Impressing With Pizza And Cannolis

Mary had never had a cannoli before!!! It boggles the mind. The Carolina’s should be ashamed of themselves.

My friend Bob is here in Connecticut on vacation with his wife Mary. Bob’s originally from New Haven. Mary’s a North Carolina girl. This was her first trip here. We needed to take her somewhere iconic and chose Pepe’s on Wooster Street.

In case you’ve just parachuted in from Venus, Pepe’s is a New Haven pizza restaurant. It’s on Wooster Street, ground zero for Italian cuisine.

I suspect if you went to Pepe’s at 4:00 AM during a blinding snowstorm there’d be a line out-the-door stretching down Wooster St.

The secret to Pepe’s (and its down-the-block competitor “Sally’s”) is the oven! Pizzas are baked hot and these coal fired brick ovens remain hot and temperature stable. Except for a week of yearly maintenance they are always hot 24/7!

We ordered two pies: one clam and one tomato. The tomato pizza is seasonal with tomatoes replacing tomato sauce. They’ve only been available since Friday. Both were superb.

To make things even better our friend Sue was the waitress. She collects souvenir pens. I brought two for her from last November’s Las Vegas trip&#185. She brought me beautiful notecards with her flower photography.

Sue’s great because she’s both a Pepe’s historian and willing to dish on celebs.

We finished the night with dessert just down the block at Libby’s. Mary had never had a cannoli before!!! It boggles the mind. The Carolina’s should be ashamed of themselves.

Mary left New Haven impressed by real Italian cuisine.

My thanks to those of you who sought me out to say hello. She was probably impressed by that too.

&#185 – Note to me: We need to go to Wooster Street more often.

We’re In Orange County Now

It was really just a good excuse to come and visit. Michael and I have always been close. Melissa is the sister Helaine never had.

I have to make a quick run to San Diego tomorrow morning. Rather than risk the traffic from Los Angeles Helaine and I headed down to my cousins in Lake Forest in Orange County. It was really just a good excuse to come and visit. Michael and I have always been close. Melissa is the sister Helaine never had.

We stopped for some pizza before heading back to the house. This was ranch land before houses were built. There were certainly no lakes in what is now Lake Forest.

While we sat around their firepit I snapped this shot of the backyard.

Pizza With A Side Of Guilt

Pepe’s versus Sally’s is like Mets versus Yankees, Jets versus Giants, Geno’s versus Pat’s, Coke versus Pepsi. Either choice is good, but lovers of one don’t stray to the other. Sacrelege!

For over 25 years when I’ve had pizza on Wooster Street I’ve gone to Sally’s. I have been loyal. Last night I cheated! Last night Helaine and I along with our friends Bob and Karen went to Pepe’s.

If you’re not from New Haven this elevation of pizza joints might not make sense. Pepe’s versus Sally’s is like Mets versus Yankees, Jets versus Giants, Geno’s versus Pat’s, Coke versus Pepsi. Either choice is good, but lovers of one don’t stray to the other. Sacrelege!

Last night’s gastronomic straying started when I met Sue, a friend of Sonia Baghdady’s and a waitress at Pepe’s. It was Sue’s encouragement that brought us a few blocks farther down Wooster.

Helaine and I drove into New Haven planning on meeting our dinner partners at 7:30 PM. I got a text message a few minutes later and a link to a Glympse tracking map.

Because I’m Bob’s friend I didn’t include the documentary proof he was doing 80 mph on I-95 as he buzzed through Branford. This shot getting on the “Q” Bridge had him down to 62 mph and still more than 10 minutes away.

Luckily time wasn’t of the essence. We walked into Pepe’s chilly and hungry.

As ponytailed Billy took our order Sue changed from waitress to docent! She recounted with pride the story of Frank Pepe, how he went from immigrant baker to pizza evangelist.

The story was good, but I know the real secret to Pepe and Sally’s success: the oven!

A Wooster Street pizza is cooked in a 650 degree coal fired brick oven. This combination of coal and brick keeps the oven’s temperature hot and nearly constant. A pizza oven doesn’t turn on-and-off like your oven at home. In fact these pizza ovens are never turned off. They are fired and hot 24/7!

Each year for a week Sally’s and Pepe’s both shut down. I thought it was because of vacation, but Sue said it was for maintenance on the ovens. They take three days to cool down and another three to get back to temperature!

How was the pizza? How sweet is heaven? Amazing. The crust is thin. The sauce tasty without overpowering the toppings. We had one pie red and the other white.

After dinner I spent some time walking back into the kitchen and saying hello to everyone. As with much of Wooster Street Pepe’s is a family business. More importantly it’s run like a family business. Much of the waitstaff have been carrying hot pies to customers for decades.

I still felt guilty about the whole thing, but pizza is the universal guilt solvent.