New Haven Pizza: One6Three – The Pizza Joint Celebrating 10 Years

My CT Pizza journey continued in the East Rock section of New Haven with a visit to One6Three – The Pizza Joint, as it approaches its 10th anniversary.

One6Three is located on the corner of Foster and Willow, and I have been hearing a lot of positive feedback from my pizza buddies, so I wandered over to check it out. As I drove through the East Rock section it was a déjà vu experience for me, the area was reminiscent of my neighborhood growing up, lots of two-family homes lined the street and you could feel the sense of community. It was that environment that first molded my love of Italian food and great NJ pizza

One6Three occupies a small corner storefront; there are six tables outside with twelve chairs, five beautiful handmade red oak-topped tables with ten chairs in the eating area and five bar stools overlooking the wood-burning brick oven. I can imagine the overwhelming buzz on a busy Saturday night from the locals sitting and enjoying the pizza and those waiting for their take-out orders. The open kitchen occupies a good portion of the interior geography. While the menu offers non-pizza selections, a few appetizers (wings, et. al) salads, sandwiches (both meat and chicken), and some sides, the focus of One6Three is pizza, with tons of pre-determined combinations.

My normal first-visit order looks to assess the crust, sauce, cheese, and preparation as the main event and then supplemented by my normal toppings, pepperoni and sausage. I ordered a small (13”) half-sausage, half-pepperoni.

When it was placed on the table, I was a little surprised. I was in New Haven and the menu states, “A LOCAL, FAMILY-OWNED JOINT THAT SERVES UP CLASSIC NEW HAVEN STYLE PIZZA…” and the pie looked more like a “bar” pie than the “New Haven Style” served a mile done the road on Wooster St., it reminded me more of Colony or Riko where the sauce and cheese extend to the edges, and there was very little, if any charring. Don’t get me wrong, I love bar pies, and this one looked great, but I was expecting a pie that was more Wooster-esque.

It was piping hot and out of respect for the top of my mouth I let it cool. I first pulled a piece of crust away and I will leave my feelings on the crust until the end. I next tasted the quarter-sized pepperoni; it was delicious, crispy on the edges, a nice level of spiciness and great flavor. This was followed by a little taste of the sausage, which was served in the crumbled form. The sausage was delicious as well, and it also delivered a good level of spiciness without overwhelming, maybe the same level of spiciness as the pepperoni. The good news was increasing.

The cooling process was complete, and I lifted to check the underside, a nice golden tan, with no charring at all. The lift test proved that this was not a stiff cracker crust with just a little flop at the tip, so far this was a really well-constructed pie.

Now the real test…

The first bite of the pepperoni slice was divine, the sauce and cheese were fantastic, a great complement to the pepperoni, the three main components were in perfect balance, spicy, sweet, creamy, stringing to the crust, not too much of any ingredient. I looked at the sausage side and the first item I was a little concerned about was the amount of sausage, the pepperoni side had a lot more meat. But when I tasted the slice, I was wrong, there was the correct amount of sausage, just enough to add that bit of spiciness and meat depth. Again, the balance with the cheese and sauce was amazing. While the toppings were out of this world, I was, unfortunately, not as enamored by the crust, it was just missing something, When I took my initial piece from the edge at the beginning, I was a little nervous, would it play well with the toppings, and, in the end, it just sorta missed.

One6Three is located just outside the bullseye of New Haven’s Pizza Mecca, in a neighborhood that reminded me of simpler times when pizza prices allowed for two slices and a soda for under a buck. When I walked into the place, I felt a sense of community, the other patrons were a father with his son and a dude with a white beard on a motorcycle, this was a neighborhood haunt, and I loved it. More importantly, the pizza was superb, and the balance of flavors was spot on.

I very much recommend a visit to One6Three, when you do not want to deal with the lines down the road and you want a great bar pie.

One6Three – The Pizza Joint 163 Foster St, New Haven, CT 06511

 (203) 777-5141