By Charlie Pogacar
Growing up in West Haven, Connecticut—a stone’s throw from New Haven—pizza was a way of life for Frank Zabski. His love for the food continued into adulthood, even if it was not part of his original career as an IT entrepreneur.
Zabski’s second act, however, has been all about apizza—the beloved style of pizza created by Frank Pepe in the 1920’s. Zabski founded the All About New Haven Style Apizza Facebook group, which has grown to nearly 20,000 private members. He founded the New Haven Pizza School, which has similarly thrived.
Two years ago, with some help from his friends, Zabski wrote and recorded a song he hoped would take off as an apizza anthem. The song was critically acclaimed but met with a lukewarm public reception. Determined, Zabski decided to record a professional music video to go along with the song—and the video is finally here.
Related: Is This Song Going to Become a New Haven Apizza Anthem?
View this post on Instagram
“I think when 99% of people come up with an idea, regardless of what it is, they’ll never really do anything with it,” Zabski recently told PMQ Pizza. “Well, I’m the opposite. And some of my ideas are good, and others [are not so good]. This song has been interesting because it’s gotten a lot of press locally, but it’s just such a niche thing… so we decided to make a video because that’s how people seem to want to connect with [content] these days.”
The song and video are part of an ongoing mission of Zabski’s that began with a YouTube channel called the Pizza Gavones. While New Haven’s Wooster St. is home to three of the most famous pizzerias in the world—Frank Pepe’s, Sally’s Apizza and Modern Apizza—Zabski wants you to know that you can also find world-class pizza elsewhere in Connecticut.
“Everyone talks about Sally’s, Pepe’s and Modern, and listen, I’m not down on any of those places at all,” Zabski recently told PMQ Pizza. “My personal opinion, however, is that the story of pizza in Connecticut is being missed. Because everyone already knows about [the Big Three], but in the past 5-to-10 years, there are a lot of pizzerias that have upped their game and are on or close to the same level as [the Big Three] but they aren’t getting the same shine.”
The new video brings Zabski’s inclusive perspective to life, namechecking (and showing) other apizza destinations like Next Door, Abate and Ernie’s Pizzeria to name just a few. Zabski is hoping the music video will get the song more fanfare and hopefully shine a light on the apizza scene quietly growing outside of the national spotlight.
“I think the best thing for people outside of Connecticut to know is that if you come to Connecticut, there are a lot of really, really good pizzerias outside of New Haven,” Zabski said. “Sure, go to one the Big Three pizzerias, but give many of these other places a shot—even if they’re not a quote-unquote name brand.”
