1st Street Apizza

Posted By Michael Stern on March 6, 2009 12:29 PM

Intrigued by Ayersian's review of Dayton Street Apizza in New Haven, I detoured off Route 8 in Seymour to find its sister restaurant, First Street Apizza. It is a hole-in-the-wall storefront that appears primarily designed for take-out business. Seating consists of just three tables and a short counter at the front window. The menu is huge, not only all kinds of pizza but subs and sandwiches, stuffed breads and calzones, soups and salads and pasta.

With time and appetite for only one item, I chose the New Haven classic, clam pizza. "White or red?" asked the girl at the order window. I chose white, which here means mozzarella but no red sauce. The clams are fresh, not canned, but to my taste, they seem to have been opened a while ago, being more chewy than juicy. Their flavor was fresh and sweet, but I missed the succulent nectar that drips from a just-opened one. Cheese is spread judiciously so as not to overwhelm the crust or clams and bits of raw garlic are strewn about in abundance. Lemon wedges are provided on the side, which do add a certain sparkle to the clams; but call me hidebound: I'm just not happy squeezing lemon juice on a pizza.

The crust is New Haven style, meaning Neapolitan: very thin with a puffy circumference, its underneath spangled with tasty debris from the oven floor. It is not as dense and chewy as what you'll find in New Haven on Wooster Street (and State Street); the lighter weight gives it a certain elegance that is very different from the soulful raunchiness of a pie at, say, Sally's.

When I return to 1st Street Apizza, high on the list of must-try items are the pizza margherita and any pasta dish featuring house-made sauce (which is sold by the jarful at the cash register).

Artie's Special

Foxon Park Soda

Sausage Pizza

Broccoli Rabe Pizza

Fresh Clam Pizza

Shrimp Pizza

Posted By Roy Harvey on February 1, 2012 6:14 PM

This is our local pizza place (lucky us!) and we have been averaging at least one pie a month for a few years. Inevitably it is a large The Works, because it is so good we can't bring ourselves to try anything else. This is very much what I call adult pizza; not the kind we would order for our young grandchildren, instead intense and rather sophisticated flavors. Compared to some the toppings almost looked sparse at first, but the quality of the ingredients and the balance of flavors soon made me think otherwise. Their service has been consistently good too.

The Works large pizza