Today's photo:Pepe's Pizzeria!!

I have one thing to say. Some people have a really different opinion of what a good pizza is supposed to be. Pepe's is up there with the best and it is wonderful.

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Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

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Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen


The question is....Do They Deliver??

They never have, and praise God, never will.

Amen

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Originally posted by Greymo

I have one thing to say. Some people have a really different opinion of what a good pizza is supposed to be. Pepe's is up there with the best and it is wonderful.

Regional tastes my friend... When I heard salty, it turned me off.. Not saying I wouldn't sample it. But if you read the whole review, either the Pepperoni or Original look fantastic to me! At least the crust is not charred to all be......

I've only made it to the Pepe's in Fairfield; never made it into New Haven. Granted, the first pie shown at the top of the page (posting date: June 15th, 2008) is over done. But Pepe's pizza is one of those foods that tastes great in spite of the fact that it doesn't look as appealing as those dishes the food stylists of Gourmet magazine take great pains to make look good.

Overdone? Not for me! I love flavor of the charred crust! The char is usually just on the exterior and the interior of the crust is still warm and chewy.

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Originally posted by hutt

Gotta disagree here: I think that "thing" is about the nastiest pizza-wanna-be that I've ever seen!

ROFL....I have only one thing to say....."mushy peas", I am sure they are MUCH better looking and TASTING than that pie.

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

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Originally posted by Ciaoman

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

It's my understanding that only NH has a coal fired oven having been grandfathered in before the clean air act, if I am wrong I accept that but please peovide documented proof that "all" locations have coal burning ovens. BTW I whole heartdly love NH style apizza.

While I'm not able to supply a building permit, I can tell you that Manchester has a coal fired oven as I have seen it. The following link says that Pepe's is one of the few Ct. operations that has been grandfathered in for the coal fired ovens. http://pizzatherapy.blogspot.com/2007/10/pepes-opens-new-pizzeria-manchester.html

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Originally posted by exsquidao

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Originally posted by Ciaoman

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

It's my understanding that only NH has a coal fired oven having been grandfathered in before the clean air act, if I am wrong I accept that but please peovide documented proof that "all" locations have coal burning ovens. BTW I whole heartdly love NH style apizza.

Pepe's Fairfield- definitely COAL fired.
Pepe's, Sally's, Modern, the Spot- ALL coal fired.

in NYC there are a few coal oven's grandfathered in (Lombardi's, one in the bronx whose name i forgot after very weak zza), but new haven's coal fired ovens give it the super snark. in NYC, the vast majority of brick ovens are WOOD fired (UPN, Anthony's, Franny's i believe), and the greatest pie in NYC (at Difara) is made in a simple metal pizza oven- NOTHING special ovenwise, VERY special pizzawise (grand pidana, reggiano parmigianno, MDB, fiori di late, fresh mozz, san marzanos- that's what i'm talking about).

and the 100 + year old ovens at Pepe's "The Spot" (the original pepe's oven- yes indeed) and at Sally's were originally bread ovens. those bricks have been seasoned for over 100+ years and that is a big part of the snark of the new haven pie. and if you want to really geek out about it, i've been told that the reason the pies in new haven are as outstanding as the great pies in Napoli is the mineral content of the water, meaning good and bad minerals, is similar and thus the crusts have a similar brilliance (think tortillas in the southwest in the desert and tortillas in NYC- barely the same product).

and FYI, when eating a new haven pie, if your hands are not covered in burnt black soot by the end of the meal, you've been eating your abeetz with a fork and a knife, and you biffed it. the burnt crust puts the new haven style pie over the top. and Dominic Demarco of Difara burns his crust too. and in italy, a char on the bottom of your pie is common in the greatest pizza spots. sure to each his own, but in certain pizzacentric circles, a nice char on the crust is a must! enjoy fb

Thanks for the info...wood or coal fired,that's one hell of a pizza!!!

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Originally posted by exsquidao

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Originally posted by Ciaoman

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

It's my understanding that only NH has a coal fired oven having been grandfathered in before the clean air act, if I am wrong I accept that but please peovide documented proof that "all" locations have coal burning ovens. BTW I whole heartdly love NH style apizza.

Please expand on what you mean by "NH style apizza". As a NJ transplant living in NH-it is extremely difficult to find a good or even decent pizza. Most of my experiences in pizza are way too thick or tomato sauce on cardboard. I do like Elvio's and we travel there to get our pizza. Giueseppe's in Meredith is ok. What specific places are you referring too?


Thanks,

Nicolem

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Originally posted by nicolem

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Originally posted by exsquidao

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Originally posted by Ciaoman

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

It's my understanding that only NH has a coal fired oven having been grandfathered in before the clean air act, if I am wrong I accept that but please peovide documented proof that "all" locations have coal burning ovens. BTW I whole heartdly love NH style apizza.

Please expand on what you mean by "NH style apizza".

I believe "NH" means New Haven in this context, not New Hampshire.

Thanks FB excellant info.

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Originally posted by cecif

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Originally posted by nicolem

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Originally posted by exsquidao

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Originally posted by Ciaoman

A few of the comments on this thread talk about "wood-fired crust" or other references to wood at Pepe's. No wood. Please know that Pepe's (all locations) uses coal in its pizza oven, not wood. That's what makes Pepe's and a few other New Haven places unique.

It's my understanding that only NH has a coal fired oven having been grandfathered in before the clean air act, if I am wrong I accept that but please peovide documented proof that "all" locations have coal burning ovens. BTW I whole heartdly love NH style apizza.

Please expand on what you mean by "NH style apizza".

I believe "NH" means New Haven in this context, not New Hampshire.

Thanks. Gee I really got that one wrong, huh?

Sorry. I was just getting excited that there might be some other decent pizza places up here.

According to the cool map on this website, there are at least 18 coal-fired pizza joints in NYC:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2007/11/slice-coal-oven-pizzeria-map.html