ConnectiCrust: LaPizza Belt

In 1889 Rafe brought queen Marg
Her first Pie.
Queen she woofed it,
cause he rolled it out.
Don Raffaele never twirled lapizza crust in the air.

Everybody, even Texans, claim to be pizzaiouli. There are no rules in rating pizza; and, like advertising, everyone is an expert. There's your Southern Regional (Naples) crust, your thick Chicago goo, and the Central - Northern Italian Thin School of Crust.

We each have our favorites. Even the most inedible frozen grocery store Pancho's Pizza has its devotees (which accounts for the success of Domino's and Pizza Hut as well).

Pizza, Seriously

We shall deign speak no more of such pedestrian "pizza". We've moved up to those elevated pies from, yes, Italy and the great wood-fired beauties in Marseilles and the fabulous pies found here in the USA's Pizza Belt! These American efforts are what concerns us now.

The Pizza Belt, that's right. While atlases and travel guides show your Sun Belt; your Michigan Rust Belt; your holy roller Bible Belt; your Corn, Borscht, Sorghum and Cotton Belts; no maps reveal the Pizza Belt.

So it falls to this Scowler to promote the Pizza Belt. It's as obvious as the pepperoni flecks on your shirt, the garlic on your breath and the red smudges on those pudgy fingers.

Pizza equals life here in Connecticut, yet most are unaware. It's like the 20 year-old creamery beauty named Ilke... we take her for granted, and only a dull few see her wondrous reality. Pizza, like perfect women, is like that.

The Pizza Belt is that land mass above the Chesapeake Bay, east of the Appalachians, below the Canadian border, and west of the Atlantic Ocean. Some succinctly term this the northeast.

Map-makers: paint this region a pale pink to honor the humble tomato sauce on which our reputation is built.

It is within these boundaries that one can fall into almost any Brooklyn shop, New Jersey palace or New Haven storefront and come out satiated. We New Englanders are here. We are well-fed. We are fortunate.

But there are among us, even here in this citadel of higher pizza learning, cud-chewers who order "toppings". Primitives, these great unwashed, who glom down "cheese food" and simulated pepperoni-like foodstuffs. Send them packing back to Nebraska, to Pizza King, to Pizza Hut and the rest of the chains.

The Buckle of the Pizza Belt

And yet... one seeks that Center: a mid-gut region, the Belt's "buckle", a place at the epicenter of all pies. Surely, we could go to Italy or its border with southern France and eat like Queen Marguerita did back in '89 when Don Raffaele was summoned to Naples' Capodimonte Palace to serve her what became known as the Pizza Marguerita. Most definitely, most maintain that the center of the International Pizza Belt is Naples.

But where does the buckle of the American Pizza Belt Fall? Those who worship the great pie know that it falls squarely across Connecticut.

Money be damned

We are here, and so is great pie. Annually, we chew up over seven pounds of mozzarella cheese per man, woman and child. There are over 23,000 pizza stores worldwide selling over $13,000,000,000 yearly (source: International Franchise Association).

Sorry, Noo Yawk

Almost everybody has been duped by the New York Pizza PR Machine. My take on it? New York pies: over priced and under sauced, in general. Some ok stuff, but essentially the City's pie makers sold out and who can blame them? Their clientele are tourists from Indiana who have no clue, so why not sell them cheesy over-priced street wedges? I'd do same if I was stuck serving pies in the City.

By The Way... No More Twirling, Please

One rolls out perfect pizza dough. Rolls it out. Never twirls it. Save the show biz for the New York window-gawking tourists.

Connecticut, Pie Central

Around Connecticut it is repeat business that makes a pizza shop successful (which requires quality and some other aspects only the refined pizza eater can comprehend), so here to be the best, it is tough.

My goal throughout the next few issues of ScowlZine? To locate the perfect pie.


Some common myths to dispell about Hartford-area Pizza:

When one talks about Hartford-area pizza, there are a number of great pie joints to consider: First and Last, Lena's, Harry's and Luna Pizza. The great rivalry of Luna and Harry's Pizza, two storefronts away from each other in West Hartford Center, these pie shops have been both a defining and a dividing force to the pizza palates of local residents.

Harry's and Lunas (in West Hartford, CT)... would you say that they are the leviathans in the [Connecticut] pie business?
Answer: Possibly. Yet, the folks on New Haven's Wooster Street are considered the mega-stars.

Isn't all pizza basically the same?
Answer: W H A T ? ?

Harry's lightly sauces the top, while Luna's lays it on thicker. Is this intentional? Is dry pizza popular in West Hartford?
Answer: Harry's is more popular than Luna. Lots of sauce is not Harry's mode.

Have you ever heard of "basting the edge" in pizza production?
Answer: Harry's bastes the edge of their pizza with a light "painting" of sauce Then too, Harry's puffy outer perimeter contains bubbles, no extra charge. I don't care for the bread-like Puffy Perimeter School. But then, I hate paying for air in my pizza crust. Luna has a solid crust. They fill out their pies to the edge--the sauce, veggies and meats right up to the edge. Some folks do like the airy Harry edges, but for that, I say go to the bakery and order bread and save a buck.

Gee, doesn't Harry's have the "buzz" as the pie to buy in W. Hartford?
Answer: If you read the local paper or the "Advocate" sure. And definitely try one.. Harry's has a decent enough pie, nothing great, somewhat overpriced. I prefer Luna, by far—just don't accept the buzz. Do a Luna. You'll see.

Luna's. Did they not sell out? Leave the south end and abandon that wood fired oven, majestic and simple, fired up and powerful, that thing of beauty? How could they? And do they not fire up a standard Blodgett [ed. a commercial pizza oven] now?
Answer: Aye, all true. But Luna's reports that the West Hartford air police outlawed wood-fired ovens after they committed to their lease. They put the blame for the no wood-fired aspect on politicians and pollution officials.