New Haven launches guided pizza tours on pedal-powered trolley

New Haven, Connecticut, has introduced a dedicated pizza crawl aboard the Elm City Party Bike, a 15-passenger pedal-powered trolley that has operated in the city for nine years. Historian and author Colin Caplan, who describes himself as a "pizza guru," launched the tours in time for National Pizza Month, marking the first time the vehicle has been used specifically for sampling local apizza.

Guests can choose their own pizzerias or join a guided tour with Caplan, who is also a professional tour guide and founder of Taste New Haven. The experience involves sampling similar pies from several restaurants to compare flavors. Caplan told Fox News Digital that the group will taste cheese pizzas at three or four different locations and rate them at the end to determine which is better.

The pizza crawl is one of several ways the city has integrated the dish into its local identity. The Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale offers a Pizza Suite decorated with imagery of the city's signature food. The suite includes gift cards to Sally's Apizza and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, two of the three establishments that comprise the "Holy Trinity" of New Haven-style apizza. The third location in this group is Modern Apizza.

Caplan said visitors from across the country are building entire trips around the city's pie. "We actually have people who are doing staycations from all over the country," he said. He noted that while New York City, Chicago, and Detroit are widely recognized pizza destinations, New Haven has had to prove its standing. The city's signature style, locally known as "apizza," features a thin, crispy, chewy, and slightly charred crust.

Traditional pies in New Haven are often simple, topped only with tomato sauce and grated Pecorino Romano. Caplan emphasized that original pizzas did not feature heavy amounts of cheese. "People are obsessed with cheese," he said. "But, I want to tell you something, the real pizza, the original pizzas, they didn't have tons of cheese." The city is also known for its white clam pizza, a style famously associated with Frank Pepe.

Caplan's personal preference for toppings includes anchovies, which he said provide brininess, salt, and protein. He noted that anchovy-topped pizza was originally the option for diners in New Haven who wanted something other than a plain pie. These traditions contribute to what Caplan believes makes the city's pizza culture worth visiting. "People are coming for pizza, but they're seeing the culture. They're seeing what we really have here," he said.