Day before I came here, Zuppardi's was at Apizza Feast run by A Taste of New Haven/Colin Caplan, New Haven pizza historian. And to be honest, they were serving premade, frozen personal pies with a 20 minute wait at the feast when everyone else, including Pepe's, Grand, and Big Green Truck/Next Door were serving fresh pies/slices.
I gotta say, shame on them. It's not the worse thing in the world. But I wasn't the only one there disappointed. On my way back home though, Zupp's just happened to be the easiest pizzeria to try on the way back to New York, it's not far off of I-95.
I didn't want to eat another plain (mozzerella) pie or spend a ton of money, so I looked for a spot that sells a good looking tomato pie. Zupp's was a mad house when I got there. It had probably the best real neighborhood vibe I've ever gotten seen at a pizzeria, especially on considered a best in the country.
The kitchen probably had 12 people in a 12 by 20 foot space with constantly pickup orders and new people coming in to order on top of folks dining in. People even came in to buy their frozen pies, which, in fairness, I hear are good.
Zuppardi's dough must be the lowest hydration of any New Haven spots I've tried. The crust is bordering on that dry, crunchy, thin crust. Stoolies who have Portnoy's exact taste in crust will like it. It was decent for me. What has me contemplating putting this in the high 7s is the lack of strong flavors in the sauce. In one bite I got a hint of garlic, but otherwise it lacked salt and even the grated cheese (pecorino romano) lacked that sharp, salty bite to it.
The bake of the crust was good, thin, and more crispy than crunchy. Loved the cheese sauce ratio on the tomato pie, it looks like it has mozzarella on it, there's so much. If you get the tomto pie, definitely add the optional garlic. I feel like it needs oregano too. So far, I think Pepe's has the best tomato pie.
So how to score this…it's worth travelling to, particularly on the vibes. It's a good pizza. But I can't see myself scoring it higher than an 8.0.
