Mystic and So Much Pizza

41 miles, Mystic, CT

56 miles, New Haven, CT

56 miles, Mystic, CT

220 miles, Hatboro, PA

Total miles: 4830

Last official stop!

Full disclosure, I went to Mystic purely because of the movie Mystic Pizza and didn't really know much, if anything, about Mystic beyond that.

My time in Mystic was basically limited to pizza and a bit of walking around. I was there for a day and a half and my plan was Day 1: do a bit of walking around Mystic and then chill out at my AirBNB and Day 2: full day in Mystic. Well, as you'll see, Day 2 was derailed when my friend Marc (hi, Marc) encouraged (harassed) me to do a New Haven pizza tour. Marc is *not* one to encourage me to do something like EAT ALL THE PIZZA, so I knew this idea was serious. Who am I to turn down the opportunity to do a Tour of Pizza?

Downtown Mystic is charming. I walked around a bit (and shopped of course) before I headed to Mystic Pizza for lunch. Given that my whole plan of doing a deep dive into Mystic was derailed by Pizzagate, I didn't do a ton *in* Mystic. To be honest, I'm OK with that given that Day 2 brought me one of the best pizzas *of my life*.

Lunch at Mystic Pizza was fun, even if purely for the connection to the movie and that experience. The pizza was actually way better than I expected! I expected it to be not so great considering the movie itself will pull people in to eat regardless of the taste, but it was good!

After lunch I headed to my AirBNB across the river. It was a little apartment attached to the host's main house and it was SUPER CUTE and comfortable. Definitely a 180 from my experience in Toronto. I was so happy that they provided coffee+. It was the only AirBNB on my trip to do so, and this was my 10th AirBNB of the trip!

I decided to do the hour drive to New Haven for Tour de Pizza on Day 2, but before I left the area I made a stop at B.F. Clyde's Cider Mill for some cold apple cider and an apple cider donut.

I found this place by Googling 'Things to do in Mystic' and let me tell you, Google did *not* disappoint.

This was such a delish fall treat. Fall is my favorite season and, well, Fall in Florida lasts all of 4 days or so. As I'm writing this, it's Fall in Florida, at least for today (it's 65 degrees and we're cold and wearing hoodies).

Now, PIZZA. The tour included 3 stops: Sally's, Frank Pepe's, and Modern. Spoiler alert, that's also the way I'm ranking them in deliciousness. Oh, and I only ordered plain/cheese pizza in order to be able to accurately compare.

Stop #1: Sally's

OMG SALLY'S. I'm going to dream about this pizza for the rest of my life. It was so good. Definitely top 5 pizzas of my life. Possibly top 2. Pica's (a Delco MUST) is also in my top 2, for reference. The sauce was delicious. The crust had crunch. There was no flop. The sauce to cheese ratio was perfect. Baked to perfection.

My plan was to have 2 slices at each stop in order to be able to do comparisons.

I could not stop eating Sally's and ate the whole pie.

I have zero regrets.

Stop #2: Frank Pepe's

I took a deep breath and a short walk down the street and landed at Pepe's. It was very good, but it wasn't Sally's. The sauce was not as tasty, the crust had crunch and the sauce to cheese ratio was acceptable, minor flop. I can appreciate the lovers of Pepe's though I cannot in good conscious rank it in my top 5. Don't @ me, New Haven.

Stop #3: Modern

In order to get to Modern I hopped in the car and went for a short drive and got some digestion time in before stop #3.

Oh, Modern, how I do not like thee. Now, I gave it some thought - had I just had too much pizza by now? Was I just too full? No. I am not one to thumbs down a pizza just because I had already eaten (probably too much) pizza.

Sauce, not impressed. Crust, not as crunchy. Cheese to sauce ratio, way too much cheese (yes, there can be too much cheese). Flop - major. As my mama told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Sorry, Modern.

What did I do the rest of the day? I went back to my AirBNB, took off my hard pants, put on pants with an elastic waistband, and proceeded to be full until sometime the next afternoon when I headed out for the drive back to Philly that would mark the end of my roadtrip.

Yes, I did take my leftovers. Though I could not eat any more pizza (and that would be true for weeks), I was headed to my Mom's and Dom's and Dom was happy to finish it off for me. We do not waste pizza in this family.

xoxo

iamfunchris