Iconic West Haven Pizzeria To Be Featured On Thrillist Series

WEST HAVEN, CT — West Haven’s Zuppardi’s Apizza will be featured in an upcoming episode of “Really Dough?” on the popular lifestyle website Thrillist.com next week, according to the New Haven Register.

The Register reports the episode featuring Zuppardi’s will be available on the website beginning Monday night (Aug. 19) and on Amazon Prime Video two weeks later. In the “Really Dough?” series, pizza enthusiast Scott Wiener challenges the notion that there is one ideal standard for pizza perfection, according to the Register.

Zuppardi’s was visited by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy earlier this year for his popular "One Bite" pizza review. While he was making the rounds in New Haven last December, West Haven residents were imploring Portnoy to come to Zuppardi's, saying it was right up there with Wooster Street's iconic institutions. Portnoy ultimately declared New Haven the "Pizza Capital of the World" and said Sally's was the best he's ever had.

Portnoy gave Sally's a 9.2, Modern Apizza on State Street an 8.8, Pepe's an 8.5 and Bar on Crown Street a 7.4. He said Modern and Pepe's were very close in quality and noted that Bar was more of a nightlife pizza, but was still good. He ultimately gave Zuppardi’s an 8.2 (and gave them a bonus review for their famous sausage pie).

In his review of Zuppardi's, located at 179 Union Avenue in West Haven, Portnoy said he loved the history of the 85-year-old family business and the people inside. Zuppardi's 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 more about “Really Dough?” at Thrillist.com here.