OT: Best Pizza in CT

[8893]

Hit Zeneli for the second time last night, en route home from an out of town soccer game with my youngest daughter. She has the mixed blessing of inheriting more of my genes than her sisters, perhaps most notably being a super-taster with a palate that has always far exceeded her years. She was six years old when we went to Italy seven years ago and she still has vivid memories of certain aspects of the trip, most relating to food experiences (e.g., she was the only one other than me to enjoy the lardo at one of the tasting classes we attended).

Her usual order at Bufalina is the tre carne, so that's what she ordered at Zeneli last night. At her first bite her eyes rolled up dreamily as if she was in a momentary trance, and she excitedly proclaimed that the pillowy crust produced an instant "taste memory" that resembled the pizza we had in Italy more than any pizza she has ever had since. I'm sure the power of her suggestion helped, but I agreed when I grabbed a slice. Definitely softer and chewier than New Haven style apizza, and also less crisp/crunchy than Bufalina. Really enjoyable difference to savor. The sausage, ham and spicy salami trifecta worked well together, complemented by fresh basil.

I wanted to try their pasta, so I had the rigatoni with Amatriciana sauce, one of my favorites that you don't see on enough menus imo. Theirs is made with the more common pancetta instead of the traditional guanciale, but it was very good. Big bonus points for some nice, less common and reasonably priced wines by the glass, including a tasty rosato from Abruzzo and a really nice Aglianico del Vulture from Campania.

This is a very good option to have in the area, especially when there are lines out the door at Sally's and Pepe's. As with my first visit, the owners were on site and very accommodating and appreciative of our business. And my daughter won them over even moreso with her "just like Italy" praise for their pizza.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I've always believed that children who eat, and like, mushrooms, are well on their way to developing a healthy lifelong diet. pizza is a great vehicle for introducing kids to new, and often healthful, food options. random saturday morning food thoughts...

 

[8893]

I've always believed that children who eat, and like, mushrooms, are well on their way to developing a healthy lifelong diet. pizza is a great vehicle for introducing kids to new, and often healthful, food options. random saturday morning food thoughts...

She is the only one of our kids who will knowingly* touch mushrooms. And she can even distinguish real truffles from the fake stuff they try to conjure chemically with some truffle oils.

*My wife uses finely chopped mushrooms in her turkey burgers and turkey meatloaf for moisture and they all love them, but they have no idea they are in there.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

show me a kid who likes mushrooms, and i'll show you an adult capable of eating, and enjoying, fresh (uncooked) green bell peppers. at least, in the last decade or two, the rugrats got the message about yogurt. progress!

 

[8893]

show me a kid who likes mushrooms, and i'll show you an adult capable of eating, and enjoying, fresh (uncooked) green bell peppers. at least, in the last decade or two, the rugrats got the message about yogurt. progress!

Not sure I agree on the green bell peppers. Too burpy. We far prefer red, yellow or orange. I'd take orange bell peppers exclusively over all the others actually.

 

[RichZ]

Not sure I agree on the green bell peppers. Too burpy. We far prefer red, yellow or orange. I'd take orange bell peppers exclusively over all the others actually.

You sound like my wife. She won't touch a green pepper in any form, except maybe cubanelle, and she'll complain when eating that. I'll eat any of them, and particularly love red or orange when roasted over an open flame. But raw, on a sandwich or in a salad or slaw, give me green bell peppers!

 

[huskymedic]

Connecticut Pizza Showdown | Elite Eight

The Connecticut Pizza Showdown has been narrowed to the top 8 pizza places around the state. Vote for your favorite to keep them in the showdown.

courant.secondstreetapp.com

What you might expect for the Courant readership area:

Pleasant Pizza - Willimantic
Little City Pizza - Avon
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana - New Haven
Camille’s Wood-Fired Pizza - Tolland
Modern Apizza - New Haven
Naples Pizza - Farmington
Rossini’s Italian Restaurant - East Hampton
Tony’s Pizza - Willimantic

They have issues... Pizza showdown: Here are your top 4. It’s time to vote for the No. 1 pizza place in Connecticut!

Alphabetical order:
Camille’s Wood-Fired Pizza - Tolland
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana - New Haven
Tony’s Pizza - Willimantic
Pleasant Pizza - Willimantic

 

[huskyrob1]

In the context you provided, my bad. I've neither the inclination nor recent exposure to contradict you, and used the word "breadier" with, say, Ernie's in mind, and solely to denote that I've found it less thin & crispy than Pepe's, Sally's, and Modern. I meant nothing like what the word means to you.

I definitely defer to your being more local, and my only having been there 2 or 3 times since 2010, and about a handful of times in years before that.

My current pizza tour is set to conclude with Roseland and Zuppardi's, and I'll have a better idea what I'm talking about after then.

Meantime, here's picture from last night's Apizza Party at the newly opened Graduate Hotel on Chapel St in New Haven. It was open house and free (plain tomato, cheese only, and pepperoni) View attachment 47435 pizza from the "Big Three" that @husky429 visited. Not surprisingly, Modern traveled to the destination the best of the three.

Get "The Special" at Zuppardis. They are the only place left in the area that still makes their own sausage. The Special is sausage and mushrooms.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Get "The Special" at Zuppardis. They are the only place left in the area that still makes their own sausage. The Special is sausage and mushrooms.

I know that's the 'correct' suggestion, except, like @8893's daughters, I don't knowingly eat mushrooms, so it's always been just sausage for me.

MY asterisk is having been completely bowled over by a former next door neighbor's Haitian black rice a decade ago and the following day learning (when I looked it up) that the essential ingredient is black mushrooms. Years later, when a Yale post-doc lived in the house for several years before buying her first home, I would get the same delicious dish regularly enough when she'd return to New Haven from visits to her intergenerational family home on Long Island.

 

[huskyrob1]

I know that's the 'correct' suggestion, except, like @8893's daughters, I don't knowingly eat mushrooms, so it's always been just sausage for me.

MY asterisk is having been completely bowled over by a former next door neighbor's Haitian black rice a decade ago and the following day learning (when I looked it up) that the essential ingredient is black mushrooms. Years later, when a Yale post-doc lived in the house for several years before buying her first home, I would get the same delicious dish regularly enough when she'd return to New Haven from visits to her intergenerational family home on Long Island.

How can a pizza connoisseur not like mushrooms, unless you're allergic to them?

 

[superjohn]

I know that's the 'correct' suggestion, except, like @8893's daughters, I don't knowingly eat mushrooms, so it's always been just sausage for me.

MY asterisk is having been completely bowled over by a former next door neighbor's Haitian black rice a decade ago and the following day learning (when I looked it up) that the essential ingredient is black mushrooms. Years later, when a Yale post-doc lived in the house for several years before buying her first home, I would get the same delicious dish regularly enough when she'd return to New Haven from visits to her intergenerational family home on Long Island.

Mushrooms might be my favorite food but never do them on pizza. They could maybe work if sauteed first but raw mushrooms just spoil the pizza because of their moisture.

 

[superjohn]

Not sure I agree on the green bell peppers. Too burpy. We far prefer red, yellow or orange. I'd take orange bell peppers exclusively over all the others actually.

Place I used to go to I would always order a sausage, anchovy, and green pepper pie. I also like green bells for stuffed peppers.

 

[huskyrob1]

Mushrooms might be my favorite food but never do them on pizza. They could maybe work if sauteed first but raw mushrooms just spoil the pizza because of their moisture.

Yeah, not to mention all that moisture in the dough and the tomato sauce hanging around at 750+ degrees. Lol

The 10 Most-Ordered Pizza Toppings

We're just glad hot dogs didn't make the cut.

www.google.com

 

[Husky25]

Not sure I agree on the green bell peppers. Too burpy. We far prefer red, yellow or orange. I'd take orange bell peppers exclusively over all the others actually.

It is no secret that I believe the way to ruin any food is to add green bell peppers.

 

[superjohn]

The 10 Most-Ordered Pizza Toppings

We're just glad hot dogs didn't make the cut.

www.google.com

Like we need more evidence people are stupid. Talk to any chef....Canned mushrooms absolutely ruin a pizza and that's how most people are getting them. As I said they can work if you sautee fresh mushrooms before putting them on the pie.

I'm not going to even comment on your dough and sauce comment because I like to think you're smarter than that.

If you like them on your pizza keep ordering mushrooms on your pizza, that's all that matters.

 

[huskyrob1]

Like we need more evidence people are stupid. Talk to any chef....Canned mushrooms absolutely ruin a pizza and that's how most people are getting them. As I said they can work if you sautee fresh mushrooms before putting them on the pie.

I'm not going to even comment on your dough and sauce comment because I like to think you're smarter than that.

If you like them on your pizza keep ordering mushrooms on your pizza, that's all that matters.

Yeah and green bell peppers aren't loaded with moisture. and who said anything about using canned anything on a pizza???? Canned tomato sauce, I'll pass. Canned mushrooms, I'll pass. Your obsession with moisture in a pizza cooking for 12-15 min at 800 degrees is stupid enough.

If you need more evidence, go look in the mirror.

 

[superjohn]

Who said anything about using canned anything on a pizza????

Then why the hell did you post an article about the most ordered toppings in the US and Canada?

 

[RichZ]

How can a pizza connoisseur not like mushrooms, unless you're allergic to them?

It's easy. Just remind yourself that they are fungus. Just like athlete's foot. And jock itch.

 

[superjohn]

It's easy. Just remind yourself that they are fungus. Just like athlete's foot. And jock itch.

If you didn't know what they are I could get you some tacos and quesadillas you would say are the best you've ever had in your life. I would then tell you they are huitlacoche (corn smut) show you what it looks like and you would barf.

 

[huskyrob1]

Then why the hell did you post an article about the most ordered toppings in the US and Canada?

Because it mentions your favorite food. Read it.

 

[mauconnfan]

If your choice of restaurant can make the mushrooms as they should then by all means 'shrooms are good on a pie. Same with pepperoni, if they have the smaller curved and charred slices I'm all in, usually request them to be burnt a bit. Then a good sausage, that's the only other topping I consider. Otherwise muzzy only or plain if it's a New Haven place. My fav is shrooms and pepperoni. There's actually a place here in western mass that can kill it on those toppings although the overall isn't my favorite it passes enough to grab one a month. LOL

 

[storrsroars]

If you didn't know what they are I could get you some tacos and quesadillas you would say are the best you've ever had in your life. I would then tell you they are huitlacoche (corn smut) show you what it looks like and you would barf.

To be fair, huitlacoche is a bit of an acquired taste, kinda like the stinky cheese of the fungi family. IMO, it's one of those things that's a great flavorful accent when used in the hands of a competent cook, but can be overwhelming in a bad way in the hands of a kitchen hack.

 

[huskyrob1]

If your choice of restaurant can make the mushrooms as they should then by all means 'shrooms are good on a pie. Same with pepperoni, if they have the smaller curved and charred slices I'm all in, usually request them to be burnt a bit. Then a good sausage, that's the only other topping I consider. Otherwise muzzy only or plain if it's a New Haven place. My fav is shrooms and pepperoni. There's actually a place here in western mass that can kill it on those toppings although the overall isn't my favorite it passes enough to grab one a month. LOL

I love a good white clam pie on occasion, Pepe's, Modern, and Zupp's all make great white clam pies. I would skip Sally's on the white clam, or tell them beforehand to give it a lite bake.

White Clam Pizza in Connecticut | Roadfood Bests - Roadfood

White clam pizza first was made at Pepe's of New Haven in the mid 20th century. It remains a signature dish of the city, and now, beyond.

roadfood.com

 

[ClifSpliffy]

local jacques pepin introduced his kid to shrooms by going out in their yard, and snatching some for dinner. we don't do that despite a pantload of them all around here . something, something, guess wrong you die, I suppose. I'll eat any culinary shrooms offered to me, but full disclosure, I luv, luv, luv the basic canned button mushroom, and always have a case hanging around, in case a dish calls for them. like almost any savory dish.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

local jacques pepin introduced his kid to shrooms by going out in their yard, and snatching some for dinner. we don't do that despite a pantload of them all around here . something, something, guess wrong you die, I suppose. I'll eat any culinary shrooms offered to me, but full disclosure, I luv, luv, luv the basic canned button mushroom, and always have a case hanging around, in case a dish calls for them. like almost any savory dish.

Is a "pantload of mushrooms" anything like an "exaltation of larks" or a "murder of crows?"