A Pizza Heaven

You don’t have to wait for a Yale acceptance letter to immerse yourself in the small town of New Haven, Connecticut.

Extracurricular reasons to visit span theaters, museums, pizza, and elite fall foliage. From Tallahassee, the simplest route is a flight to Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut with a quick layover in Atlanta, followed by just an hour’s drive.

Photos COURTESY OF MARKET NEW HAVEN

Aside from leaf peeping at East Rock Park, the Yale campus is the most scenic spot to stroll. Tour with an undergraduate for deeper insight into the stately Collegiate Gothic architecture plus a peek into the breathtaking Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (visitorcenter.yale.edu/tours).

No matter the season, there are museums aplenty, like the Yale Center for British Art (britishart.yale.edu), which houses the largest collection of British art outside of the United Kingdom, and the Yale University Art Gallery (artgallery.yale.edu), the oldest college art gallery in America. The recently renovated Yale Peabody Museum (peabody. yale.edu) is an impressive natural history museum with free admission and 14 million specimens to consider. For something livelier, the Yale Repertory Theatre (yalerep.org) is an intimate venue for professional theater.

Photo by Stephanie Anestis

Still, the top reason to visit has to be a pizza (pronounced “ah-beetz”), Neapolitan-style pizza that is unique to New Haven. Apizza is set apart by a wetter crust that ferments longer, resulting in a bubbly, chewy texture; tomatoes hand- selected each year from Italian farms; and large coal-fired brick ovens that run from 600 to 950 degrees Fahrenheit to create the requisite char.

Frank Pepe’s, Modern, and Sally’s are “the big three” of New Haven a pizza, but my favorite was a non-headliner: Zeneli, with its zesty tomatoes and dreamy dough (zenelipizzeria.com). Go on a Little Italy tour with Taste of New Haven (tasteofnewhaven.com) to sample them all— or at least nine different slices that’ll have you rethinking everything you thought you knew about plain tomato pies and putting potatoes on pizza.

Photos COURTESY OF MARKET NEW HAVEN

If you tire of pizza, there are other culinary contenders. French maison Union League (unionleague.com) is worth a dinner

reservation for the dessert soufflé of the day alone. Down-home, European-inspired Atelier Florian (atelierflorian.net) serves a hot lobster roll with truly memorable fries and a homemade honey cheesecake that has the power to convert even a cheesecake hater (guilty).

For lunch, try Sherkaan Indian Street Food (sherkaan.com)—get the samosa chaat!—or the popular landmark Claire’s Corner Copia (clairescornercopia.com), a vegetarian café with a variety of baked goods. During the fall, a seasonal scoop of pumpkin ice cream with ginger and molasses from Arethusa Farm Dairy (arethusafarm.com) completes a weekend of perfect New Haven eats; enjoy it on a leaf-lined stroll to a museum or theater, no matriculation necessary.