Ribbon Cut On Detroit-Style Pizzeria

With the grand opening of Bobbi’s on Broadway Thursday afternoon, there are now, according to Mayor Justin Elicker, 65 pizzerias in town.

The 65^th pizzeria, a square “Detroit-ish”-style pizza, is named for the executive chef Bryan Burke’s 77-year-old mother who attended the ceremony.

She has no connection to Detroit, she said, or Detroit pizza, or “Detroit-ish”-style pizza, which -ish, owner Ankit Chellani said, affords them permission to be playful and creative.

The fast-casual eatery offers dine-in, grab-and-go, and delivery, according to a press release. In addition to pizza, the menu includes smashburgers, wings, salads, and desserts. Beer, wine, and cocktails will also be available.

Bobbi’s, located at 51 Broadway, occupies the former site of the legendary Educated Burgher and, more recently, Broadway Kitchen. In 2023, Yale acquired 51 and 57 Broadway for $7 million.

David Delvecchio of Yale University Properties expanded on the space Bobbi’s would occupy in the crowded city pizza scene. Rather than compete with the thin-crusted coal-fired OG, the Detroit-ish concept, he told the 50 assembled in front of the balloon-festooned exterior, “celebrates the New Haven style while adding something new and exciting to the mix.”

He thanked Chellani and Burke, who also steward Sherkaan Indian Street Food at 65 Broadway, for “creating jobs and enhancing the dining experience for students and residents.”

Mayor Justin Elicker welcomed Bobbi’s to the “pizza party capital of the world,” reminding the crowd that the city in September broke the Guinness world record for the largest single-venue pizza party.

He lauded Chellani and Burke, as small business owners, for their dedication. “When everyone else is off work in the evenings or on the weekends, you’re hard at work,” he said. “You’re your HR manager, your marketing director, budget director, you gotta do a bit of everything, not to mention making a product that everyone can love.”

The most stylish description of the Detroit-ish style pizza came from Taste of New Haven’s Colin Caplan, also known as New Haven’s Apostle of Apizza, and the man responsible for the recent Guinness world record.  

“Detroit-style pizza is a Sicilian pan pizza with the cheese going into the edges,” he said. “It’s crispy, it’s a fluffy lighter crust, and it’s very different from New Haven style, but pizza is a pie, that’s what it means in Italian, and Bobbi’s is gonna rock this town.

“I’m hungry,” he declared. “And I think our city is hungry for more pizza, and I think we have the appetite to eat a lot of other kinds of pizza.”

Owner Ankit Chellani expressed gratitude to his family for their support and to Burke, his executive chef and business partner, for sticking by him for almost 10 years. “When I first came to Bryan with this idea, I think he absolutely did not want to do it,” he said. “But I really pushed and here we are.”

Inside, among the jaunty cosmic pop-art wall murals, was Bobbi’s oversized message to all who enter: “In a city of circles, be a square,” it read. It was, perhaps, a reference to the Detroit-ish pizza among all others. Beyond question, though, was the ringing endorsement by Caplan who, alongside Mayor Elicker, was sampling the “Becca,” a roasted broccoli ricotta and za’atar pizza.

“Best of Detroit and best of New Haven,” he proclaimed. “Who’s got it better than us?”

The post Ribbon Cut On Detroit-Style Pizzeria appeared first on New Haven Independent.