Frank Pepe Pizzeria
Jennifer Kelly – Frank Pepe’s Granddaughter: “Pizza is America's number one food. It is affordable. It's delicious.
Kevin Gagliard - Director of Operations: “Pizza is everybody's favorite family meal to gather, laugh and celebrate all occasions.”
Jennifer Kelly: “Why do I love pizza? Well, I'll tell you why. I was born into it. It's in my blood. I love pizza. My grandparents Frank and Philomena Pepe started Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria in 1925, in New Haven, Connecticut. Frank Pepe’s pizza is different because of the coal fired oven. That oven is the magic that creates that pizza. We do a Napoletana thin crust pie. I say that we have the four C's; we have coal, char, crispy, chewy.”
Kevin Gagliard: “We’re here at our newest location in Watertown, Massachusetts where you walk in and the first thing you see is the oven, because the oven is the shrine of Frank Pepe’s. Our oven is a coal fired oven that burns at 600 degrees. Every Pepe pizza is the same dough, the same cheese, the same sauce cooked in the same oven that's replicated just from the original New Haven pizzeria. We light a fire every morning, bringing it slowly up to temperature until it's at the perfect cook to make sure we can get that char and get that crisp on the bottom of your pizza.”
Jennifer Kelly: “And that's because the coal is a dryer heat. And when you have that, it takes the water out of your ingredients. When the water comes out the natural flavors just burst. So it's crispy, bubbly, customer has it, bam, you have that flavor bursting in your mouth. It's delicious. It really truly is a delicious pie.”
Kevin Gagliard: “Everything is simplistic at Frank Pepe’s. We use the pure flavors of all of our ingredients. Our dough is made every single day and rolled every morning. Our sauce is tomatoes grown in Italy and pureed on site every morning. You’re tasting just the tomatoes, you don't need to add any added spices. Our cheese is a whole milk mozzarella, highest quality, with a little more moisture in it to be able to cook in that coal fired oven, giving you the perfect pizza.”
Kevin Gagliard: “Frank Pepe’s Original Tomato Pie is the first pie that Frank Pepe made.”
Jennifer Kelly: “It's authentic, it's the original. Tomato Pie is tomato, grated cheese, with oil. Very simple, very basic.”
Kevin Gagliard: “When you taste that pizza, you're gonna taste Italy, you're gonna taste fresh dough, and tomatoes that were grown in Italy, along with pecorino and a blended olive oil. It’s a perfect harmony in your mouth.”
Jennifer Kelly: “It's just so delicious. You get the burst of the tomatoes, you get the little saltiness of the cheese, it just jumps out at you, that Tomato Pie it's like ‘taste me taste me.’”
Jennifer Kelly: “Here at Frank Pepe’s, we are most famous for the White Clam Pie. Our clams are freshly shucked, then you have oil, garlic, grated cheese, it's put into the oven. It’s cooked for about seven minutes, you take it out, cut it up, crispy, crunchy cut, put it to the mouth, bite into it, ‘Bam’. You have the flavor of the sea.”
Kevin Gagliard: “People taste that, people that love seafood and love clams, will find that a delicacy.”
Jennifer Kelly: “I love the white clam pie. I think the white clam pie is delicious. I remember when my grandfather started it. It means something so special to us.”
Kevin Gagliard: “The Meatball Ricotta is made with our homemade meatballs that are sliced extra thick, so they're still moist and juicy on the pie. They don't dry out. And then our ricotta is a whole milk ricotta, where we just add a little bit of salt to bring out the natural flavors. And then our fresh whole mozzarella with that dough, and the pecorino, it's a heavy, good eatin’ pie.”
Jennifer Kelly: “The real key to that pizza is the ricotta. Because the ricotta is so creamy, it’s smooth, it just works together with the meatball. Put it all with the grated cheese in the oven, comes out, absolutely delicious. It bubbles and it smells like your Noni’s kitchen.”
Jennifer Kelly: “Our Fresh Tomato Pie is made from our tomatoes shipped in from Italy. They are fresh, they are cut by our prep in the back. After that we put the oil, we have garlic, we have basil. We mix that all up, so when you're putting it on the pie, it is a truly delicious pizza, light flavored. It has that summer taste. That Tomato Pie is my favorite pizza.”
Kevin Gagliard: “The Fresh Tomato Pie is going to be the taste of a summer garden. You're gonna feel that tomato that just came off the vine as if you bite it standing next to a tomato tree.”
Jennifer Kelly: “So here's the thing about the Fresh Tomato Pie. You can only get it from June to September. That’s the only time we serve it, because they're fresh tomatoes, they're native tomatoes, beefsteak chunk quartered up, basil, garlic, delicious, all freshness.”
Kevin Gagliard: “People call and wait for those tomatoes to be ready and we will never serve it until that tomato is perfectly grown. That’s the hallmark of Frank Pepe’s legacy is to serve all the ingredients at their peakest freshest state.”
Jennifer Kelly: “Ok, now. After you have the delicious pizza, you have to treat yourself to our delicious Cannoli Pie. When you take a bite of that cannoli pie, the crust is crunchy. Oh my gosh, and the ricotta is so creamy. So when you have that burst of flavor in your mouth, boom, the little bit of cinnamon it's the perfect way to end a meal here.”
Kevin Gagliard: “The legacy of Frank Pepe is about people and pizza. When you come down to Frank Pepe’s, it's an experience where the employees are happy to see you. They're proud to serve the pizza. And they love to put a smile on your face.”
Jennifer Kelly: “That's what we're all about. That's my grandfather's legacy, have the customers feel as though they’re family, and our customers do understand and know that they are family when they come through that door, because that's how we want to treat them, and that makes for a great pizza experience.”
