New Haven Eats: Frank Pepe Pizzeria
When in New Haven, must eat Pepe's as I've been told my many. So I dragged a couple friends to Wooster Square to try it. It doesn't look too far to walk there, but we were told, "oh no, you don't want to walk there." So we cabbed it.
The wait was about 20-30 minutes, which I later learned isn't too bad - it's often two hours! Our waitress was prompt, remembered to come back after we told her we weren't ready. She made recommendations (tomato pie, fresh tomato pie (basically margherita,...). We went with a medium tomato pie with mozzarella and a small clam pizza.
The tomato with mozzarella was great. The crust was firm, elastic, yet airy, and the tomato sauce wasn't over-seasoned. You could actually taste tomato.
The clam pizza on the other hand was a bit of a let down. It was very salty, and the garlic was overpowering - and I'm one who never thought it possible to have too much garlic!
I also tried this White Birch soda. The label on the back said "East Haven," so very local! I had never heard of this before, so wanted to try it naturally. I asked the waitress if she liked it, and she said she drinks the diet version, and it kind of tastes kind of like minty root beer. She was so kind to say that if I didn't like it, I should let her know and she'd get another one! Turns out it does taste just like root beer; I guess makes since because they're both from trees!
I liked Pepe's a lot. The service was great, the tomato pie was good. But the clam pie fell short, and overall I'm not sure if I'd wait two hours!
