New Haven food beyond pizza: burgers, pastry, Ethiopian and Ninth Square

New Haven is famous for apizza, and the pizza deserves its fame, but a visit built only around pizza misses most of what the city eats. Make room for the rest: a burger on toast, Italian pastry, the international restaurants near Yale and neighborhoods you can walk. The pizza has a guide of its own.

What is the New Haven burger on toast?

New Haven claims to be the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich, a claim other towns dispute. The method is what matters: burgers cooked in vertical broilers, served on toast with only cheese, tomato or onion as toppings, and traditionally no ketchup. The lunch place that serves it is small, with limited hours, so go early.

What is the Wooster Square neighborhood?

Wooster Square is New Haven's old Italian neighborhood, around a green park lined with rowhouses. Wooster Street has the best-known pizzerias, and also bakeries, pastry shops and cafes. Pastry shops on Wooster Street and Grand Avenue are the place for dessert. In spring the park's cherry trees bloom and the neighborhood holds a cherry blossom festival, though the dates depend on the weather. On weekends, lines at the pizzerias are long, so a pastry stop at a quieter time is a good alternative.

Where is Ninth Square and what is there to eat?

Ninth Square, near the Green, is a more industrial, arts-focused area that has been redeveloped, with galleries, specialty shops and restaurants. It is a good place for a drink and a meal in the evening, and the streets are walkable. Check hours, since some places close on Sundays and Mondays.

What about international food?

New Haven's universities, hospitals and immigrant communities support a range of cuisines. Look for Ethiopian, French-Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai restaurants, with the Dixwell and Ninth Square areas as starting points. Orange Street and Chapel Street, near the Yale campus, have restaurants of many types, and food trucks gather near the medical center and the campus at lunchtime.

Where can you find coffee, bookstores and cafes?

Chapel Street has cafes and bookshops where you can eat a sandwich while you browse. The Yale campus has coffee shops and bakeries. Downtown near the Green, the cafes are busy at lunch and quieter in the afternoon. A cafe stop is an easy way to take a break between museums, such as the Yale University Art Gallery and the Beinecke Library, where you can see rare books.

Is there a farmers market?

New Haven has farmers markets that run in warm months at several locations, including near the Green. Markets are good places to buy local fruit, vegetables and baked goods, and to eat a quick breakfast.

How do you get around?

Downtown New Haven is walkable. Trains from New York and Boston stop at Union Station, and a short taxi or bus ride gets you to the Green. Wooster Square is a short distance from downtown. Parking in the pizza areas is tight on weekends, so use a garage or a ride-share.

What are the practical tips?

Bring cash for small places that take only cash. Expect lines at the best-known pizza and burger places on weekends and in the evenings. Check whether a restaurant is open on Sundays and Mondays. Connecticut adds a meals tax to restaurant checks, and tipping at table service is 18 to 20 percent. Students are away in the summer, so campus-area restaurants may cut their hours.

A good day plan might run like this. Begin with coffee and a pastry near Wooster Square, walk through the park and the neighborhood and look at the rowhouses. Take a short walk or bus ride to the Yale campus and spend the late morning at a museum. Eat lunch at a lunch counter or a cafe near Chapel Street, and spend the afternoon on the Green, looking at the churches and the shops. In the early evening, return to Ninth Square for a drink and dinner, or go back to Wooster Street for pizza if you have not yet been. This route covers the main food districts on foot, and you can swap stops in and out depending on the weather and your appetite.

If you have a car, a short drive takes you to the shoreline towns of Branford and Madison, with seafood and ice cream, or to the hills of Hamden, home of the Sleeping Giant State Park, for a hike followed by a diner meal. Parking near the Green fills on weekdays, so use a garage.

How do you keep track of New Haven beyond the pizza?

New Haven rewards the visitor who eats more than one thing. In the Mosey app, rate the burger on toast, the cannoli and the Ethiopian lunch by the dish, add a tag such as Bakery or Student Friendly, and keep the stops in a list for Wooster Square, Ninth Square and the Yale area. Share it with the friend who thinks New Haven is only pizza, and let them add their own finds. Follow friends who studied here and see where they still eat.

Rate your next non-pizza meal in New Haven in the Mosey app and start the list.

More guides to read next:

• Late-night food in New Haven: Broadway, Chapel Street and Yale
• New Haven apizza guide: coal-fired pizza and how to order it

More in the US food guides and the ranked lists of places.