Gordon Ramsay Tastes U.S. Most Popular Pizza From New England

New York style, thin-crust pizza and Chicago deep dish style pizza are givens. Everyone has heard of and tasted some version of them.

Then there are the lesser-known styles that you try if you're in a particular area, like Detroit style, St. Louis style (a beyond favorite of mine), and California style.

The one style that is so local that you can only try it at a few places is at Frank Pepe or Sally's Apizza restaurants, located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, a few other states.

Cheers for our New Haven style.

READ ON: Massachusetts Now Home to More of America's Best Pizza

From Forbes Magazine to Food and Wine Magazine, New Haven style pizza was ranked as the best in the country for 2023. It's suddenly sweeping the nation and being dubbed as America's best, with many saying, "Step aside, New York."

In case you didn't know, it traces back to the 1800s, as Forbes Magazine explained:

New Haven owes its pizza reputation to the Italian immigrant population that settled there in the first half of the last century. Today’s style kicked off for real in 1925, when Italian immigrant Frank Pepe opened Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.

Frank Pepe's nephew, Salvatore Consiglio, then started Sally’s Apizza in 1938. 'Apizza' is the local Italian-American term synonymous with the New Haven pizza style. Modern Apizza started in the 1930s, too.

Now, world-renowned celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay has finally tried this thin, coal-fired pizza. The pie is characteristically charred with a chewy texture, sweet and tangy tomato sauce, and a bit of grated pecorino Romano cheese.

Chef Ramsay went to both Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Sally's Apizza. He is currently filming Hell's Kitchen at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, and rumor has it that he loves New Haven style pizza. The Michelin-star chef opened his sixth Hell's Kitchen at Foxwoods last summer, and his own pizza place in Washington, D.C. last week.

Speaking of D.C., a state representative traveled there along with 100 Connecticut pizza makers, vets, legislators, and community leaders, according to legendary Connecticut radio station Rock I-95. There, they entered a statement into Congressional records, declaring New Haven the pizza capital of the country, and Connecticut the 'Pizza State.'

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Gallery Credit: Chris Sedenka