WEST HAVEN, CT — While West Haven's Zuppardi's Apizza already ranks among Wooster Street's iconic institutions as the best pizza in the New Haven area, and the state, the family-run restaurant can add another accolade to its list.
Food & Wine named Zuppardi's Apizza among its recently released list of the "27 Best Pizzas in America Right Now."
Each of the 27 "essential pizzas" listed in the report is "worth a trip (and probably a long wait in line)," according to Food & Wine.
"Taken all together, they offer a complete snapshot of everything that's great about pizza in America today," the report states.
Food & Wine specifically recognized the clam pie at Zuppardi's Apizza in its list.
"For a population of 134,000, New Haven has an outsize role in the country's pizza firmament," reads the post on Food & Wine's website. "Among the best of the classic New Haven–style pizzerias is Zuppardi's Apizza, whose white clam pie — the most New Haven of all pizzas — is shucked to order. Run by the progeny of Italian baker Dominic Zuppardi, the restaurant hews to the classics while inspiring innovation nationwide."
Zuppardi's, located at 179 Union Avenue in West Haven, started out as a bakery and was founded by Dominic Zuppardi, who was a master bread-baker in New Haven throughout the 1920s. He worked in a variety of bakeries making artisan Italian breads, as well as "abeetz," according to the Zuppardi's website.
Dominic suffered a stroke in the late 1940s and his son Anthony eventually took over the daily operations of the business and recognized the popularity of the bakery's pizza and made it his primary focus.
Anthony Zuppardi passed away in 1988, but his children and grandchildren continue to operate Zuppardi's today.
Read the full list of Food & Wine's "The 27 Best Pizzas in America Right Now" here.
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