Established in 1973, Est Est Est has one of the weirder pizzeria names with an origin story that goes way back. Evidently, a bishop sent his valet to find the taverns with the best wine, instructing him to write “est” (Latin for: “it is”) on the door. Overly impressed with one of the local taverns, he wrote “Est Est Est” on their door & the rest is history. Despite their location smack dab in the Pizza Mecca, as you can clearly see in the pic of the pie, this is not New Haven style pizza. This is more of a thin crust football pizza cut into larger slices, not the typical New Haven slivers. Thinnish, tasty & super soft, the dough is spineless, flimsy, floppy, mushy & sloppy, severely lacking crisp with zero firmness from the undercarriage, providing no support for the other components of the pie. Mildly charred, the crust is the only crunchy attribute of the pizza, easily its best feature texturally. This is also an oil-gushing “pumpkin pie” from the heavy orange grease flow engulfing the entire pizza. Pungent, strong & sharp-flavored, the mozzarella cheese blend has a distinctive smell & taste as if it’s more than just mozz. Notwithstanding the terrifically melty consistency, the cheese is overwhelmed by oil, soaked in a salty grease geyser. Also moderately hindered by the excessive oil is the sauce, which is slightly sweet & somewhat savory, not as overly salty as the overpowering oily cheese. Tasty but not bursting with flavor, the sauce has a little spice & kick to provide modest pizzazz but not as impactful due to the penetration of grease. All in all, this is a unique style for New Haven pizza, not nearly as good as the Pizza Capital Titans, not bad by any means, just different with room for improvement. Crisp up the dough significantly & control the obnoxious amount of oil to bolster the overall score. Open until 3am, this is essentially late night Yale student drunk pizza, rare & atypical New Haven thin crust football pizza; certainly not destination pizza but worth a try as a change of pace pie in the land of coal oven excellence.
