Pizza Today 'Zine Names Modern Apizza Eatery Best Pizzeria For 2023

NEW HAVEN, CT — Because it's always best to research one's subject before reporting, a journalist had to run over to State Street in New Haven for a large mozzarella pie.

Modern Apizza, dubbed one of New Haven's "holy trinity," of apizzas, was named by trade magazine Pizza Today as the 2023 Pizzeria of the Year.

Having dived in to the apizza beloved far beyond the Elm City, it's a title richly deserved.

"Modern holds an intrinsic truth in pizza history," the magazine wrote. "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 pizzeria recently and wrote not just about the apizza itself, but about the eatery's operation, which it noted sells more than 1,100 pies a day on weekends. William “Billy” Pustari, who took over the business in 1988, told the magazine, "We could probably sell 5,000 pizzas a night if we had the capability of it.”

Modern was founded in 1934 as Tony’s Apizza by Tony Tolli. It was then owned by Louis Persano, then Nick Nuzzo who sold to Pustari.

Read the full story from Pizza Today, here.

Modern Apizza is located at 874 State St., in New Haven.