Went to the alleged Pizza Heaven last weekend. On my way home from Boston to NY, stopped in New Haven. Stopped at the famous Frank Pepe's with family for dinner. I say alleged, because it really didn't live up to the hype.
So we had 3 different kind of pies, we had the Frank Pepe's original tomato pie. Now that was excellent. It was basically crushed Italian tomatoes, grated pecorino romano cheese, and olive oil. Very thin crust, and the pie was very pungent (could've been the olive oil), not really a pleasant smell, but it tasted really good. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10.
Then we had a regular pie, just the normal pie with sauce and mozzarella cheese. THAT, I was extremely disappointed with. Not that it was bad, because it wasn't, it was tasty, but this is what people base their grandiose reviews on, and basically, I can get as good as, if not better regular slices almost anywhere in NY. I've seen a famous pizza reviewer give it 8.5 out of 10. And he's really tough with his reviews, 8.5 is a really high score in his book. Me, I'd give it a 7.8. Nothing spectacular. I liked it, but wasn't blown away from it. And believe me, I like thin crust brick oven pizza.
Then we had their famous white clam pie. That might have been my favorite, that I agree lived up to the hype. It's basically just crust, olive oil, oregano, grated percorino romano, chopped garlic, and clams, which are cooked when they make the pizza. I'd give that a 9.0, reminded me of baked clams on pizza with garlic, no bread crumbs with the clams, but the clams had a cooked flavor to them, really liked it.
Next time in New Haven, may try Sally's Apizza, which was a few blocks away on the same street, and Frank Pepe's main rival. I really liked the area these pizzerias are in. Wooster Street is really cool. They call it Little Italy, and it's just a really cool small street, very nice neighborhood.
So in summary, the tomato pie and the white clam pie, really was excellent, their regular pizza, though tasty, was overrated.