Esquire

Best New Restaurants In America, 2021

By The Esquire Editors

The doughnuts taste like melting cumulus clouds. The New England pizza, strewn with clams and bacon, tastes like clam chowder if it spent a few months in Italy and had an epiphany in Naples. The menu at Nana’s is full of stuff you see all over Connecticut, but everything rises to a higher level thanks to deep fermentation and the careful hands of baker David Vacca and chef James Wayman, one of the unsung pioneers in American cooking.

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ROBB REPORT

Meet Nana’s, the New Restaurant Making the Best Pizza in Connecticut

By Andy Wang

In Connecticut, where old-school pizza dominates and New Haven icons Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Sally’s Apizza continue to sling their coal-fired masterpieces, Nana’s Bakery & Pizza is pulling off what feels like a magic trick. Nana’s, which opened in Mystic last October, is making terrific Connecticut pizza that tastes both familiar and brand-new.

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Food & Wine

The Best Pizza in Every State

By David Landsel

Not all of the good Connecticut pizza is ancient. One of the best clam pies in the state right now comes from Nana's Bakery & Pizza in Mystic, a superbly likable modern addition to that town's growing culinary scene.

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CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER

An Oceanside Getaway to Mystic, Ct, & Greenport, ny

BY KATHLEEN SQUIRES

Recently opened Nana’s Bakery & Pizza is considered the “new Mystic Pizza,” and is the latest addition to the mini-empire overseen by James Wayman and Dan Meiser, who have transformed Mystic into a dining destination. Try the “New England” pie, laden with potato, bacon, garlic butter, and clams—an homage to the area’s famous clam chowder. The warm sourdough donuts, in genius flavors such as cacio e pepe, are a must, too.

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New York Post

The booming foodie scene in Mystic, is so much more than pizza

By Linda Laban

Don’t fret — there’s still pizza to be enjoyed in Mystic, like at Nana’s who specializes in thick crust pies. Along with seriously good coffee and house-made kombucha — their miso is fermented in-house, too — organic grain is milled on-site to create the tastiest, most nutritious flour for digestible breads, pastries, made-to-order hot doughnuts and a proprietary pizza dough, developed by 85th’s executive chef James Wayman — the roasted sweet potato, kale pesto and pine nut melds perfectly into its chewy, tasty crust. (Pizzas range from $10 to $20.)

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Forbes

Fine New England Fare: Eating Around Mystic, Connecticut

By John Mariani

Nana’s Bakery and Pizza (32 Williams Avenue; 860-980-3375) is very new and very, very good. The goods are all made with organic flour and yeasts, and they even make their own soda flavors (though they need work). We ate outside on a perfect summer’s day, chatting with Aaron Laipply, partner with chef James Wayman, who have passionately committed to going their own way and innovating but well within the respect for tradition. In that regard, the pizzas are as close to any I’ve had in Naples and Sicily, with a crust with a crisp but pliant texture, an interior somewhat like focaccia, and the flavor of the yeast and olive oil throughout.

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