Modern Apizza is Pizza Today’s 2023 Pizzeria of the Year
Modern Take
New Haven-style pizza has become synonymous as a best American pizza style. It’s not just pizza, it’s apizza pronounced “AH-BEETS”. One of New Haven, Connecticut’s ‘holy trinity” of the style resides away from the tourist capitol of Wooster Street, the birthplace of the apizza.
Sandwiched between the I-90 freeway and Yale University, Modern Apizza sits on State Street and has created its own cult following. The landmark pizzeria has been called the local’s favorite and the Boston Red Sox’ lucky charm.
Modern holds an intrinsic truth in pizza history. But it’s today’s Modern that has earned the famed restaurant Pizza Today’s coveted Pizzeria of the Year honor.
Pizza Today visited the acclaimed shop one weekday summer morning before the crowds lined its block. Greeted by a marquee awning displaying the Modern logo, it is flanked by “Traditional Brick Oven Apizza” and “Est. 1934”, it makes an impressive statement before you enter the restaurant. The long, dimly lit dining area is lined with booths leading to the counter at the end. A pass-through opening gives diners a peek into the original kitchen and original formerly cole-fueled oven. To the left is another dining area that features its historic menu board displaying prices from 1960. Photos and articles throughout the restaurant reveal key moments in its history.
Modern Apizza owner William “Billy” Pustari stretches dough.
Standing near the kitchen entrance is the man at the helm: William “Billy” Pustari, who took over the business in 1988. He ushered in a new era at Modern, right when New Haven apizza notoriety escalated. His mark will forever be ingrained into Modern’s history. With 45 years in the pizza business, Pustari says, “It was a labor of love. It’s all I know. It’s all I ever did. Never went to college. Restaurant U., that was it.”
Modern was founded in 1934 as Tony’s Apizza by Tony Tolli. The business changed hands to Louis Persano then to Nick Nuzzo, from whom Pustari purchased the pizzeria.
Pustari already owned a pizzeria in nearby Fairfield and was tipped off by his pizza box supplier that Nuzzo was ready to sell. After working in the business for 50 years and with the sudden loss of his son, Nuzzo was ready to pass the reins over to its next proprietor.
When asked if he had any reservations about taking over Modern, Pustari says, “No. Shoot from the hip.” He worked for Nuzzo, learning the ropes, during an eight-month transition, which brought in some much-needed consistency to the operation. As Pustari was being introduced to his new business, New Haven apizza saw a boom. Since Modern had already established itself as a major player in the style movement, Pustari was able to capitalize on the resurgence.
Modern Apizza Invests Back in the Business
In the early 1990s, Pustari set into motion renovations that would be a key driver to the volume Modern outputs today. First, he expanded the dining area to seat 130, added an additional oil-fired brick oven and makeline, as well as a prep kitchen. In the basement, he added a dough room that today outputs 250-pound batches of dough three times a day and converted an old wooden refrigerator into the store’s beer cooler.
Next, he tackled parking by purchasing and demolishing the neighboring fish market to create parking, a high commodity for a Northeaster urban restaurant.
“We put everything back into this thing,” Pustari says. “We didn’t take the money and run. We threw every penny back into it. That whole side of the kitchen wasn’t there that we walked in on. The Back kitchen wasn’t there. The downstairs wasn’t there. We built all of that. We reinvested constantly.”
Pizza makers work together to make pizza at Modern Apizza in New Haven.
Streamlining Modern’s Systems
Pustari infused a laser focus on the restaurant’s systems. “What I brought was organization, just reorganizing it,” Pustari says. He created an assembly line process so efficient that he consulted with Sbarro to teach the chain how he does it. “I really enjoy that assembly line process of getting the product from here to there,” he says.
Modern sells up to 1,100 pizzas a day on the weekend, so the operation must be running at its most efficient.
Systems had to be dialed in. “It’s flowed as the business got busier because you have to gear up to what you are doing,” he says. “In the past when it wasn’t that busy, you could get away with all this stuff but you’re trying to do the volume that we do here it’s impossible. You must be well-oiled machine.”
The two-makeline setup consists of a dough opener, dresser, oven cook and cutter. You can even find pizza makers tag teaming a pizza to get it topped quickly. “Everyone knows what their job is,” he says. “You don’t have to be told. It just works. I try to explain this to people. They’ll look out there and see a line down the street and say ‘gosh, that’s got to be chaos.’ They come in my kitchen and it’s just like this (a quiet calm).”
The system is fluid and Pustari is always looking for ways to improve it. He insists, “It just happens naturally to me like people are naturally gifted at different things.”
The system depends on Modern’s 62 employees. He’s quick to credit the business’s success on his tight-knit crew. Many of the staffers have been at his restaurant for decades, a testament to the culture Pustari has created, a quiet and calm culture led by example. “If you make it here, if you start working and you’re one of us kind of, you fit in, you never leave,” he says.
There is no shouting or cursing in the kitchen, Pustari says. In fact, as the kitchen received phone orders for 27, 19 and 12 pies in a row, the crew was calm and focused on their tasks. It’s a family affair as his wife folds boxes with the team, while the father and son duo work the makeline and oven.
Modern Apizza’s Product Evolution
Modern still specializes in its charred, chewy yet crispy texture that it was founded on. The apizza was born from its meticulous dough, made from a natural mother starter and its 24-hour cold ferment.
Pustari says not much has changed on the menu since he’s taken over. Modern churns out traditional apizza from its oil-fueled brick oven. The Italian Bomb with bacon, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, onion, pepper and garlic is still a favorite, as well as the Clams Casino with bacon and peppers.
The menu is streamlined, offering appetizers including salads and its famous garlic bread; apizza and calzones.
Where changes have been made are with the products. “Ingredients have changed from 35 years ago, just buying better products.” Pustari is proud of the local sausage he sources, which is hand-pinched on every pie. “They bring it every day,” he says. “They call us early in the morning. We tell them how many pounds we want, and they grind it, make it and bring it over.” He would rather do business with products right down the street. Rather than dealing with the large soda companies, he opted to stock a local soda.
The beer menu also features local breweries. He even took it a step further and started collaborating with New England breweries as far back as the early 1990s to do limited edition beers only sold at the restaurant. “We did a Modern Lager, a classic Lager,” he says. “This past Monday, we made an Italian Pilsner with a brewery called Counter Weight. That is the first one I’ve done with them. So, we go down to the brewery and add in all the hops and add in all the grains and transfer it from tank to tank and spend the whole day so it’s a lot of fun. We sell them in 4-packs. This year, we’re doing a 4-pack with a t-shirt as a package. The last time we launched it, we sold 40 half barrels of the beer within two months.”
With the house beer and 10 taps combined with an assortment of wine, alcohol is six percent of its sales. “We go through beer like a bar does,” he says.
Modern Apizza Maintains its Community Reputation
While Modern has an ever increasing stream of tourists flocking to try the apizza, it’s known as the locals’ spot, something that Pustari strives to maintain. He puts his emphasis on the New Haven community. “We’ve done fundraisers for all the local cops,” he says. “Someone gets hurt, injured, you know, we jump on board on it. Fire department eat here every Friday from all the different houses in New Haven and if they need something, they have a tragedy, or something happened, we jump in on it.”
With a busy phone system, locals have also cracked the code to miss the tourist lines. “All the locals, all the people that know me, they all do that.”
Modern’s growth is only limited by time and space. The restaurant draws $5 million in annual sales without delivery or use of third-party services.
Even with all the renovations and systems in place, Pustari says they’ve reached maxed capacity. “Demand especially on the weekend is probably five times than what we do,” he says. “We could probably sell 5,000 pizzas a night if we had the capability of it.”
Pustari and his team focus on optimizing what they can with the set number of hours and 2,800 square feet.
“We’re really good at retaining our clientele. We are really, really good and there’s a big face on it. It’s my face on it all the time and that’s why I don’t try to bastardize it.”
Pustari is constantly asked about opening more locations and new ventures, but his resolve is strong. “It’s not my thing,” he says. “I’d rather just have it nice, mellow and easygoing; you know. I love the restaurant business. I’m a social person. I can’t do office work. I can’t sit down, I can’t write. I can’t spell but I can cook and that’s what I like to do.”
Denise Greer is Executive Editor at Pizza Today.
New Haven Apizza
Pizza Today overs coverage of common pizza styles in the U.S. New Haven apizza is a favorite American pizza style that has expanded beyond New Haven to cities across the country. Explore more on New Haven-style Pizza:
Take a New Haven Pizza Tour with Pizza Today.
Modern Apizza Pizzeria of the Year receives national media attention
Since we announced Modern Apizza as our Pizza Today 2023 Pizzeria of the year, the designation has received a number of national media stories. Check out a few of the media outlets spotlighting 2023 Pizzeria of the Year Modern Apizza:
Food & Wine: This Pizza Joint Was Just Named Pizzeria of the Year, and No, It’s Not in New York or Chicago
Patch: Pizza Today ‘Zine Names Modern Apizza Eatery Best Pizzeria For 2023
Eat This, Not That!: This Is America’s Pizzeria of the Year for 2023
Parade: The Pizzeria of the Year Was Just Named—And It’s Not What You Expect
