Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [11]
Sally’s Apizza
237 Wooster St.
203–624–5271
New Haven, CT
D | $$
“Sally” was Sal Consiglio, the nephew of Frank Pepe, and in 1938, about a dozen years after Frank Pepe opened New Haven’s first pizzeria, Sal broke away and started his own just down Wooster Street. Sal himself is gone, but his wife, Flo, still runs the old pizza parlor. So Sally’s and Pepe’s are still in the same extended family. There are some aficionados who love one much more than the other; but in truth, each has its charms, and both make superb pizza.
Sally’s has soul. The place glows with old-neighborhood feel: wood-paneled walls, booths with well-worn Formica-topped tables, ubiquitous images of Frank Sinatra (a fan of Sal’s cooking) all over the walls. And the pizza packs a wallop. It is generously topped, well-oiled, and comes on a thin crust that is smudged and gritty underneath. While the kitchen’s version of the New Haven specialty, white clam pizza, is second-rate (made using canned clams), it does turn out two outstanding pizzas that are Sally’s alone: fresh tomato pie (made only when good fresh tomatoes are available) with thick circles of tomato, creamy mozzarella, and hails of garlic, and broccoli rabe pie, heaped with bitter greens when they are available at the Long Wharf produce market. Although it is not formally listed on the menu, Sally’s multimeat “Italian bomb” (sausage, pepperoni, bacon, plus lots of onions) is also significant.
Old friends of Sally’s are treated like royalty. Newcomers and unknowns might feel like they have to wait forever, first for a table, then for their pizza, and they will likely endure a staff who are at best nonchalant, but no one comes to Wooster Street for polished service or swank ambience. It’s great, thin-crust pizza that counts, and on that score, Sally’s delivers the goods.
Shady Glen
840 East Middle Turnpike
860–649–4245
Manchester, CT
BLD | $
Shady Glen makes some of the most dramatic cheeseburgers you ever will see. On a high-temperature electric grill, each circular patty of beef is cooked on one side, flipped, then blanketed with several square slices of cheese. The cheese is arranged so that only one-quarter to one-third of each slice rests atop the hamburger. The remainder extends beyond the circumference of the meat and melts down onto the surface of the grill. At the exact moment the grilling cheese begins to transform from molten to crisp, the cook uses a spatula to disengage it from the grill and curl it above the meat like some wondrous burgerflower—still slightly pliable, but rising up in certain symmetry. The petals of cheese, which may be topped with condiments and are crowned by a bun, are crunchy at their tip but chewy where they blend into the soft parts that adhere to the hamburger.
The restaurant originally was opened in 1948 by John and Bernice Reig in order to put something on the menu of their dairy bar other than homemade ice cream. The ice cream is fantastic, including such seasonal flavors as mince pie, cranberry, and pumpkin in the fall and the outstanding February specialty, bing cherry and chocolate chip. Our personal flavor faves include Grape-Nuts and Almond Joy.
Shiek’s Sandwich Shop
235 E. Elm St.
860–489–5576
Torrington, CT
BL | $
Roadfooder Charles Cramer is the angel who directed us to Shiek’s Sandwich Shop in Torrington, Connecticut. He wasn’t the first tipster to sing its praises, but the former Torringtonian, now living in the orbit of Boston, made us an offer we couldn’t refuse: “If you try it out and feel as though