Where do I start? Located on Wooster Street in my home town, Pepe's has been a New Haven institution since 1925. It was started by Frank Pepe and is still run by the family. Some claim it is where pizza was introduced to the United States. Closed Tuesdays. Pepe's serves only pizza. No salads, no sandwiches. Expect a long line, but it is worth the wait. Pepe's is open for lunch on Friday and Saturday and dinner six nights. Sunday, it opens at 2:30. So, on Friday, you can go for lunch and dinner. I've done that, more times than I can remember.

Try the White Clam pizza. Rumor has it that Frank was allergic to tomatoes, so he invented the white pie, with olive oil, garlic, and fresh little neck clams. If you don't like clams, try the white bacon pie. This is not to demean the tomato pies. Try one just plain, the sauce and crust are excellent. The sausage is fresh and flavorful. The red bacon pie is to die for. 

The pizza is baked in old coal fired brick ovens. The pizza is put into the oven with long wooden paddles and turned three times. The pizza shapes are oblong, rather than perfectly round. Like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same. The medium pizza is bigger than most places' large pizza.

I have long thought it was the best pizza in the world, but don't just take my word for it. Dozens of restaurant guides and books about pizza identify it as one of the best, if not the best pizza in the United States. One author put it this way: "Pepe's is not the best pizza because we live near it; we live near it because it is the best pizza." Now, that is dedication. I can just see them meeting people for the first time. "So, did your job bring you to the New Haven area?" No. I moved here because of the pizza." I especially like it when the guides or the owner of a new pizza parlor claims their pizza is "New Haven" style. Just the other night, Bobby Flay was on the Food Network at Pepe's learning the secret of pizza, the way it was supposed to be. He had the white clam pie. On the show, the master pizza chef, Gary Bimonte, grandson of Frank Pepe, said that he hand makes 1000 pounds of dough a day. And believe me, the dough makes dough.

For one of the most creative websites and another, as the webmaster (and I mean master) calls it: a "love letter" to Pepe's check out this blog with pictures of a clam pie and a pepperoni pie, a personal family story or two, a picture of the line, and some of the characters who make the pizza so great. There is even a little game.

I average going to Pepe's once a month. Which does not seem like much, but remember I am only in New Haven for two weeks a year. If I am back home for a week, I am probably at Pepe's five times (remember it is closed on Tuesday). When I drive home from the Midwest, I stop at Pepe's before I even go home. But don't tell my mother. Although, my favorite waitress there, Nancy, does remind my mother that "he comes to see me before he goes to see you." My mother understands.

There is, in New Haven, a great debate: Pepe's or Sally's. They are at opposite ends of Wooster Street and the debate divides families. My position is clear: Sally's may well be the second best pizza in the world, but it is the second best on the block.

St. Louis has the Hill and many excellent Italian restaurants, but suprisingly enough, the pizza is not that great. For some reason, they use some hideous concoction called "Provel cheese." This stuff is awful. The thin crust is often overdone, so it is like a cracker. I would recommend a couple of places if you cannot get to New Haven: Vito's near St. Louis University and Pizza A Go Go.  I am still looking for the ultimate pizza in Statesboro. I am not holding my breath.