New Haven has a real food scene, one steeped in a rich Italian American history. During my first half year here as a Yalie, Katie and I explored several of the renowned dining institutions.
Here’s a low-key blog post about some delectable food We’ve tried in New Haven. I’ve decided my blog posts have been too heavy-handed recently, so here’s a straightforward post!
Apizza
New Haven is an American pizza mecca, except here it’s called apizza (ah-BEETZ). It’s thinner with a deeper char from coal ovens. You can read more carefully researched recent pieces by both the New Yorker and New York Times. Katie and I just consume the food.
Of the big three pizzerias, Katie and I agree that Sally’s, founded in 1938, was our favorite. There’s consistently a line running down Wooster Street of Yalies, other locals, and tourists trying to cram into an old-school tiny pizzeria space. The thin dough, charred heavily around the edges, is topped with a delicate sweet tomato sauce, strong cheese, and fun toppings like sausage and mushroom. They served the pie on a full sheet tray that covered nearly our entire booth table. No plates; the sheet tray is the plate!
Our second favorite is just down the street, the O.G. Frank Pepe’s, founded in 1925 (99 years!). Twice as big, just as nostalgic. It’s famous for its white clam pizzas, featuring a carpet of cheese dotted with clams and slathered with fresh garlic. I’ve been thrice now, including back when my cousins attended Yale in 2004 or so. The slices are haphazardly cut, random odd-shaped wedges as opposed to orderly wedges.
I like the currently anachronistic name of Modern Apizza. Founded in 1934, it’s actually older than Sally’s! Modern is about a mile up State Street, but draws similar crowds. Appropriately, the Modern dining room actually does feel marginally more modernized. We found our pie heftier, closer to the average American pizza without trying to draw as much attention to the features unique to apizza.
Our honorable mention goes to Bar, who we think bakes up just as legitimate an apizza. Founded in 1991 (comparatively young!), it’s an eclectic establishment deep downtown which includes a combination of a serious pizzeria, a brewery, and actual bar (the name is congruent), and a cavernous back space that transforms into a dance club at night. Nonetheless, the apizza is seriously good. They are particularly known for their mashed potato pizza.
Additional notable spots are One 6 Three, even more north in the East Rock neighborhood with quirky toppings; and Zeneli’s and Zuppardi’s, both of which we’ve yet to try. My co-fellow vouches for the Nutella laden dessert pie at Zeneli’s.
More Old-School Institutions
Just this week we tried Louis’ Lunch. Founded in 1895, this institution is recognized as the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich, and they are committed to a retro experience to the utmost degree. They cook their freshly ground patties sandwiched vertically between wire racks within a trio of original custom-casted vertical ovens. They serve the beef on slices of white sandwich bread toasted on a conveyor toaster from the 1920s. Options for customization are limited to cheese spread or not, a slice of seasoned beefsteak tomato or not, and a slab of onions charred alongside the patty or not. They emphasize a strict ban upon other options; famously, they have a “no ketchup!” shingle hanging from the rafters. The entire place is run by the old proprietor scribbling orders in sharpie on plain paper and a singular line cook methodically loading the ovens, toasting and slathering the bread, and slicing the veggies to order. Check out this video featuring Louis’ Lunch by First We Feast.
The standalone tiny brick shack feels like it’s from two centuries ago. The dark oak panels and counters are etched deeply with the tags of generations of visitors. We nestled onto two of the three “counter” seats. The sandwiches were served on small paper plates, and we paired them with a bottle of Foxon Park root beer and a bag of Deep River salt & vinegar chips. The flavor is dominated by a plump, juicy beef patty. There’s just a touch of freshness from the tomato, a hint of smoothness from the cheese spread, and sweetness from caramelized onions. Otherwise, there are no distractions from nonsense like mayo, ketchup, or nonsense brioche buns. What a genuine true expression of a humble meal.
Speaking of sodas… I love how every single one of these historic restaurants serves sodas from Foxon Park. It’s a local soda bottler in East Haven founded in 1922 by Italian immigrants (figures). I’d wager there’s more Foxon Park consumed at these places than Coca-Cola or Pepsi! My local supermarket stocks both 12-oz glass bottles and 1-liter plastic bottles, and I buy them for home too. The White Birch Beer is the essential flavor, featuring a clean medicinal flavor. Look out for the Gassosa (Italian lemon-lime), Kola, Root Beer, Ginger Ale, and Orange flavors too.
Other Notable Food Experiences
Arethusa Farm and Ashley’s Ice Cream are the two mainstay scoop shops downtown and near Yale Campus. Both are good! Katie prefers the texture of Ashley’s, but I don’t know enough about ice cream to understand why. Two of my co-fellows live near Milkcraft and vouch for the liquid nitrogen style ice cream, but we haven’t tried it yet.
I live on the same block as Mamoun’s Falafel, which is my default fallback emergency meal. Once, getting back at 9 pm after a late train, I ran to Mamoun’s, ordered, paid for, and picked up a falafel sandwich, and was eating it in my apartment within five minutes. Five minutes!
Mecha is a hip noodle bar chain with a large space downtown. I enjoy their happy hour deals, featuring $10 daily bowls of ramen or pho, $5-6 plates of buns, and discounted beverages. The oddly decorated cavernous dining room features a grid of stained two-by-four wooden beams hung like stalactites from all across the ceiling. Even though the space seats something like 130 patrons, it seems like it’s always at least a third full.
A third capacity at any given time is a marvelous turnout for a New Haven restaurant. Many dining rooms I pass frequently have zero or one parties seated, yet the restaurants do just fine. It’s a stark contrast to the hypercompetitive Manhattan food scene, where a typical thriving restaurant seems to have a wait at all times. I just need to recalibrate for smaller dining area footprints and lesser population density.
And speaking of happy hours, thanks to a permissive work schedule and my proximity to the downtown scene, this is the first time I’ve been legitimately interested in and able to attend happy hour deals, both food and beverages. Happy hours I’ve enjoyed include:
- Prime 16, with sixteen on-tap craft beers at half price.
- Ordinary, with creative cocktails and simple bar snacks in a speakeasy hunting lodge-esque space.
- Three Sheets, the local bar down the bar with surprisingly good braised meat tacos.
- Bear’s Smokehouse, though not downtown, I was able to run to for a post-call day happy hour.
Check out my haphazard Yelp Collection. I’m posting this with minimal copy editing. Bye!