Papa's Pizza & Pasta

If you’re looking for brick oven New Haven style pizza on the outskirts of “The Pizza Mecca,” Papa’s is about as close as it gets, with much shorter wait times and a takeout only window. Possessing exceptional char & smashing smokey flavor, the dough is firm, crisped and crunchy. The undercarriage has terrific texture and sublime sturdiness, a beautiful base for the other ingredients. The uber crunchy crust is heavily charred but not burnt. The cheese blend has incredible flavor, very similar to Modern Apizza’s taste. A little thick & heavy and not quite melted as well I as like, but the mozzarella is delectably delicious. Keeping up with the dough & cheese, the sauce is also sensational. Zesty, sweet, bursting with tomato flavor, the sauce definitely dazzles, complimenting the dough & cheese wonderfully, with plenty of pizzazz. Tremendous texture and taste all around, this is a very consistent pie. With manageable grease and minimal flop, there’s not much to complain about. Maybe dial back the amount of cheese just a bit and this could very easily be a Hall of Fame pie. But as it stands, this is certainly travel-worthy pizza, deserving of more hype. Seemingly somewhat underrated, despite some relatively high scores; I guess those who know, know. Make no mistake about it, this is as close to good as New Haven style pizza gets outside of New Haven.