New Pizzeria Opens On Historic Block

NEW HAVEN, CT — A new pizzeria is coming to Wooster Street, an area known for some of the best pizza in the state, if not the country. Zeneli Pizzeria & Cucina Napoletana opened Wednesday with a free testing of the restaurant's traditional Margherita Verace Pizza and a surprise pasta.

The restaurant is owned by three Albanian brothers who grew up in Naples, Italy. While Wooster Street is known for pizza parlors Sally's and Pepe's, owner Gazmir Zeneli told WTNH they offer a different product and that their pizza is "like you're spending a day in Napoli."

The brothers reportedly visited the neighborhood and fell in love with it, deciding to open their restaurant at 138 Wooster St.

Gazmir added that “New Haven is all about pizza," and the family wants to be at the center of the pizza universe, according to the New Haven Independent.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mayor Toni Harp said of the pizza, "...you haven’t tasted anything yet until you’ve tasted Zeneli’s right here," according to the New Haven Independent.

The restaurant will import all its ingredients from Naples, Italy, because, according to a social media post: "all the ingredients for this pizza must be from campagna region of Napoli," including the flour, tomatoes, and Bufala Mozzarella.

Zeneli's will be close by to two titans of Connecticut pizza: Sally's Apizza at 237 Wooster St. and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana at 157 Wooster St. Pepe's was established in 1925 and Sally's started in 1938.

See related: 9 CT Pizza Places Among Nation's Top 100: Daily Meal

In the Daily Meal's 2018 released 101 Best Pizzas in America list, New Haven's Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana was named the No. 1 pizza in America.

"Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana retains its crown as America's finest pizzeria. This is a checklist destination, one you'll have to make a pilgrimage to if you want to discuss the topic of America's best pizza with any authority," according to the Daily Meal.