Into the wood-burning oven, my doughy children!

Call it the Mamoun's of pizza. Call it the best late night pie in New Haven. Whatever you want to call it, it's Pizza at the Brick Oven, the newest addition to that small circle of restaurants that make their living by staying awake almost as late as your average Yalie.

Allison Clowery/YH There's no pork on the menu, just on the pizza.

Brick Oven opened over the summer, and during the first couple weeks of school word was that the place was good— really, really good, and cheap to boot. Rest—or, rather, stay up until the wee hours—assured that everything you heard is true. Alpha Delta Pizza, the former champion-by-default of the 4 a.m. pizza scene, will be out of business by the end of the semester if there's any justice in the world.

I first made the walk up to the corner of Elm and Howe a week after I got back to New Haven, ordered a small cheese pie for $5, and pronounced it good. The service was friendly and the restaurant itself was clean and well-lit, an anomaly in a town convinced that pizza can only be consumed in the dark. Pizza at the Brick Oven even possesses a genuine wood-fired brick oven. I returned last Saturday night around 2 a.m. in serious need of a starch infusion before continuing my night, and became a convert for life, or at least for my remaining three years at Yale.

There's nothing too special about Brick Oven's pies, which fit squarely into the mold of New Haven pizza. The crust is thin, the sauce is a bit sweet, and it's covered with mozzarella. However, the pizza joints clustered around campus prove that there are right and wrong ways to do this, and the Brick Oven has hit upon a winning formula. Their crust balances perfectly between being a floppy sheet and a bone-dry saltine cracker. It's light without being flaky, soft inside the ends without tasting like uncooked dough, and topped by a flavorful, slightly sweet red sauce. Best of all, they've miraculously found a way to prevent the cheese from sliding onto your plate at the slightest tilt, and there's no need to grab a wad of napkins to sop off quarts of grease.

On Monday at 1 a.m. I grabbed a companion for a morning snack and made my way to Howe Street again, this time fortified by a generous cash infusion and determined to really put the place to the test. Cheese is one thing, but man does not live by fermented milk alone. We ordered an appetizer of chicken tenders, a spicy pizza, and the Brick Special, an unemployed cardiologist's dream. The chicken fingers were nowhere near the Educated Burgher's gold standard, but they were firm, thickly breaded, cooked all the way through, and still as good as anything else around. And they got us warmed up for the spicy, a concoction of red sauce, olives, sliced tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños. It's not exactly burn-your-eyes chocolate brown curry spicy, but for a pizza it packs a punch. I made sure to cleanse my palate with a big swig of Schweppes before moving on to the Brick Special.

Food

Pizza at the Brick Oven 122 Howe. St. $8.75 per large cheese pizza Open until 3 a.m. weekdays, 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday 777-4444

There's a little note on the bottom of the Brick Oven menu saying that they don't serve pork, but judging by the collection of pig products atop the Brick Special, they're capable of looking the other way now and then. The Special comes piled high with pepperoni, sausage, and ham, along with mushrooms, garlic, and thick slices of red and green bell pepper. It's practically impossible to eat without spilling toppings all over the table, but maneuvering a slice into your mouth is worth the trouble. Combine a carnivore's delight with terrific crust and what may be the best cheese and crispiest veggies atop any pie in town, and suddenly the sound of your heart pumping through all that cholesterol fades into the background. It's all the guilty pleasure of a fried doughnut at the Doodle, but without the feeling of having a 20-pound dumbbell lodged below your lungs.

If this wasn't enough to make me love the place, Brick Oven stays open until 3 a.m. weeknights and 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. If my roommates are to be trusted, it's even good cold. Sure, they don't serve alcohol, but if you're stumbling in the door after a night at Miya's or six hours of compulsory historical analysis, a beer is probably the last thing you need. Brick Oven is a couple hundred feet further than Alpha Delta, but it's also a couple hundred times better. So unless you really, really need to eat after four, you need never again wait an hour for two pies to be slid through the bars of Vanderbilt gate by a surly delivery guy who seems to believe that his tip is inversely related to the warmth of the pizza. Thanks to Pizza at the Brick Oven, I may even be able to survive once University Properties pulls the plug on Krauszer's and leaves Yalies to the tender mercy of late night fois gras.

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