Modern Apizza is an American pizza restaurant in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. Along with

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, commonly known as Frank Pepe's or simply Pepe's (), is a popular pizza restaurant in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, at 163 Wooster Street. Opened in 1925, it is one of the oldest and best ...

and Sally's Apizza, Modern forms what is informally referred to by locals as the "Holy Trinity" of New Haven-style pizza; the three pizza parlors are consistently ranked by food critics as some of the best pizza places in the world.

History

Originally called State Street Apizza,Ed Levine (2005). ''Pizza: A Slice of Heaven''. Universe Publishing Modern Apizza was founded in 1934 and has been in the same location ever since. Unlike

and Sally's Apizza, the other well-known New Haven pizzerias, Modern Apizza is not located on New Haven's famous Wooster Street but rather on nearby State Street in the

East Rock East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popular ...

neighborhood. In 2011, the restaurant was visited by

Adam Richman Adam Montgomery Richman is an American actor and television host. He has hosted various dining and eating-challenge programs on the Travel Channel and History Channel. Early life and education Richman, an only child, was born into a Jewish fa ...

on the first episode of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

show ''

Man v. Food Nation ''Man v. Food Nation'' is the name given to the fourth season of the Travel Channel's '' Man v. Food'', a food reality television series. It premiered on June 1, 2011. A preview episode, "The Quest Begins", aired on May 25. In this show, host Ad ...

''.

Specialties

Like the Wooster Street pizzerias, Modern serves New Haven-style thin-crust apizza (closely related to Neapolitan-style Italian pizza). Unlike the Wooster Street pizzerias which use coal-fired

brick oven A masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, clay (clay oven), or cob (cob oven). Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were c ...

s, Modern uses an oil-fueled brick oven. The restaurant also sells Foxon Park soft drinks, made in

East Haven, Connecticut East Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 27,923. Located east of New Haven, it is part of the Greater New Haven area. East Haven is from Hartford, from New Yor ...

, which many locals argue are the perfect beverages to accompany New Haven-style pizza. Modern's specialties include the Clams Casino (Clams, Bacon & Peppers) the Italian Bomb (Sausage, Bacon,

Pepperoni Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper. Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red. Thinly sliced pepperoni is one ...

, Mushroom, Onion, Pepper & Garlic) and a classic Italian variation: Pizza Margherita, made with fresh

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

from Liuzzi Cheese in

North Haven, Connecticut North Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 24,253. North Haven is home of the Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences, the School of Nur ...

. Modern Apizza also uses fresh littleneck clams for their white clam pies; the only difference between Modern and Pepe's is that Modern uses pre-shucked clams while Pepe's shuck their clams on location. Yet another coastal favorite is a white tuna pie.

Awards and accolades

In a

blind taste test In marketing, a blind taste test is often used as a tool for companies to compare their brand to another brand. For example, the Pepsi Challenge is a famous taste test that has been run by Pepsi since 1975. Additionally, taste tests are sometime ...

conducted by two

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

undergraduates in 2008, Modern Apizza finished in first place ahead of five other New Haven pizzerias. It has also won the ''

New Haven Advocate New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

''’s Best of Reader’s Poll for “Best Pizza” twelve years in a row. Playboy magazine named Modern Apizza as one of the ten best in the country. In 2017,

The Daily Meal The Daily Meal is a food and drinks website. It is the first site launched by Spanfeller Media Group. Jim Spanfeller is a former CEO of Forbes.com. In 2016, Spanfeller was acquired by Tribune Publishing. Content The Daily Meal produces original co ...

ranked Modern as one of the ten best pizza restaurants in the country, from a sampling of over 1,000 pizza restaurants by food critics and pizza experts.

Documentary

Modern is one of three pizza restaurants featured in the documentary film ''Pizza A Love Story'', directed by

Gorman Bechard Gorman Bechard (born March 15, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter and novelist best known for his independent feature films '' Psychos in Love,'' '' Friends (with benefits),'' and '' You Are Alone''; his four rock documentaries '' C ...

. The love story to New Haven's holy trinity of pizza restaurants, Pepe's, Sally's, and Modern, had its world premiere at IFFBoston in April 2019. The film was released on DVD and pay-per-view on September 29, 2020. In reviewing the film, Deborah Brown of The Swellesley Report called it “An important film of staggering genius that needed to be made.”

References

External links