This Is Connecticut's Most Popular Restaurant, New Survey Says

NEW HAVEN, CT - While picking a place to eat in Connecticut can at times be a daunting to narrow down, a recent survey has claimed to have found the best place in the state for a bite to eat. In a new survey from People magazine and Zagat, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven was selected as the most popular restaurant in Connecticut.

People teamed up with the "dining experts" at Zagat, a consumer group that rates eating places, to create a list of the most popular restaurants in the country. The magazine said the choices range from "local staples to renowned destinations." (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"Open since 1925, the original Pepe’s offers a classic tomato pie with mozzarella as well as its famous white clam pie, topped with freshly shucked clams," according to the survey. "But get there early: Lines extend down the block almost every night."

See also: Best Pizza In U.S. Is In Connecticut: New Rankings

To determine the list of restaurant winners, People Food editors considered Zagat's on-the-ground expert reviews, as well as its diner ratings and Google scores. The editors said they paid special attention to spots sourcing local ingredients and serving "iconic or regionally inspired food."

Pepe's has long been a Connecticut staple, constantly ranking among the best in the state when it comes to pizza or food in general. It is often praised for its New Haven-style thin crust pizza, and the restaurant's white clam pie, as mentioned by the survey, serves as its signature menu item.

Here is the restaurant's website: pepespizzeria.com.

Frank Pepe's also recently topped The Daily Meal's 2017 ranking of the 101 Best Pizzas in America, ranking #1 in the country.

"After a year slightly further down the list, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana has returned to the top of the heap, as we’re once again naming it the best pizza in America," writes The Daily Meal, referring to the spot's uncharacteristic drop to #3 in 2016. "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."

The website also listed the famous clam pie as its favorite of the pizzeria's signature pies.

According to the restaurant's website, Pepe's makes their signature style of pizza by cooking their pies on a coal fire. It was this style of pizza making that owner Frank Pepe knew could give his tomato pies their "famous crisp, charred, chewy crust."

When Pepe's moved the pizzeria to a different New Haven location, their original brick oven was recreated, brick by brick, with a fire door cast from a mold of the original.

In addition to its famous Wooster Street location, Pepe's also has locations in:

• Fairfield
• Danbury
• Manchester
• West Hartford
• Waterbury
• Uncasville (Mohegan Sun)
• Yonkers (New York)
• Chestnut Hill (Massachusetts)

Read the whole People-Zagat survey here.

Photo credit: Beth J. Harpaz/AP