Frank Pepe

Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana opened at Mohegan Sun Casino on Wednesday, July 1. 2009 at noon. Hope to see you there, in the Casino of the Earth.

Courtesy of RestaurantsCT.com *Connecticut Footnotes by Bob DeZinno.

I had the pleasure of a private tour of Pepe’s construction progress today at Mohegan Sun, courtesy of my long-time friend, Gary Crowder, Executive VP Resort Operations. Other than the likely long wait in line for America’s best pizza, I am looking forward to the opening. Last we heard, it will open to the public July 4th weekend. A Frank Pepe Pizzeria is a guaranteed hit anywhere (the original in New Haven, and now in Fairfield and Manchester, and coming soon to Yonkers, NY), but add the magic of Mohegan Sun to the equation… it’s a no-brainer.

The decor will be a real treat. While sitting inside the 5,000 square foot restaurant with seating for about 130 guests, you will be treated to a view of a replica of the Wooster Street storefront that we all know as the original “Pepe’s.”

It's not finished yet, but it looks like the original!

You probably already know that the old-fashioned coal fired ovens make a Pepe’s pizza what it is. Coal burns drier and hotter than other fires, and that’s a part of the secret. With it come challenges, especially that too many pizzas in the oven at one time reduce the temperature and the quality of the finished product. The Pepe family decided years ago that it would serve fewer great pizzas to a waiting clientele, rather than many pizzas faster. Each new Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana has a real coal oven, exactly duplicated from the original. The new Mohegan Sun restaurant will be a bit different… it will have TWO of these ovens in order to serve the anticipated crowds.

The coal fired oven was being tested today... it works!

Special places like Mohegan Sun and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana were made for each other… this is going to be fun.

You’d expect Connecticut’s hottest pizza to come from Connecticut’s hottest pizza ovens.

Frank Pepe knew in 1925 that only coal burns this hot and dry, and doesn’t give off steam like a wood fire does. He knew that only a coal fire could give his “tomato pies” their famous crisp, yet chewy crust. He knew that overloading the oven when it got busy (and it did get busy) would reduce the temperature to a point that would yield an inferior pie.

We knew when we opened the second Pepe’s Pizzeria in 80 years that we had to recreate his original oven, brick by brick, with a fire door cast from a mold of the original. And even in today’s fast-paced world, we knew that our customers might at times be willing to wait a few minutes longer for a perfect Frank Pepe pizza. And so, that’s how we did it.

Frank, you taught us well.

It is now official! Frank Pepe Blog is cooking with fire… COAL THAT IS!