal gets like a little burnt but you guys solve that problem with this yeah I've never seen that before I know most most people think it's pretty unique zoo parties sure can your last name please okay be about 20 minutes in the early days we work we worked we had fun sometimes we didn't want to be here and we were here always remember my mom and dad working along with us making us work everybody pitches is there something else that you recommend pick up a customer walks in here what do you say fresh clam you guys go through the trouble of shucking the clams back your clams - I bet you can I don't doubt that for one second Laurie could shuck them pretty quick New Haven's got it going on it's a really briny a nice but you can really taste the freshness from the plans you guys obviously work very hard here and you know you've worked well weeks Sunday night something special happens here we get together and we play games like ours right snacks the thing on pages forehead is a clue you cannot say a word you have to act it out to her don't be a guesser fan after page has to guess what it is perfect flawless consummate exactly so you put down the red card that you think is funniest or more precise for this card so this Super Bowl Rihanna I'm gonna put that one over here Kermit the Frog a bikini on my parents I've never seen two people more in love they were like freaking Romeo and Juliet my father stayed in his place my mother managed the front counter they made it seem so perfect work together close together ate together and in the sense of pride that we have in watching these kids start to take over now and not need us it's great I better start having some kids if I want to carry on that Pizza legacy yeah fine do it by yourself no it's the truth to seeing you guys I'm inspired oh good this will be the next show we'll set up all right I love it the pizza bachelor exactly oh he's doing when you talk to a New Haven er they'll tell you where to get their favorite of beets and who makes it it's like Gary said the other man can make you or break you and there's one other man in town who's a unique local favorite when bill Bastardi bought modern a beets in 1988 he also inherited the oven man Billy bucks well I just told him a pizza joke if you want to hear it out once it's in this guy he was throwing the dough up in the air so you know one time you know the dough came down and it land on his chest you know and the guy had his shirt open would here on his chest so one of the customers said to the waitress they say hey ain't that a little unsanitary that that guy is dropping that dough on his chest like that and the girl said that ain't nothing you should be here when he's making doughnuts and I'll make it pepperoni how long have you been working here 44 years cuz I just turned 64 you know in June and I'll tell you you know like I work with all these guys who are in their 30s and man these guys only got two speeds it's fast and faster and just take this thing here see now this is what I do right here I take them I throw them in the oven hey Billy yeah can you show the camera man your hands a lot that's your hand just your hands that's hands on pizza man right there yeah you're gonna enjoy this one I can't wait I love watching you make pizza you're a master yeah all right yeah it's been cooking good all right and I'd like to stay with you forever but man it's already fired after and you got it he's gonna take home witches thank you Bill all right history here and the community here is amazing it's tight-knit that's what I love about pizza and that part of pizza culture really shines here in New Haven and I think that's what makes the city special when you're talking about pizza it just all kind of comes together in this really cool way and something about it it just it just makes this a pizza town and now I know what all the hype is about I tell you it's places like Sally's and Pepe's like so parties that make a town a hometown if something makes it your place instead of anybody else's place there are a longtime New Haven residents and then there's Helen a staple of State Street then lived here all my life I know every inch of this area I go up morning I walk to Dunkin Donuts yeah and I go all right I look Wow swag that's what we say now swag Oh we'll have a white brush to see young that's yeah and drinking my white Russian presence my Neutron friends from New York news yes cheers to you my lips sugar mommy should I go oh you said it good okay see it's a New Haven steel this like the old Italians used to walk right well this is thin edge eventful evening it's my house huh I wished it my niece would be out so you well I'm gonna ring the bell maybe she'll come in cause we're so proud of her and everybody says this is who we want to be this is what we aspire to be live life to the maximum don't let aged spirit is what counts on the next episode of the pizza show we're going to Chicago whatever slice now only uh sure okay oh now you're talking my language is the best breakfast I've had all week

Channel: Munchies

Views: 4,216,050

Rating: 4.9034872 out of 5

Keywords: how to, cooking, Munchies, food, eating, chef, restaurant, VICE, interview, travel, funny, journalism, vice, vice mag, vice videos, BEST PIZZA, MUNCHIES, new haven, New York, apizza, new haven pizza, frank pepe's pizza, frank pepe's clam pizza, PIZZA

Id: BmiQRvib3DQ

Length: 21min 50sec (1310 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 25 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/TofuTofu]

<3 Modern & Pepe's

Is Jimmy's in Milford from the same Jimmy from Zuppardi's?

[u/mynameisnotshamus]

Dammit I'm hungry now thanks for posting. That was surprisingly good .

[u/[deleted]]

which one (in NH) is your favorite ?