STUART, Fla. — You know how you have never, ever, heard about something, and then you start to hear everything about it from everywhere all at once? That's me with New Haven-style pizza. Because when I think pizza, Chicago deep-dish or a Brooklyn slice comes to mind. But New Haven, Connecticut?
Well, in May the United States Congress officially named New Haven as the Pizza Capital of the United States.
What makes this style of apizza so different? It's charred (NOT BURNT) like any good BBQ, the apizzas aren't necessarily circular but more elliptical, they are cooked quickly in a coal-fire brick oven at a temperature of 650 to 725 degrees, which gives the crust a distinctive bubbling. And at the end, the apizza is sliced haphazardly so that the wedges vary considerably in width.
One of the places to get an authentic apizza is in Stuart at Fantini's New Haven-style apizza. Its owner, Jimmy Fantin, is from New Haven.
Mike Mortell, city manager of Stuart, said many times he's run into people who have moved from the Tri-State area and Mortell said they are in disbelief they can find an authentic apizza.
There is a new movie coming out called A Slice of America: Charred in the Florida Sun featuring Fantini’s New Haven-style apizza at the Lyric Theatre happening on July 11 at 7 p.m.
What do you want me to Shine A Light on? What are you most proud of where you live? Email me at tawalker@wptv.com.
