New Haven is now the official holder of the world record for the largest pizza party.
The self-proclaimed pizza capital of the United States succeeded in its longstanding goal Friday — to break the most-recent pizza party world record of 3,357 diners. That's been held by Tulsa, Oklahoma for just the last year and a half. Since New Haven's party was announced, the city's plan was to lap the competition.
“We're gonna crush it, yes, not by having 3,358 people, but our goal is 5,000 people,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said at a press conference in July.
Ultimately, New Haven clinched by more than a thousand additional pizza partygoers: 4,525 came out to the New Haven Green, as cyclists participating in the annual New Haven Grand Prix whizzed by. The crowd was filled with some of the most dedicated pizza fans, who dressed up for the occasion: a giant pizza slice costume, lots of local apizza shop merch from Frank Pepe and Sally’s and a green, white and red tee.
“This is my mom's shirt that I inherited,” explained Quinnipiac University student Gianna Strazzulla, gesturing to the text on the front. “‘Italian girls love to party!’”
The Big Green Truck Pizza made all 10,000 slices for the record attempt, but other beloved shops, like Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, the originator of New Haven-style pies, and Sally’s Apizza, were selling slices as part of the annual Apizza Feast. (Notably missing from the list of participating pizzerias was the final member of the unofficial apizza Big Three, Modern).
New Haven's pizza shops are used to long lines of Yale University students, local families and tourists on any given day, but Friday was the most they ever served at once.
Sophia Page, daughter of the Big Green Truck Pizza owners, served hot apizza fresh out of a flaming oven on one of the green trucks behind her.
“I'm actually a college student,” she said. “I go to LSU [Louisiana State University], and I flew in specifically for this event. I was so excited for it.”
Why New Haven?
If you ask Nutmeggers, New Haven has the best pies, plain and simple.
Apizza, pronounced “uh-beetz” for the uninitiated, is not exactly the pizza that comes to mind for most outside of the state — evidenced by the very angry voicemails from New Yorkers on the receiving end of the controversial Connecticut pizza campaign this summer.
But the thin-crust, tomato-forward style came to be in Wooster Square, New Haven’s Little Italy. It has stuck around since 1925, and while New Haven pizza was once less well-known than New York, Chicago or Detroit style, the neighborhood it originated in has stayed packed and, in some ways, unchanged — including the restaurants and their recipes.
Don’t take our word for it though. When the charred (not burnt!) apizza came up in Chef David Chang’s “Ugly Delicious” show on Netflix — season 1, episode 1 — the owner of two-time Michelin-starred Momofuku declared: “I think New Haven pizza, as a community, has the best pizza in America.”
Who verified the world record?
Thomas Bradford was the official adjudicator on the scene Friday. Carrying his Guinness World Records "officially amazing" clipboard, he watched as attendees were led to corrals, each able to handle 100 people, and given two slices of pizza and 15 minutes to consume them — crust and all.
Early into the attempt, Bradford had to admit the New Haven-style pies looked tasty, but he was trying to stay impartial.
“After I finish with the work and get the judging done, I will divulge and indulge in all of the pizza I can find because I can't wait,” he said. “I've heard a lot of great things about Connecticut pizza, especially in New Haven, so I'm going to wait and get loads afterwards. That's my plan.”
What's next?
Well, Bradford says another city in the U.S. is trying to break the record for largest pizza party in just a few weeks.
"Somebody is trying to attempt this record quite soon, in like two or three weeks,” he said. “Hopefully, these guys are going to get such a big number, it'll make it very difficult for the next people, but we'll see."
When asked if he could indulge who was already challenging New Haven's just-secured throne, Bradford admitted: "I can't remember where, but the states so it's another American one."
