🍕BEST OF CONNECTICUT ALERT🍕 Opened in 2006 as “Christos Pizza” in a shopping plaza in Wallingford, until taking over Louie’s Apizza a few years later at this current spot & remodeling into Christos Restaurant & Bar, this joint is owned by Christos Constanti, 1 of the 3 (Short) Kings of Connecticut Pizza, along with brothers George (Fuoco Apizza in Cheshire) & Michael (Luna Woodfired Pizza in Naugatuck). Unlike the coal oven of Fuoco & the wood oven of Luna, Christos is gas brick oven New Haven style pizza. Aesthetically, this pie is strikingly similar to the kind you’d find at Modern Apizza in New Haven; with smokey charred flavor, a beautifully blackened firm undercarriage but not quite as crispy as coal-fired dough, particularly in the body of the pie. Tasty & a tad chewy, the dough possesses modest crisp to go along with an exquisitely crunchy crust that straddles the line between well done & burnt. The mozzarella cheese blend is reminiscent of Modern Apizza & The Little Rendezvous in Meriden, CT, particularly the signature flavor & consistency. I love the pungent smell & taste of this mozz; wonderfully melty with a velvet-like creamy quality, one of my favorites among all pizza cheese blends. The only drawback is the abundance of grease pooling atop, yielding a little more excess oil than desired but it does not interfere with the various flavors of the ingredients. Despite reasonable visibility, the sauce is a tad light, not as hearty & plentiful as I had expected, but delicious nonetheless. Somewhat taking a backseat to the flavors of the dough & cheese, the sauce provides a subtle tomato taste with moderate zest & tang, as well as decent seasoning & spice. The relatively low volume of sauce is just a bit overshadowed by the tasty texture of the dough & delectable consistency of the mozzarella. All together, this pie works in splendid harmony, with beautiful balance between texture & taste from quality components all around. Among the 3 brother’s joints, I gave Fuoco 8.8, Luna 8.4 & now Christos 8.6 as the middle score. All 3 of these spots make fantastic travel-worthy New Haven style pies. Whether you prefer coal, wood or gas fired ovens, these are some of the best pizzas in Connecticut outside of New Haven. Long live the Kings! 👑
