Once a year, the heart of New Haven’s downtown morphs from a tame shopping district into a giant block party. For the third year in a row, New Haven has closed down several blocks in the Theater District to host its now-annual Apizza Feast (now Apizza and Eats), which is run in conjunction with the New Haven Grand Prix bike race.
On September 16th, thousands of Connecticut residents showed up to cheer on the bikers and sample the eclectic food truck fare from about 20 different vendors. We decided to join them while chronicling some of the best food that we experienced from the trucks parked along College Street, ranging from the classic (New Haven Apizza) to the trendy (gourmet cupcakes).
Food Stop #1 – Antojos Criollos
Our first stop was Antojos Criollos, a Puerto Rican food truck with a robust line of people. Eager to try a house specialty, we ordered the Roast Pork Puerto Rican Style with a side of fried plantains.
The seasoned pork was tender and burst with a delicious peppercorn taste. This paired well with the salty-sweetness of the plantains and the spicy garlic sauce we chose to top the meat. Stop #1 was a success, and we definitely felt like we had an authentic Puerto Rican food experience.
Food Stop #2 – Consiglio’s
Our next food hailed from Consiglio’s, a restaurant on Wooster Street in New Haven’s famed Little Italy. Their new food truck offered a mouth-watering menu with penne pasta, arancini, meatball subs and chicken parmigiana subs. We only tried the arancini, which were a little cold, but the hearty homemade tomato sauce that smothered them made all the difference.
Food Stop #3 – Olives and Oil
The food we were perhaps most excited to try came from Olive and Oil’s food tent. The restaurant set up a pasta-making station on College Street where they cooked and prepared your pasta right in front of you.
Most notable, though, was the food’s presentation; our pesto pasta was handed to us in a cone with parmesan sprinkled on top. While it wasn’t the easiest way to eat pasta, the flavor was enough to keep us digging for more after each scoop. We enjoyed our al-dente noodles and thought the light, but well-seasoned pesto sauce was the perfect accompaniment.
Food Stop #4 – Dough Girls
For our final spot, trying an “apizza” was a must. We decided to order one from Dough Girls. The Greenwich-based institution had a 40-minute line, but we knew it would be worth the wait.
After biding our time and working up our appetite again, we were greeted by the friendly staff including Louise, the “Dough Girl” herself. Louise makes all of the dough by hand from an old recipe. She stated that Dough Girl “is all about the dough because we are the dough.”
We couldn’t have agreed more. The crust on our Margherita pizza was phenomenal and charred to perfection. The tomato sauce tasted fresh and had just the right combination of sweet and tangy, and the buffalo mozzarella was high quality. We did find the pizza to be a bit too floppy, however, as some of the cheese slid off when we attempted to take our first bite. Overall, the pizza was solid, but a level below the New Haven legends of Pepe’s Sally’s and Modern.
Ultimately, we found our time at the festival to be an enriching experience. The Apizza Feast (along with the New Haven Grand Prix) has been a success since its start. If you haven’t been, you should definitely put it on your calendar for next year. Whether you go alone, with family or friends, we can promise you will have an exciting evening full of delicious food.