This Pizza Joint Was Just Named Pizzeria of the Year, and No, It's Not in New York or Chicago

Note to self: Order my next pizza from Connecticut.

Pizza Today, a 39-year-old trade magazine for pizzeria owners, has named its 2023 Pizzeria of the Year, and it’s a legendary New Haven, Connecticut spot known for its brick-oven pies.

According to the mag’s most recent issue, Modern Apizza — if you’re local, you know that’s pronounced “ah-beets” — is the successor to San Francisco’s Tony’s Pizzeria Napoletana as the best of the year.

The restaurant was founded in 1934 as Tony’s Apizza and was taken over by its current owner, William “Billy” Pustari, in 1988. Pustari told the magazine, while neither the restaurant’s style nor its cooking methods have significantly changed over the past several decades, they have fine-tuned some of the details.

“Ingredients have changed from 35 years ago, just buying better products,” he said, citing the shop’s locally sourced sausage as one example. “They call us early in the morning. We tell them how many pounds we want, and they grind it, make it, and bring it over.”

New Haven has a widely acclaimed (and incredibly popular) pizza scene. According to CT Insider, Modern Apizza is one of the city’s holy trinity of pie shops, along with Sally’s Apizza and Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria. Despite its must-visit status, Pustari prides himself on keeping Modern Apizza a spot for New Haven locals and continues to strengthen its community ties by partnering with Connecticut breweries for limited-edition beers that are sold in the restaurant.

Related: 28 of the Best Pizza Places in the U.S.

"History is still fully part of the Modern's spirit; vintage images line the walls and gazing eyes peering deep into the kitchen can see pizzas sliding in and out of the charred brick oven," Modern's website reads. "Longtime customers and families who are loyal to Modern will attest, Modern Apizza was, is, and will be their favorite pizza, and the only pizza that matters for generations to come."

Pustari told Pizza Today that on busy weekends, the restaurant can sell up to 1,100 pizzas a day and could sell five times as many pies if the restaurant expanded or opened another location. (Pustari added that he has no plans to do either.) Modern Apizza also doesn't offer delivery or take orders through third-party apps, so if you want one of its renowned Clams Casino or Italian Bomb pies, you have to visit the restaurant in person.

New Haven's iconic pizzerias even factored into State Representative Patricia Dillon's (D-New Haven) and Sen. Gary Winfield's (D-New Haven) proposal to make pizza the Official State Food of Connecticut. "When I got to New Haven, I said, 'I think I have to admit that this pizza's really good,'" the Bronx-born Winfield told the Hartford Courant in 2021. "New Haven, in particular, is amazing, it really is. [This bill] is really kind of a fun thing. I'm from New York, and I live in New Haven. Pizza is a big part of my life."

The so-called "Pizza Bill" has been presented in the state legislature twice but has yet to become official-official. (And even the idea of Connecticut claiming pizza didn't go over well in neighboring New York or nearby New Jersey.)

Regardless, you can still embrace and enjoy Modern Apizza. That's certainly what Bill Pustari has done. "It was a labor of love," he said of the restaurant. "It's all I know. It's all I ever did."

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