Taosman
Your Cousin In New Mexxico
For those lucky pizza affectionatos in the New York to Boston corridor there is a new must stop!
Pepes Pizza
April 09, 2006
I just spent some time in Pepe's Pizza (officially Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana) in Fairfield, Connecticut. If you aren't aware, Pepe's is an institution in Connecticut - the original restaurant in New Haven has been host to US presidents and other dignitaries. Yes, my friends Connecticut is pretty boring - a great place to raise a family but our most exciting event is to go to New Haven and eat pizza.
So what sort of pizza becomes a state institution and is it really so good? Let's put it this way... Connecticut is known as the Constitution State and the Nutmeg State. There are some that think Pizza State is more appropriate. You see where this is going?
The pizza is thin-crust style and as greasy as you can imagine. You can try sopping up the extra grease with a napkin but this is not in the spirit of Pepes by any means and doing so will yield many dirty looks from others. In fact, wiping up the extra grease in Pepes is like wiping the ice cream off a Haagen-Dazs cone, draining the alcohol out of a martini or removing the eggs from caviar.
The New Haven restaurant is frequented by many of my college friends and I get there whenever I can.
Recently Pepes opened a new pizzeria in Fairfield, CT and my friend Scott and our families had a chance to go there this weekend. I didn't know there was a new Pepes so close to me until I got Scott's e-mail. As you can imagine this was great news -- like hearing I got an extension to file my taxes.
It took the Frank Pepe Company 80 years to launch a second Pepes - can you imagine if McDonalds expanded so slowly - there would likely be just a handful of restaurants and many of us would be at least 5 pounds lighter.
It is worth noting that about 10 years or so ago the family opened another restaurant called The Spot in the parking lot behind Pepes just to accommodate the massive crowds. I am not sure this really counts as a second location but I have eaten there many times and the food is excellent.
What is amazing about this Connecticut institution is that even though the new restaurant in Fairfield is about a month old there is a line that ranges from 30-120 minutes! This is about the same as the average wait in New Haven or even longer.
Is it worth it? Absolutely!!! I give it two taste buds up and the service is friendlier than in New Haven.
If there is a downside it may be that the pizza doesn't seem to have the same character in Fairfield as it does in New Haven. Perhaps the nearly century-old brick oven in the original restaurant is the reason. Scott tends to think the oven needs a year or so to be broken in. Still this didn't stop the two of us from eating about a large pie each.
In all I highly recommend Pepe's Pizza in Fairfield. It is right off exit 25 if you use Interstate 95. It is across the street from the Mercedes dealership.
My only request is that they start delivering to Norwalk, where TMC headquarters is located.
Here are the addresses of the two restaurants:
THE ORIGINAL - 157 Wooster Street, New Haven, CT 203-865-5762
238 Commerce Drive, Fairfield, CT 203-333-PEPE (7373)
Pepes Pizza
April 09, 2006
I just spent some time in Pepe's Pizza (officially Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana) in Fairfield, Connecticut. If you aren't aware, Pepe's is an institution in Connecticut - the original restaurant in New Haven has been host to US presidents and other dignitaries. Yes, my friends Connecticut is pretty boring - a great place to raise a family but our most exciting event is to go to New Haven and eat pizza.
So what sort of pizza becomes a state institution and is it really so good? Let's put it this way... Connecticut is known as the Constitution State and the Nutmeg State. There are some that think Pizza State is more appropriate. You see where this is going?
The pizza is thin-crust style and as greasy as you can imagine. You can try sopping up the extra grease with a napkin but this is not in the spirit of Pepes by any means and doing so will yield many dirty looks from others. In fact, wiping up the extra grease in Pepes is like wiping the ice cream off a Haagen-Dazs cone, draining the alcohol out of a martini or removing the eggs from caviar.
The New Haven restaurant is frequented by many of my college friends and I get there whenever I can.
Recently Pepes opened a new pizzeria in Fairfield, CT and my friend Scott and our families had a chance to go there this weekend. I didn't know there was a new Pepes so close to me until I got Scott's e-mail. As you can imagine this was great news -- like hearing I got an extension to file my taxes.
It took the Frank Pepe Company 80 years to launch a second Pepes - can you imagine if McDonalds expanded so slowly - there would likely be just a handful of restaurants and many of us would be at least 5 pounds lighter.
It is worth noting that about 10 years or so ago the family opened another restaurant called The Spot in the parking lot behind Pepes just to accommodate the massive crowds. I am not sure this really counts as a second location but I have eaten there many times and the food is excellent.
What is amazing about this Connecticut institution is that even though the new restaurant in Fairfield is about a month old there is a line that ranges from 30-120 minutes! This is about the same as the average wait in New Haven or even longer.
Is it worth it? Absolutely!!! I give it two taste buds up and the service is friendlier than in New Haven.
If there is a downside it may be that the pizza doesn't seem to have the same character in Fairfield as it does in New Haven. Perhaps the nearly century-old brick oven in the original restaurant is the reason. Scott tends to think the oven needs a year or so to be broken in. Still this didn't stop the two of us from eating about a large pie each.
In all I highly recommend Pepe's Pizza in Fairfield. It is right off exit 25 if you use Interstate 95. It is across the street from the Mercedes dealership.
My only request is that they start delivering to Norwalk, where TMC headquarters is located.
Here are the addresses of the two restaurants:
THE ORIGINAL - 157 Wooster Street, New Haven, CT 203-865-5762
238 Commerce Drive, Fairfield, CT 203-333-PEPE (7373)