Connecticut is the buckle of the Northeastern pizza belt, which stretches from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. More specifically, the New Haven style of pizza not only is one of the first uniquely American pizza styles, but it has been preserved by a cluster of family-run establishments which still in many cases use the original equipment, now almost a century old. Naturally New Haven might be considered Connecticut's pizza capital, but the state has dozens of great pizzerias. Few other places in the country have as much great pizza per capita (PPC). These are the best eight pizzas in Connecticut that we have had to date. More

Most great pizzerias are the product of one compulsive, obsessive person who lives and dies with every pie. Is it possible for a pizzeria to expand beyond two locations and maintain the quality that makes them great? It's like pizza-obsessed folks have decided that their collective ovens get too hot for them to consider adding a third pizzeria. More

A slice of New Haven's Wooster Street arrived in Danbury, Connecticut last week in the form of a new outpost of Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana. Just to make absolutely sure this was not a wintertime mirage, I headed over to the new Danbury branch during a recent snow day. More

A few friends of Slice visited New Haven, Connecticut, recently (both independent of one another) and loaded up on pizza at some of the city's most celebrated pizzerias. First up on Sunday was pizza photographer Hong-An Tran (who we interviewed here a couple weeks ago). She and a couple of friends hit up Bar, Frank Pepe's, Modern, and Sally's in that order. Only at Sally's were they blown away, it seems. More

If you are only a casual pizza fan, you'd be excused for underestimating Connecticut's contributions to the slice-o-sphere. After all, isn't it NYC and Chicago that get all the attention from TV shows and food writers too lazy to go beyond the tired Big Apple–Windy City rivalry? In fact, parts of Connecticut have had world-class pizza operations for upwards of 85 years. That's not to mention all the relative newcomers (emphasis on relative) that have opened in the nearly nine decades of Nutmeg State pizza ascendancy. Let's take a look at some of the options for those unfamiliar with the state's crusty, cheesy, saucy offerings. More

Serious Eats–Slice overlord Ed Levine here has been on my case about getting to the new Frank Pepe's in Yonkers for a while now. He wanted to see how it stacked up to the original in New Haven, Connecticut. See, the Frank Pepe family has been on a small tear in the last few years, opening branches of the famed New Haven pizzeria throughout Connecticut—first in Fairfield, then Manchester, then at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville. Then they opened one in Yonkers, New York. This was sort of a big deal in pizza circles, since there's a fair amount... More

[Photographs: New York Times] The New York Times takes a look at the newish Frank Pepe's branch that opened in Yonkers in early November of last year: The pizza is very good — although you have to be careful what you order. The original tomato pie, a Spartan exercise in dough topped only with crushed tomatoes and a sprinkling of Romano cheese, tasted of good-quality canned tomatoes and little else. That same pie with mozzarella was better, and one with mozzarella and spicy, fennel-spiked pepperoni was downright delicious. A version with plump marinated shrimp was also surprisingly good. And... More

The larger "newer" Frank Pepe's oven vs. the older oven at "The Spot." Photographs by Jason Perlow On his blog, Off the Broiler, Jason Perlow breaks down the differences between the "new" Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana on Wooster Street and Frank Pepe's "The Spot," the smaller original location tucked away just behind it. The Spot is a smaller, less hectic location, that has a more intimate atmosphere, and we didn’t have to wait an hour to get in. Of course, now that Jason has blogged about this "secret," I suspect the lines at "The Spot" will get longer and... More