Beloved Yale Pizza Parlor Expands to New York

New Yorkers looking for a taste of Yale won't have to travel all the way to Connecticut anymore.

Instead they can take a shorter trip to Yonkers, where Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana is opening its first restaurant in New York State. The expansion of Pepe's, whose signature white clam pies have drawn pizza connoisseurs to New Haven for more than 80 years, should delight its New York fans.

"Pepe's could contribute to the New York pizza scene," said Judith Aisen, who discovered the restaurant while studying at Yale University in the 1980s. "White clam pizza, you can't get that here."

Legend has it that Frank Pepe created the first American pizza when he opened up shop in 1925, in New Haven. Its success, along with that of a powerhouse rival called Sally's Apizza, helped establish the Connecticut city as one of America's more unlikely pizza capitals.

"Part of the whole beauty of Pepe's pizza is going to New Haven and realizing there's incredible pizza outside of New York," the founder of a pizza tour service in New York City, Scott Weiner, said. "It's sloppier, but still thin, crispy, and tender. It's a character all its own."

The restaurant began expanding two years ago, when it set up outlets in Fairfield and Manchester, Conn. The owners, Frank Pepe's grandchildren, decided to add Yonkers to the list after noticing that many customers were traveling from New York, said Kenneth Berry, who handles development for the company.

While fans said they are happy to have Pepe's closer to home, some expressed fear that its magic might be lost in the move.

"You always worry about a single establishment branching out," Ms. Aisen said. "You want mom and pop to stay at home and do what they do well."

But the general manager of Pepe's in New Haven, Steve Adkins, said he is not worried. "We'll always be the mother ship," he said. "This is home."

The Yonkers location is slated to open in May, and another restaurant at the Mohegan Sun casino complex, in Uncasville, Conn., is planned for 2010.