CT Restaurant Named One Of Country's 'Essential' Eateries

NEW HAVEN, CT —New Haven pizza is famous nationwide, but one eatery has gained recognition as one of the essential eateries in America. Eater, a national food website, recently named Sally's Apizza as one of the nation's Essential Eateries.

The website named 38 eateries nationwide, but highlighted the Wooster Street mainstay for its famous pizza. The eateries "define america," and the list was developed by Eater's Bill Addison over 32 weeks of travel.

Salvatore Consiglio opened his restaurant in 1938, three decades after Lombardi’s in Manhattan first began serving pizzas in America — and 13 years after Consiglio’s uncle, Frank Pepe, started his namesake operation on the next block over in New Haven’s Italian district. Even so, Sally’s feels like the nation’s ur-pizzeria. It’s gritty, cramped, and chaotically busy; a certain imperviousness drifts in the air like coal dust. It is also, without question, the finest of the town’s legendary pie shops. The crust (a definitive nexus of bready and crackery), the sauce (pure tomato tang), and the cheese (spare, and yet somehow ample) fuse into utter glory. Devouring the signature tomato pie with garlic and pecorino Romano is a sacrament. Consiglio’s children may soon sell the business, so go now while the recipes remain in the family’s practiced hands. 237 Wooster Street, New Haven, CT, (203) 624-5271, sallysapizza.com

Sally's was established in 1938, and has stayed in the family since then. However, the restaurant is likely to be sold soon.

They've hosted Frank Sinatra, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Kathleen Turner, Don Rickles, Jimmy Durante and Gary Trudeau. Carmine Capasso said he had an agreement to buy the restaurant for $3.13 million, according to the New Haven Register. An Appellate court upheld a Superior Court decision and dismissed the challenge.

Offering a limited menu, many wait hours in line to eat at Sally's. They offer your standard toppings, as well as specialty pies such as White Fresh Tomato and White Potato.

You can view the 37 other Essential Eateries in America on Eater.com.

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