While the modern-day pizza might have been invented across the pond in the late 18th century in Naples, Italy, it's become an American staple over the past century. And while many pizza practitioners have experimented with a plethora of different toppings and sauces to tantalize the tastebuds of their consumers, none might be as revolutionary as the inventor of the white calm pizza.
In 1925, Frank Pepe of Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana served its very first pizza topped with clams on the historic Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Ever since then, imitators have been trying to master this specialty pie to no avail like the original that is now nearly a century old. While the ingredients are simplistic consisting of romano cheese, fresh garlic, parsley, clams, and olive oil, nothing beats the New Haven coal-fired brick ovens that toast this charred and chewy pizza pie like its home state.