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Adam out of respect for the Wooster St legacy I kept Pepe's at #3 because of the respect issue and because there are other pies Like the Clam which are out of this world. But I observed other people cutting into their pies and everyone was having the same issue and looked upset that it was taking so much work to eat their pies.....

the slice when you would pick it up would stay straight that's how tough the actual crust has been coming out of the oven lately at both locations.

I've eaten Pizza in quite a few cities and I've followed the GQ Pizza Article on a few of the Detroit pizzeria's since I have family on my wife's side who live out that way.

I really enjoyed buddy's pizza and actually found photos on my cell phone that I sent in. Way different pizza squares and such....

But back to New Haven, for the health conscious Pizza eater up the road about 4 miles up on Whitney ave in Hamden there is Olde World Pizza they do lo carb and even wheat pizza. It's not coal oven but it's pretty good stuff as well.

I haven't eaten yet at the new Yonkers location or the Mohegan Sun for Pepe's but once they went to 7 days a week and opening up at 11:30am something has changed, you need more staff, different people making the pizza and it's just different at Pepe's right now...

I should send them an email because I'm asked all the time 6'3 300lbs which of the big 5 is the best and I tell anyone depends on what you like on it. Sausage hands down is Zupps...... Modern is bigger in seating capacity, very thin Apizza...But they have won best pizza in the Advocate for the past 7 years....Ballot stuffing who knows..... But everyone I know loves Modern. The one thing I do love in regards to the peperoni used at Sallys and Pepe's is that it's cut off the stick.....It doesn't get any better than that......

Then you have to go down the block on Wooster for Italian Ice at Libby's.
Libby's has a new location in North Haven right down the street from me.
Homemade just awesomeness is all I can say. You want any Italian Cookie or Angel Wings, expresso , etc.....It doesn't get any better than Libby's after throwing down.....

Anyone ever wants to do a Pizza throwdown with a Former/Transplanted New Yorker.....

Just drop me a line.....

Enjoy the weekend and holidays everyone...

I want to chime in since I grew up in New York City and now live 10 minutes from the Big 5 Modern, Sally's Pepe's, Zuppardi's and Bar.

Pepe's the last 3 times in the past 2 months and 1 time at the Spot which is the original Pepe's. Their crust I couldn't even cut it with my knife and it was beyond noticeable. 4 times same Original Location and the same experience it's not a coincidence until I read the other posts on here today.

Sallys sauce when you ask for extra sauce is the sweetest of the bunch. The rudeness factor makes me laugh but my wife refuses to eat there and she's a native and lifer of the area. The issue is they can only squeeze in 10 pies into their oven at a time and they take phone orders if you can get through.

Modern is our favorite out of the Big 5 the Italian Bomb is a hearty pie sausage, pep, bacon, onion, red pepper. I'm a Pepperoni guy that's all I need and sometimes just good old Sauce and Grated does me fine as well.

Bar Pizza is made by someone who used to work at Sally's so that's why it gets high marks as a sleeper pizza. I've only had pepperoni and cheese and it was pretty good.

Zuppardi's in West Haven...Their sausage Pie is really good not Coal Oven though and the decor is very old school.... Gives it Character.

1.Modern
2.Sally's
3.Pepe's
4. Zups
5. Bar

@gustoct: Point noted. I'll have to try Pepe's next time I'm in New Haven to see how the crust fares again. Now that I know how easy/quick it is to get to with a Zipcar, that should be soon.

Just called to verify with Zuppardi's Apizza: They use a gas-fired oven. No coal.

Great post nextgospel ! Can't wait to read more of your trip reviews.
What's with the Pizza a Baccala' on the sandwich board outside?
Funny,but that Pizza del Papa bears zero resemblance to the ones served at Keste IMO? Walnut cream on Pizza?
Where's that guy from the Village Voice .........

I'm extremely jealous, nextgospel. I would LOVE to try a fried & baked pizza; it just sounds all kinds of right.

I have to admit, both the Il Corno di Maradona and the angioletti look absolutely repugnant (the first resembles a deep fried giraffe's penis and the second diarrhea on egg rolls), but I'm sure they would have tasted awesome. I've yet to find the dessert that wasn't improved by Nutella.

Thanks for the write-up!

@jwardell: Went to the Pepe's on Wooster. The big one, not The Spot. We ordered a clam pie and a sausage/mozzarella pie. My main complaint was with the ABSOLUTE TOUGHNESS of the crust. OMG. Jawache after trying a slice of each. Even if it had the most flavorful plain sauce/grated cheese, I'd still have an issue with the crust. Tell me how ordering a plain pie is going to change the crust situation and I may reconsider my assessment on further review.

We're pretty much with you, Adam. I like Sally's best overall, Lil digs Modern's tomato pie, but Sally's mozz. We agree that Pepe's is third. Still, we'd be happy with any of the three on any given day.

I'm astounded by the undeserved dis of Pepe's clam pie. It was only a few weeks ago that my food writer friend and I drove up to NH with the specific intention of eating that very pizza. We even called ahead to make sure Pepe's had a clam pie that day since we were disappointed last time around when no clams were to be had. We arrived about 3pm. Not much of a wait at that time of day. We were seated almost as soon as we walked through the door. We ordered our prey. It came to the table large, hot, redolent of garlic and chopped fresh salty succulent clams. A little sprinkling of cheese (not a no-no in this instance) The crust was perfect. Chewy, crisp and light. Not a bit doughy or tough. The pie was, in a word, perfection and I will defend it to the death. To paraphrase a well-respected, former contender for the vice presidency of the United States-- I have had Pepe's clam pie and Lombardy's you are no Pepe's.

With 20/20 hindsight, we should have hit Bar instead of Pepe's. Even then, we would have been cutting it close. We were told by a New Havenite who joined us at Modern that Bar would likely have a long wait but that we could probably do a Pepe's take-out pie in between Modern and Sally's. And so that's what we did.

I haven't been to Sallys but think that Modern is better than Pepes. If the line is too long at Modern, they have a take out area around the corner (entrance is in the parking lot). Last time there I got a pie and ate it outside to avoid the crowd waiting for a table.

Non-pizza wise, excellent choices with Ess-a-bagel (21st and 1st location only - get whatever is hot), Katz's (pastrami on rye with mustard, sour pickles on the side and a hot dog or knoblewurst to eat while waiting for your cutter to finish preparing the pastrami sandwich), White Manna (a few sliders w/ cheese and onion) and Rutt's Hut (2 rippers and an order of onion rings).

Bah, Pepe's is for tourists, Bar Pizza in New Haven makes a far better pie... and you won't convince me otherwise.

The pizzas from the non-Wooster St Pepe's are a mere shadow of the real deal.

And the real deal itself.... is more variable than it used to be. In the last 5 years, I've had about 12 phenomenal apizzas... and about 6 "merely good" ones.

It's been ages since I've had Frank Pepe's. This was only my second time! (First and only time before that was my trip there in 2004.) I will turn this question over to Ed Levine, who stops there frequently on his way up to Cape Cod. Spoiler: Ed said it's been going downhill as of late.