Pizza! New Haven Style...

After passing through New Haven without stopping no less than 50 times in my adult-food-appreciating life, I finally got the good sense to stop and see what all the fuss is about with New Haven Neapolitan-style pizza.  Less than 3 minutes from the New Haven train station, our mass transit stopover en route to Guilford (home of THE PLACE), lies Frank Pepe.  And, on this saturday afternoon, we decided to stray from our usual path and eat in New Haven.  More specifically eat pizza in New Haven at Frank Pepe.

Where the magic happens...

We arrived around 1pm and the line was, not surprisingly out the door.  That was good because it gave us some more time with our fearless companion, Frito, who (thanks to health codes), can only dine al fresco with us.  After about 15 minutes, it was time to take Frito for a nap in the comfort of the volvo.

After being seated, we inspected the menu and were a bit indecisive.  Here we are at this mecca of pizza and we're not sure what to order - what's the signature pie?  So, we inquired with our server, who paused a bit and then said a lot of people were ordering the summer special and white clam pies.  Hmm.  Not very convincing as i'd hoped in helping us decide, but i went with her suggestion.  Fortunately, my more intelligent and better looking other half, called the servers' suggestion under question and we settled on a half mushroom, half fresh garlic pie, figuring these basic ingredients would help us taste the true essence of the fabled pizza.

About 10 mins later, our bubbling hot pie emerged and it was beautifully misshapen and ugly in the same delicious way that an heirloom tomato might be.  Then, the first bite - i went garlic.  Amazing (although the smell emanating from my pores later was not so amazing).

As usual, GG was right.  A great selection.  We later found out when trying to pay that our server was a trainee.  She still has a lot to learn, i guess...