It’s Zuppardi’s, And I’ll Cry If I Want To…

For New Haven-style pizza so good that it will bring tears to your eyes, I recommend Zuppardi’s Apizza in West Haven. As you can see from the photograph below, I picked a rainy day to visit Zuppardi’s. I try to patronize the pizzerias with larger-than-life reputations in less-than-ideal weather, because I’m not a fan of waiting in line and prefer to leave that to the tourists.

Zuppardi’s is no recent upstart, having opened in 1934, which makes it four years older than Sally’s Apizza and the same age as Modern Appiza but nine years younger than Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (Pepe’s), as these charming young helpers’ T-shirts reveal.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been hearing Zuppardi’s praises sung for decades without making the trip until now. For a long time, my working excuse was that if I wasn’t getting my New Haven-style pizza in New Haven, I had Bimonte’s Pizza Castle right there in my Hamden hometown, but Bimonte’s has been gone long enough (replaced by Eli’s Brick-Oven Pizza & Market) so that my cover story has completely unraveled, leaving this emperor with no clothes.

Inside the restaurant, we found an open and comfortable pizza-eating environment. Nothing fancy—none of the great, old-time, New Haven-style pizzerias are.

But none of them can top Zuppardi’s for warmth, thanks to owners Cheryl Pearce and Lori Sweeney.

Having been dining on New Haven-style abeetz for four decades, I’m an unrepentant pizza snob. That means I’ll argue with anyone about exactly how burnt, how oily, how thin, how stretchy, how flexible, how bubbly, how salty a slice of pie should be. It means I have strong opinions about the color, texture, sweetness and acidity that a good tomato sauce should have.

It means I’m merciless toward cheap, salty Mozzerella. It means I’m apt to pontificate endlessly on the virtues of various pizzerias’ clam pies. It means I’m likely to take a hard look at the quality of pepperoni and sausage used on pizzas. It means I’m apt to step into the kitchen and observe. Here are my friend Bob and daughter Tala learning about the pizza-making process.

So the first test was a half sausage-and-mushroom, half pepperoni tomato pie. The uninitiated may not realize what a thing of beauty this pizza was.

I was blown away by the quality of the pepperoni, the loveliness of the sauce, the perfection of the crust. I castigate companions who leave behind the heel of the pizza.

But what really impressed me was the housemade sausage, which is made by Pearce herself and was named “best sausage” in Connecticut Magazine. It has a great texture and enough fennel flavor to keep it interesting. Here’s a close-up of the sausage to make your mouth water:

However, the real test of New Haven-style pizza is, course, the clam pie. A good clam pie doesn’t just come out of nowhere. It starts with freshly shucked clams like these being prepared by Jimmy Ormrod.

We ordered half of our pie with Mozzarella and half of it without, the way I generally prefer it. Mozzarella is one of many things debated by white clam pie aficionados. You can see that our clam pie has Mozzarella from four o’clock to ten o’clock and none from ten o’clock to four o’clock.

Other topics for debate include whether or not to add garlic, lemon or crushed red pepper. I like the pizzeria to add garlic, I’ll add lemon only if the pie isn’t redolent of clam, and I invariably add crushed red pepper. Here’s a close-up, even though some have accused me of being a food pornographer.

And what do I drink with New Haven-style pizza? Beer, of course. Wine just doesn’t cut it. For those not drinking or not of age, Foxon Park’s legendary sodas from East Haven are the appropriate accompaniment.

And what do I do for dessert? In New Haven, I generally pick up an Italian ice from Libby’s, but at Zuppardi’s, Libby’s Italian ices come to you without standing in another line.

Lemon ice is traditional, palate-cleansing and incredibly refreshing.

Previously, I have talked about the Big Three (Pepe’s, Sally’s & Modern) expanding to a Big Four with Harry’s Bishop’s Corner. Slide on over and make a little more room for Zuppardi’s, folks, because it’s a Big Five now.

Zuppardi’s Apizza, 179 Union Avenue, West Haven, 203-934-1949