A bigger pie

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Okay, maybe the preeminence of New Haven pizza—sorry, apizza—was never a well-kept secret, but the word seems to be spreading farther and faster these days. In January, the New York Times devoted two full pages to the explosion of pizza interest, asserting that “suddenly, it seems like everyone wants to cash in on the popularity of the city’s signature dish.” They cited the expansion of Wooster Street pizza titans Frank Pepe (now with 16 locations from Boston to Miami) and Sally’s (four locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts), along with the establishment of pizza walking tours and a New Haven Pizza School. Some of the buzz seems to have come from Dave Portnoy, the influential and controversial social media personality, who has long asserted that New Haven is the “pizza capital of the United States.” Finally: validation for all of us alums who’ve been insisting on it for years.