Pizza Panels
Sit in on pizza panels throughout the day with some local legends of the CT Pizza Scene! All hosted by New Haven Pizza School’s Frank Zabski, “The Pizza Gavone.”
All pizza panels are free with your CT Pizza & Brew Fest tickets.
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Learn how to make New Haven Style Apizza from Frank Zabski, owner of New Haven Pizza School. Frank has taught close to 5,500 students from all over the country over the last three years how to make the best pizza in the world, called New Haven Style. All ingredients can be sourced at your local grocery store with easy to bake instructions using your home oven. You’ll learn everything from dough to dish.
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Learn how to bake a pizza in your Ooni/portable oven without burning it to a crisp!
Frank Zabski, owner of New Haven Pizza School will walk you through step-by-step how to set yourself up for success when baking a pizza in an Ooni/portable oven. There will be a live demo outside using an Ooni Karo 16 and propane as the fuel. Many tips including how to block the flames from burning your pizza, how to work the gas correctly to heat up your stone for proper bake, correct dough size per specific oven just to name a few. Remember, flames burn, heat bakes.
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Get ready for plenty of pizza talk, laughs, and maybe even a few heated topping debates. Charred: A New Haven Pizza Show, hosted by Kevin Begley and Frank Zabski, will be recording a live episode at the Connecticut Pizza & Brew Fest. Kevin and Frank will have on some of Connecticut's favorite pizza makers, brewers, and food personalities to swap stories, celebrate the state's legendary pizza scene, and give festival-goers a behind-the-scenes look at the people and passion behind every slice. Whether you're a lifelong apizza purist or just here for the beer and good times, you'll have a chance to be part of the live audience as Charred brings the energy, flavor, and fun that have made it the go-to show for Connecticut pizza fans.
Frank Zabski, owner of New Haven Pizza School
About Frank Zabski:
Born in the second pizza capital of the world, West Haven, Frank grew up eating New Haven-style apizza for as long as he can remember. Whether it was Zuppardi’s, Mike’s Apizza, Danny’s Expresso, Luigi’s, or Vesuvio’s, each spot was a regular pizzeria for him on any given week. Frank first started making pizza at the St. John Vianney Carnival in West Haven during the ‘80s where he’d help make pizza fritta (fried dough) and often would debate whether “sauce and grated cheese” or “powdered sugar” belonged on the pizzas! In the early ‘90s, Frank was introduced to Wooster Street. Wooster Street is the home of New Haven pizza legends such as Sally’s and Pepe’s and of course, you can’t forget dessert at Libby’s Bakery. It was love at first bite.
In 2012, Frank decided to take his passion for New Haven apizza and combine it with his love of music. Frank launched Fired Up Pizza Truck and aimed to “bring the party to you, not just the pizza.” Fired Up Pizza Truck catered to parties from 50-125 people and was known in the New Haven area for serving delicious New Haven Style apizza, Foxon Park soda, and creating custom playlists for each party per the host’s request.
In 2020, as a distraction from Covid, Frank started a Facebook group called “All About New Haven Style Apizza.” The idea was simply to create a happy place for people to go and talk about pizza, share their tips and tricks, and also give their opinion on their favorite pizzerias or pies. The Facebook group grew exponentially, and shortly after Frank formed The Pizza Gavones which was a comedy trio that does pizza reviews. In addition to creating The Pizza Gavones, Frank creates YouTube videos on how to make New Haven style apizza right from your home as well as other Italian American eats.
Most recently Frank started New Haven Pizza School which he runs out of Next Door in New Haven, CT. Simple premise is to teach people how to make New Haven Style pizza or Apizza as we call it around CT. Dough, sauce, stretching, assembling, launching, baking and eat are all included in this three-hour class. In addition to all this a brief history of New Haven Pizza and dough spinning is included in the class. Brick & Mortar, Team building, lunch and learns, Ooni and wood fired oven training are all options at the school.
Frank and his school have been featured or mentioned in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times. He has also been featured on Channel 8’s Nyberg several times, WFSB Connecticut, News 12, New Haven Register and Hartford Courant.