OT: Best Pizza in CT

[HooperScooper]

So I was in Telluride last week and needed to find a place to watch the game on Tuesday night because our condo TV had no cable and only played DVDs, and there was no wi-fi for streaming. Did some googling and asking around for good sports bars and settled on Brown Dog Pizza, which has hundreds of stellar reviews. Of course we were skeptical, but digging deeper we saw that the owner/pizza maker Jeff Smokevich won various national and international pizza-making contests with his Detroit-style pizza. Come to find out he is from Detroit and played football at Michigan (on the same team as Tom Brady).

Anyway, I am happy to report that my first experience with Detroit-style pizza was a smashing success. We got a large and split it half “Brooklyn Bridge” and half “Parma Italia” at the bartender’s suggestion; he said they were the two most popular pies there (and both had won international pizza-making awards). It looked like Sicilian pie, which worried me, because I am not a fan of that style. But whereas Sicilian is thick and dense, this was remarkably light, crispy and tasty. Oh, and their chicken wings were also top notch (and bonus points for finding the game immediately when I asked and putting it on the TV right in front of us at the bar; nice beer and cider selection, too):

Brown Dog’s Detroit-Style Pizza Takes the Gold in Vegas

Brown Dog’s Detroit-Style Pizza Takes the Gold in Vegas by Martinique Davis Watch Newspapers TELLURIDE – Telluride’s Brown Dog Pizza staked its first big claim to fame last September, when co-owner…

www.browndogpizza.com

Jeff Smokevich needs to open a BBQ restaurant.

 

[karstenkibbe]

A few pies I made this week in the Wolf with smoked mootz, which really adds much more depth of flavor. Plain and a broccoli/caramelized onion.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

So I was in Telluride last week and needed to find a place to watch the game on Tuesday night because our condo TV had no cable and only played DVDs, and there was no wi-fi for streaming. Did some googling and asking around for good sports bars and settled on Brown Dog Pizza, which has hundreds of stellar reviews. Of course we were skeptical, but digging deeper we saw that the owner/pizza maker Jeff Smokevich won various national and international pizza-making contests with his Detroit-style pizza. Come to find out he is from Detroit and played football at Michigan (on the same team as Tom Brady).

Anyway, I am happy to report that my first experience with Detroit-style pizza was a smashing success. We got a large and split it half “Brooklyn Bridge” and half “Parma Italia” at the bartender’s suggestion; he said they were the two most popular pies there (and both had won international pizza-making awards). It looked like Sicilian pie, which worried me, because I am not a fan of that style. But whereas Sicilian is thick and dense, this was remarkably light, crispy and tasty. Oh, and their chicken wings were also top notch (and bonus points for finding the game immediately when I asked and putting it on the TV right in front of us at the bar; nice beer and cider selection, too):

Brown Dog’s Detroit-Style Pizza Takes the Gold in Vegas

Brown Dog’s Detroit-Style Pizza Takes the Gold in Vegas by Martinique Davis Watch Newspapers TELLURIDE – Telluride’s Brown Dog Pizza staked its first big claim to fame last September, when co-owner…

www.browndogpizza.com

But did they show the game?

 

[8893]

But did they show the game?

(and bonus points for finding the game immediately when I asked and putting it on the TV right in front of us at the bar; nice beer and cider selection, too):

 

[Hey Adrien!]

After cocktails and apps at The Tavern at Graybarns (we had a gift card from our nieces), we picked up two pizzas from Colony in Norwalk: a stinger and a salad pizza (I'm ready to take on the heat, that salad pizza was exceptional!!! ) For some reason, we haven't ordered pizza there in months, and I'm so grateful it's a five minute drive away from us.

Reflecting back, I love the idea of drinks and apps at a nice restaurant followed by ordering take out pizza to eat at home.

 

[Husky Alien]

After cocktails and apps at The Tavern at Graybarns (we had a gift card from our nieces), we picked up two pizzas from Colony in Norwalk: a stinger and a salad pizza (I'm ready to take on the heat, that salad pizza was exceptional!!! ) For some reason, we haven't ordered pizza there in months, and I'm so grateful it's a five minute drive away from us.

Reflecting back, I love the idea of drinks and apps at a nice restaurant followed by ordering take out pizza to eat at home.

No heat here. Nice!

 

[Ratso]

View attachment 72308Has anyone tried the pizza from Atticus Market in New Haven? They don’t make pizza every day and I think they only sell 50 pies when they do. An acquaintance told me he had a spectacular pie from Atticus. Lots of chatter in CT pizza circles about them. I pulled this pic from their website….

I still hate the “get it before it sells out , limited time” you can get angelo‘s & patsys in nyc anytime and it’s some of the best

 

[methodology]

I still hate the “get it before it sells out , limited time” you can get angelo‘s & patsys in nyc anytime and it’s some of the best

Some places like to have the best freshest ingredients made that day and don’t have the kitchen and cooler space

Bufalina is the same and one of the best pizza in any state anywhere once they’re out for the day they are out

 

[2PointGuards]

I just tried Good Old Days Pizza in Newtown; fantastic! If you are down this way give it a try. Another great pizza is from The Hub in Naugatuck.

 

[8893]

Some places like to have the best freshest ingredients made that day and don’t have the kitchen and cooler space

Bufalina is the same and one of the best pizza in any state anywhere once they’re out for the day they are out

Great point, and I would add that some places—like Bufalina—simply don’t have the manpower to produce any more than they can produce. A big part of the reason why they are so good at what they do Is that Matt and Melissa are making 99% of the pies. But to your point, they also couldn’t fit another person in that space.

 

[nashusky109]

Has anyone tried Good old Days in Newton? Menu looks really good and seems like one of those places to try if in the area.

Good Old Days Pizzeria & Cocktail Den

I just tried Good Old Days Pizza in Newtown; fantastic! If you are down this way give it a try. Another great pizza is from The Hub in Naugatuck.

finally thanks! the place looks amazing. Surprised no one here has brought it up yet.

 

[MTHusky]

Here is my hybrid Pepe's / Sally's clam pizza made in my Koda. Brings me back to my Wooster St favorite pizza haunts.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

@8893 can you fly directly into Telluride or have to fly into Denver/ Phoenix or something and drive into it? Went once in the summer a few years back. Was a beautiful place, expensive, but very pretty.

 

[8893]

@8893 can you fly directly into Telluride or have to fly into Denver/ Phoenix or something and drive into it? Went once in the summer a few years back. Was a beautiful place, expensive, but very pretty.

Yeah this was my second time there and I think it's one of the most visually stunning and majestic places I've ever seen. The Epic pass includes up to seven days at Tellluride, and I got it on sale several months ago for around $700, so that alone was a huge savings: the five days I skied last week would have cost me $1,000 otherwise, and I still have unlimited skiing at Mt. Snow, Stowe, Sunapee, etc.

In theory you can fly directly into Telluride but very few flights do, and once you see the runway you won't want to. If the wind is more than 20 knots they will not land there. It's a very short strip surrounded by mountains with a sheer wall at the end of it (with some kind of foam or something in front of it so that you don't catch on fire and die if the plane runs off the end...).

Montrose is the closest regional airport and it's around an hour and 40 minutes away. Most flights connect to there from Denver, DFW or Atlanta, but there is one direct flight between Newark and Montrose every Saturday and Sunday. That's what we took because I didn't want to deal with changing flights and the increased risk of losing luggage. Last time I went I flew through Denver and connected from there to Montrose. There are two main transportation companies that provide service between Montrose and Telluride: Telluride Express and Mountain Limo. I've used both and they are both fine; around $55 to $80 per person before tip, depending on how many people and what type of vehicle, etc.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Yeah this was my second time there and I think it's one of the most visually stunning and majestic places I've ever seen. The Epic pass includes up to seven days at Tellluride, and I got it on sale several months ago for around $700, so that alone was a huge savings: the five days I skied last week would have cost me $1,000 otherwise, and I still have unlimited skiing at Mt. Snow, Stowe, Sunapee, etc.

In theory you can fly directly into Telluride but very few flights do, and once you see the runway you won't want to. If the wind is more than 20 knots they will not land there. It's a very short strip surrounded by mountains with a sheer wall at the end of it (with some kind of foam or something in front of it so that you don't catch on fire and die if the plane runs off the end...).

Montrose is the closest regional airport and it's around an hour and 40 minutes away. Most flights connect to there from Denver, DFW or Atlanta, but there is one direct flight between Newark and Montrose every Saturday and Sunday. That's what we took because I didn't want to deal with changing flights and the increased risk of losing luggage. Last time I went I flew through Denver and connected from there to Montrose. There are two main transportation companies that provide service between Montrose and Telluride: Telluride Express and Mountain Limo. I've used both and they are both fine; around $55 to $80 per person before tip, depending on how many people and what type of vehicle, etc.

That's great! How was the snow out there? I might try and get out to Salt Lake while my friend is still living there. It's way easier to get into the mountains than in CO fighting on I-70. I ended up getting the indy pass this year. I try and hit up Catamount a handful of times and do a few Magic days. If you go for a week long trip out west its an absolute no brainer to get an Epic or Ikon or live out there. However some of the photos i've seen of some of the mountains on the East Coast like Sunapee yesterday, the lines are insane. They'll have to figure out a reservation system or something. Vail did a great marketing job selling the season passes but unfortunately the weekends are a nightmare at a lot of the resorts on the weekends.

 

[8893]

That's great! How was the snow out there? I might try and get out to Salt Lake while my friend is still living there. It's way easier to get into the mountains than in CO fighting on I-70. I ended up getting the indy pass this year. I try and hit up Catamount a handful of times and do a few Magic days. If you go for a week long trip out west its an absolute no brainer to get an Epic or Ikon or live out there. However some of the photos i've seen of some of the mountains on the East Coast like Sunapee yesterday, the lines are insane. They'll have to figure out a reservation system or something. Vail did a great marketing job selling the season passes but unfortunately the weekends are a nightmare at a lot of the resorts on the weekends.

Unfortunately there was no fresh snow until a few inches on Friday morning, but the mountain was in pretty impressive condition nonetheless. And every day other than Friday was a bluebird day so no complaints here. They got some good snow right before and after Christmas that must have given them a decent base, and I had no idea how extensive their snowmaking and grooming operations were. There is so much terrain that we had no problem finding sweet spots every day, and we skied straight into the chairs with no lines 99% of the time so we typically skied around four to five hours between 10 am and 3 pm, with a nice lunch, and averaged around 15 to 17 runs a day. And good-sized runs at that. We could walk from our condo to both the chairlift and town, so no car needed at all. Very chill scene. Remarkably attitude-free, especially as compared with the likes of Vail and Aspen.

 

[superjohn]

Yeah this was my second time there and I think it's one of the most visually stunning and majestic places I've ever seen. The Epic pass includes up to seven days at Tellluride, and I got it on sale several months ago for around $700, so that alone was a huge savings: the five days I skied last week would have cost me $1,000 otherwise, and I still have unlimited skiing at Mt. Snow, Stowe, Sunapee, etc.

In theory you can fly directly into Telluride but very few flights do, and once you see the runway you won't want to. If the wind is more than 20 knots they will not land there. It's a very short strip surrounded by mountains with a sheer wall at the end of it (with some kind of foam or something in front of it so that you don't catch on fire and die if the plane runs off the end...).

Montrose is the closest regional airport and it's around an hour and 40 minutes away. Most flights connect to there from Denver, DFW or Atlanta, but there is one direct flight between Newark and Montrose every Saturday and Sunday. That's what we took because I didn't want to deal with changing flights and the increased risk of losing luggage. Last time I went I flew through Denver and connected from there to Montrose. There are two main transportation companies that provide service between Montrose and Telluride: Telluride Express and Mountain Limo. I've used both and they are both fine; around $55 to $80 per person before tip, depending on how many people and what type of vehicle, etc.

My family used to rent a house with another family right in town in Telluride when I was a little kid, it was a totally different place back then. I would never be able to recognize it today. It was a sleepy little mining/ghost town with an amazing ski mountain, it was still Colorado's little secret. My dad's friend wanted to go in with my dad on buying property there. He wound up buying solo because my dad thought it was a crazy idea. Looking back that was a horrible decision but the place was so hard to get to (we flew into Grand Junction back then) and he wasn't looking at it as an investment, had no idea it would become arguably the most exclusive mountain town in the West.

The place is incredible and where I learned to ski, glad you loved it.

 

[karstenkibbe]

More Atticus hype from CTbites. Now I really need to find myself in New Haven on a Thursday evening…..

Atticus Market: New Haven Has A New Pizza Contender — CT Bites

“If this is good, people might throw bricks through the window. It would be a badge of honor.” The “this” that Brian Lance is referring to is the twice weekly pizza pop-up that goes down on Thursday and Friday at Atticus Market in New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood. Lance—who serves as Atticus’

www.ctbites.com

 

[superjohn]

@8893 Do you remember trail names? I'm wondering if they have any of the same names. Spiral Stairs was a double black mogul run with K2 next to it, The Chute or the Plunge can't remember, it was off the map. See Forever was a long blue with great views. Ajax Alley, Silverado.

There was an older kid we all knew and my older brothers hung out with who was a much better skier than everyone else, he went by Rocket. Years later I'm going through my friend's snowboarding magazine and I see the name Rocket Reeves. Turns out he's the same guy and became kind of legendary in the snowboarding world.

 

[8893]

@8893 Do you remember trail names? I'm wondering if they have any of the same names. Spiral Stairs was a double black mogul run with K2 next to it, The Chute or the Plunge can't remember, it was off the map. See Forever was a long blue with great views. Ajax Alley, Silverado.

There was an older kid we all knew and my older brothers hung out with who was a much better skier than everyone else, he went by Rocket. Years later I'm going through my friend's snowboarding magazine and I see the name Rocket Reeves. Turns out he's the same guy and became kind of legendary in the snowboarding world.

Spiral Stairs is still there; right next to Plunge. My tracker says I skied them both but I thought I only skied Plunge, Bushwhacker and See Forever/Look Out off the Plunge Chair (Lift 9). Loved all of those; great, long runs with steep pitches and incredible views.

There are lots of trails with ”chute” in the name but I don’t recall one just called “The Chute.” Likewise, lots of names with “silver,” but I don’t recall “Silverado.” Silvercloud off Revelation Bowl was quite a thrill though.

There is an Allais Alley and an Apex, but I don’t remember Ajax Alley. Nor K2 that I recall.

Saw lots of amazing skiers there, and fewer snowboarders than at most mountains these days, which was good with me. I don’t like skiing around a lot of snowboarders. Their moves are less predictable and they usually take up a lot more of the mountain (and push a lot more snow off it). And they lie down everywhere. Love watching them compete at the highest levels though.

 

[MTBingNinja]

Went to Modern Pizza a couple of weeks ago and ordered the white clam. Was terrible!!! The crust and clams were good but the cheese was too thick and gooey for my liking.

 

[8893]

Went to Modern Pizza a couple of weeks ago and ordered the white clam. Was terrible!!! The crust and clams were good but the cheese was too thick and gooey for my liking.

Traditionally white clam has no mozz; only parm. I never get clam pies at Modern though because they don’t use fresh clams.

My standing order for Modern pies always includes ”well done, light mozz,” because I have found them too heavy on the cheese for my tastes.

 

[F101Voodoo]

Went to Modern Pizza a couple of weeks ago and ordered the white clam. Was terrible!!! The crust and clams were good but the cheese was too thick and gooey for my liking.

Agree, Too much cheese with a mild topping just obstructs something such as claim taste. Hey pepronskiy Pizza can handle it.

 

[8893]

Agree, Too much cheese with a mild topping just obstructs something such as claim taste. Hey pepronskiy Liza can handle it.

Well, to be fair, there isn’t much Pepronskiy Liza can’t handle.

 

[GoUconn7961]

When I was in my teens my Dad owned a pizza parlor in Danbury. To this day I've never had any other pizza than what my mother makes, or what I make. Dad isn't around any longer. My Mom makes an incredible clam pizza, and in the summer she does it out on the grill. She has perfected that technique. One year she had the family over and made 20 pizzas with different toppings. Not one leftover. Maybe I'll make pizza this weekend...

 

[F101Voodoo]

Anyone a fan of that so called Hawaiian pizza? We hear on this coast are not even smart enough to make Hawiian pizza correctly. Here places used to use ham on the so called Hawaiian pizza. The proper way is to use “”Spam”. Personally I think that Hawaiian pizza is a travesty and should be outlawed. But………………. Opinions are like #&(($* everyone has a right to one.

Well, to be fair, there isn’t much Pepronskiy Liza can’t handle.

ha ha that’s an inadvertent double entendre but yeh you are absolutely correct Liza is one hell of a girl she can handle it.

 

[8893]

Anyone a fan of that so called Hawaiian pizza? We hear on this coast are not even smart enough to make Hawiian pizza correctly. Here places used to use ham on the so called Hawaiian pizza. The proper way is to use “”Spam”. Personally I think that Hawaiian pizza is a travesty and should be outlawed. But………………. Opinions are like #&(($* everyone has a right to one.

I’m a fan of Hawaiian pizza, with jalapeños or cherry peppers. I like the “heat and sweet” effect of the peppers and pineapple, and the ham/bacon/Spam/Canadian bacon (my preference) adds some nice smoke/umami.

Certainly not a traditional pie; but, like salad pie, I only care about the taste. And when they are done well, they taste good to me.

 

[alexd]

I’m a fan of Hawaiian pizza, with jalapeños or cherry peppers. I like the “heat and sweet” effect of the peppers and pineapple, and the ham/bacon/Spam/Canadian bacon (my preference) adds some nice smoke/umami.

Certainly not a traditional pie; but, like salad pie, I only care about the taste. And when they are done well, they taste good to me.

A few years back, a food truck at one of Central CT breweries was making a grilled peaches and bacon pie. REALLY good. I wish I could remember the food truck name.

 

[F101Voodoo]

I’m a fan of Hawaiian pizza, with jalapeños or cherry peppers. I like the “heat and sweet” effect of the peppers and pineapple, and the ham/bacon/Spam/Canadian bacon (my preference) adds some nice smoke/umami.

Certainly not a traditional pie; but, like salad pie, I only care about the taste. And when they are done well, they taste good to me.

I was being a wise with the “ travesty” comment. My parents and their fri3nds used to play cards usually over our house and they would order Hawaiian pizza thinking it was exotic. Hey they were that WWII generation so us kids cut them some slack. The adults gave us money for movies and candy. One of the dads would drive us kids to to Elmwood theater in WH being almost walking distance and adults enjoyed their pizza and cards. Win win .

 

[Balker]

Went to Modern Pizza a couple of weeks ago and ordered the white clam. Was terrible!!! The crust and clams were good but the cheese was too thick and gooey for my liking.

Best thing about Modern is the Italian Bomb. If you're going to Modern that's what you need to be ordering.

I’m a fan of Hawaiian pizza, with jalapeños or cherry peppers. I like the “heat and sweet” effect of the peppers and pineapple, and the ham/bacon/Spam/Canadian bacon (my preference) adds some nice smoke/umami.

Certainly not a traditional pie; but, like salad pie, I only care about the taste. And when they are done well, they taste good to me.

That's the best thing about Matt/Melissa at Bufalina. They aren't going to make a Hawaiian pie, and I'm ok with that, but they will bring all sorts of new flavors and ingredients to their specials that are always well thought out. And pizza should be like that, a combination of tradition and experimentation. That's the biggest thing separating them from others for me.