This is Episode 2 (or Part II) of our First Time Pizza-ing At Pepe’s Pizza in New Haven, Connecticut, the world’s famous, best known and oldest Pizzeria in the United States. Click here to watch Part 1:
The pizzas were delicious. Since Teddy was from West Coast (although he’s originally from Chicago), the honor of first bite went to him. Kakak Amira thought the clam pizza was a little salty but she really like the margherita. The check came to be $63.01, and that’s for 3 pizzas, some salad and a drink. Very inexpensive for 7 people dining in, but Aiman didn’t think they would be eating there all the times. They would probably stick with Domino’s for now.
After dinner at Pepe, the went to Libby’s Italian Pastry shop down the street on Wooster for cannoli. Aiman has never eaten cannoli before and this was his first time. Cannoli are Italian pastries that originated on the island of Sicily and are today a staple of Sicilian cuisine. Cannoli consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta.
Here’s a bit of a background:
Aiman grew up in and around the New Haven area but he has never been to Frank Pepe’s before. He and his siblings have eaten the pizzas from there during their educational programs at Yale University. They’ve been discouraged from going to the restaurant because everyone was saying the queuing lines were always long.
But this time, they had to go. That’s because his oldest sister Amira brought her friend Teddy from San Francisco, California to visit. And who would visit New Haven without dining at the world’s famous Frank Pepe’s? Besides, Tedyy is originally from Chicago which is known for its deep dish pizzas. He wanted to see how good the thin crust pizzas versus the deep dish pizzas.
It was on a Thursday night during the summer and it took them about 30 minutes queuing in line outside before there was a table for 7, including both of his parents, his brother Fikri & Hizami, was available. Just imagine it was on the weekend, and when the colleges (Yale, Quinnipiac, Southern Connecticut and University of New Haven) are back in session!
Once we proceeded through the door, the delightful aroma filled the air which will make anyone drool. We were seated near the entrance, but there was another larger room but even that room was completely filled. Evidently Teddy had done research on Frank Pepe’s and shared the information with Aiman, who then tried to explain the history of this famous pizzeria (in Part 1)
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, commonly known as Pepe’s /ˈpɛpiz/, is a popular pizza restaurant in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, at 163 Wooster Street. Opened in 1925, it is one of the oldest and best known pizzerias in the United States.
Pepe’s was founded in 1925 by Frank Pepe, an Italian immigrant. Pepe was born in Maiori, Italy, and immigrated to New Haven in 1909 when he was a teenager. During World War I, Pepe went back to Italy to fight for his native country. Upon returning, he landed a job working at a bakery on Wooster Street. After saving enough money, he was able to buy a wagon from which he sold his pizzas. He was so successful that he was eventually able to take over his employer’s business and turn it into the first “Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana” on June 16, 1925.
Pepe’s originated the New Haven-style thin-crust apizza (Neapolitan-style Italian pizza) which he baked in a coal-fired brick pizza oven. Originally, Frank Pepe only made two varieties of pizza: the “tomato pie” (tomatoes with grated pecorino romano cheese, garlic, oregano, and olive oil) and the other with the addition of anchovy.
Pepe moved his restaurant to its current location next door to The Spot in 1936. The Pepe family later bought back The Spot from the Boccamiello family in 1981 and it now serves the same menu as the newer restaurant.
Pepe’s restaurant began serving littleneck clams on the half shell at the bar. It was only a matter of time before he decided to put the clams on the pizza. The white clam pie is just crust, olive oil, oregano, grated cheese, chopped garlic, and fresh littleneck clams. The restaurant will serve the pizza with or without mozzarella cheese. They are also adamant on using freshly shucked clams as opposed to canned clams; if fresh clams are not available then they will not serve the white clam pie. Three men are employed by Pepe’s just for shucking the clams on location. Since its invention, the white clam pie has become the signature pizza of pizzerias in New Haven.
To find out reviews of Frank Pepe’s click on Yelp or TripAdvisor here:
This travel vlog was brought to you by Aiman Imran Zulhilmi Anuar.
Recording Date: June 20, 2019
Video URL: