The Little Rendezvous

🏆LEGENDARY PIZZA ALERT🏆 There was a fair amount of hype surrounding this place even before Portnoy’s review went public, with diehard locals swearing this was the best pizza in the state; but the buzz has only gotten stronger regarding this historical gem of a pizzeria. While they have had various owners over the course of 80+ years in the pizza biz, their current owner, Steve Chehotsky, has been in charge since 2010. Using a 120 year-old coal-fired brick oven, this joint is slinging some of the most delicious well-done pies in the country. Not mentioned with the New Haven Titans of Pizza like Sally’s & Pepe’s, The Little Rendezvous has sneaky good classic coal fired pizza north of New Haven and might have been the most underrated pizzeria in Connecticut until now. A tiny spot with big time pizza, their historic oven heats the entire room; it actually feels like a walk-in oven. But upon entry, the smell of the pies baking is so sensational, you hardly notice how oppressively hot the atmosphere is created by the monster oven. Each pizza comes out sizzling and bubbling, charred from cheese to crust. Despite the extremely well done char atop the pie, the undercarriage is shockingly light, covered with a powdery dusting of flour that prevents sogginess; but the dough is actually rather soft with hardly any char and not nearly as much crunch as I anticipated. Along with a smattering of semolina seeds to keep the pie dry, the dough is terrifically tasty, fantastically firm, thinnish overall but just enough thickness to keep the slices sturdy. The exceptional char on the cheese adds fabulous flavor to a beautiful blend of shredded mozzarella, blanketing the surface with a near-perfect cheese-to-sauce ratio. Tremendously tasty, the cheese compliments the sauce marvelously. Thick, rich, hearty, sweet & savory…the sauce is spectacular! With a dark red color and substantially thick texture, the sauce is similar to the blend used by Santillo’s in Elizabeth, NJ but uniquely delicious flavor puts this pie into another stratosphere. Clearly their signature ingredient, the darker ring of sauce pinching up against the buttery, crispy crust elevates this pie to another level, separating it from typical New Haven style coal-fired pies that fall short on the quality & quantity of their sauce. Aside from the slight lack of char & crisp on the undercarriage, the other components of this pizza are phenomenal. The smell, taste and texture all align to create pure pizza nirvana. If a 120 year-old coal fired brick oven isn’t enough of a reason to visit this historic site, come for their Hall of Fame, marquee, must-try, legendary, destination pizza. If you plan on making a long pilgrimage, I suggest placing your order early in the day before they sell out or get too backed up. The wait times can get pretty ridiculous, so plan to order your pie 3 hours in advance and they will give you a time slot to pick it up. All in all, this stacks up with the best pizza in Connecticut and quite frankly, the entire country. If you like ultra well done, sensational smelling, fantastically flavored, supremely sublime, classic coal fired pizza, this spot is right up your alley.