Thank You Card #7
No one in California ever really believes Tom and I when we say that the best pizza in the country can be found in New Haven, Connecticut. And I get their skepticism, I do. Unlike New York style pizza or Chicago Style pizza, New Haven style pizza (also called “apizza”) isn’t famous. In fact, most people outside of New England probably don’t even know New Haven has its own style of pizza. But, my friends, it does, and it’s awesome. The best thing about it is that because it’s cooked in brick ovens, the crust is simultaneously crispy and chewy.
Much the same as Connecticut residents must pledge allegiance to either the Yankees or Red Sox (or okay fine, the Mets), most Connecticutians (or whatever we’re called) also have a favorite New Haven pizzeria to which they are undyingly devoted. The top three are Frank Pepe’s (where it all began), Sally’s (which is good, but loses points because 1. you have to be prepared to wait sometimes an entire day for a pizza, 2. they don’t have their own webpage for me to link, and as a consequence I went to their Wikipedia page where I found that 3. they were thanked in the liner notes of a Michael Bolton record), and Modern. Even though Tom and I used to live just around the corner from Pepe’s (see?)…
…our favorite New Haven pizza is Modern. The pizza below has broccoli, eggplant, and I don’t remember what else… and man, it was so good.
In sum: New Haven style pizza is amazing, but its legend of deliciousness hasn’t spread far enough to where it’s an accepted truth that it’s at least as good as—if not better than—any pizza you can get in Chicago or NYC. But I can’t even type any more about New Haven pizza because it’s so good and pizza in California really isn’t very good; and anyway, Thank You Card #7 has nothing to do with pizza and everything to do with sushi.
Aside from having the best pizza in the country, New Haven is also home to Miya’s Sushi, which has to be one of the greatest places to get sushi ever. Now, to be honest, I haven’t done as much research on sushi as I have on pizza, so I don’t know if Miya’s has the best in the country. I’m actually prepared to concede that it probably doesn’t, which isn’t to say that their food isn’t exceptional, because it is. As a vegetarian, I’m especially fond of Miya’s because of the amount, variety, and creativity of their vegetable rolls. Not only do they have delicious standards like broccoli or asparagus rolls, but they have mad scientist creations such as the “Chinese Pygmy Rodeo Roll” (seasoned potato skin stuffed with cauliflower and scallions topped with havarti cheese and lemon dill aioli) and the “Hot-headed Cowgirl Roll” (avocado, cream cheese, papaya, burdock, and hot pepper wrapped in a coconut covered roll—pictured below), among many others.
They also have a selection of sake that’s excellent. I can actually say I’ve sampled all of the sakes because when Tom, my brother Adam, Dad, and our friend Michele went there for dinner this past winter our waiter gave us a free sample of each one (see evidence below).
And dessert? They have some crazy desserts! This one below is approximating something Biblical.
And then there’s this one, that just straight up kicked my Dad’s ass (though when this picture was taken, he didn’t yet know the ass kicking that was to come, so he looks really happy…or drunk on all that free sake?).
But to be honest, it’s not just the vegetables rolls or the sake or the desserts that make Miya’s awesome, but the fact that Tom and I always go there with great people. In fact, the last time we were home, we went with a ton of family and friends (including our friends Stacy and Eric who actually had their first date there and were married in September ‘09. And for the record, they really love Miya’s, Stacy’s just all “Wait…are you going to post that on Facebook?” in the picture below because she’s anti-Facebook).
It was an exceptionally fun evening, and part of what made it magical is that Adam had given me some $ as a belated birthday gift, which Tom and I used to pay for all the food and drink we had. But not only that, Adam also gifted us with a bottle of Firecracker Sake (our favorite) before we left Connecticut the following weekend.
Hells yeah, look at the beautiful orange-red glow. It’s like a sunset in a bottle, only sweeter and spicier. So, Thank You Card #7 went to my younger brother Adam, prompted by the fantastic (and timely) gifts, but also because we always have so much fun hanging out with him when we go back home. I probably could have made an entire post about that (rather than about New Haven cuisine), but Thank You Card #8 will cover some more fun times, so stay tuned for that!
