How can you speak about Wooster Square without mentioning apizza, the iconic product of our neighborhood? Because there are so many versions of the apizza legend, I hesitate to tread on such hallowed ground. We claim to have invented, or at least concocted, what we now consider American pizza. New Haven’s version often leads just about every national poll, with Pepe’s white clam usually at the top.

But growing up right in the neighborhood where it was all happening provided us with an amazing selection of options for an apizza treat. In my family, it was usually reserved for Sunday night supper. My mother would send me around the corner to Pepe’s or Sally’s or Sarno’s or the Spot for a pizza bianca. Sometimes it might also include a small anchovy, or alici, as a salty addition to the red sauce. We just took it all in stride, such goodness and superior quality in such a humble product.