First Kosher Pizza Shop in New Haven Will Also be a Bakery

by Jake Dressler – New Haven Independent and COLlive
Photos: Karl T Moore Photography

Members of the growing Jewish community in New Haven, Connecticut gathered over wine and appetizers to celebrate the grand opening of Ricotta, New Haven’s first kosher pizza restaurant and bakery.

The restaurant is the fourth offering from Nadav Hadad, owner of Ess and Bench in Crown Heights and Albany Bagel in Boro Park, Brooklyn, who has opened Ricotta with New Haven resident Yaakov Atia.

Named after a creamy Italian cheese, the menu features a sweeping variety of pizza and veggie pizzas, fresh falafel, as well as salads, french fries, and more dairy favorites. Ricotta also offers traditional Ashkenazic baked goods like knishes, spinach rolls, and chocolaty rugelach, all baked in-house.

Also on the menu are a variety of gourmet coffees and drinks as well as ice cream.

Hadad, who handles most of the day-to-day operations at the restaurant, said that offering healthful food is one of his main goals.

“We want to offer good food that is also very healthy,” he said.

Ricotta is the newest addition to New Haven’s expanding lineup of kosher restaurants to accommodate a rapidly growing Jewish population. Moti Sandman, a member of the New Haven Chabad community, attributed the growing Jewish population to people escaping high rents in New York. “As we’re seeing a lot of New Yorkers come in, and they’re bringing more people and creating markets for more kosher restaurants,” Sandman said. “We’re really excited about it and very proud to be a part of it.”

Josh Glahn, a medical student who dines at Yale’s Slifka Center, described Ricotta as a breath of fresh air for Jewish students looking for kosher and casual food: ​“As someone who keeps kosher, there’s not so many places to eat in New Haven, and it’s really exciting to have a casual place to go to all the time,” he said.

Ricotta also offers delivery and catering. The website is currently under construction, but you can contact them by phone or via Instagram.

Ricotta
1203 Chapel St.
New Haven, CT