Pete’s New Haven Style Pizza

The key to great pizza: not eating pizza. It’s all about the crust, the toppings, the ingredients, and the Apizza (pronounced “ah BEETS). If you’re not the foreign-language-speaking type, just go with the more common pronunciation: New Haven-style pizza.

At Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza in the Columbia Heights, you can get a taste of Connecticut in  Washington, DC, for $2.50-$3.25/slice or $18.95-$25.95/pie. I’d suggest having a team of at least four people if you decide to go for the whole Apizza because this 18-inch pie is more filling than it looks.

The toppings are what first set this pie apart – it’s not drowned in extras. Toppings are added without ruining the integrity of the Apizza foundation – cheese and crust. I ordered the Nighthawk Apizza: chicken, pesto, wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, and buffalo mozzarella. The chicken was sliced, not diced, so I could see the quality of the white meat. The onions and pesto were so fresh that I want to say they tasted home-cooked, but I don’t know any home-cooks that can cook this well. The flavors were distinct yet sang together.

The crust, the signature characteristic of Apizza, differentiates this pie from anything you’ve tried in New York. Pete’s calls it “thin crust.” I was nervous thin crust meant hard edges, but these edges have a soft heart.

Apizza is cooked in an oven that evidently works like a tanning bed, coloring and heating the dough from above and below, causing the crust to be crunchy all over while maintaining a light and airy dough inside. The dough inside is moist, not dry, and the crunch is flakey, not hard.

And this crust holds its ground, and toppings. The crispness stays firm, so you’ll have no drooping slices and no sliding toppings when you take a piece.

If you’re bold enough, you can try the “New Haven,” which is New Haven’s famous white clam pizza.

Regardless of how fearless your pizza palate is, if you’d like to try some Apizza and you’re in the DC area, then definitely check out Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza.

1400 Irving Street NW, Suite 103


Washington, DC 20010

202-332-PETE (7383)