By Thane Grauel
WESTPORT — The aroma of garlic once again hovers over Post Road East at the Sherwood Island Connector.
Pizza Lyfe, 833 Post Road East — proofing for months with ‘coming soon’ and ‘now hiring’ signs — has finally opened its doors. It’s the successor to Ignazio’s The Pizza, and before that, Bertucci’s, and, way the heck back when, the Clam Box.
Pizza Lyfe makes New York-style pies, and also offers a compact but uncommon menu of calzones, sandwiches, appetizers, salads and other healthy offerings.
The menu is a mix of good value and fancy offerings, increasingly hard to find in these parts. Nothing appears pricier than $23.
Slices start at $2.75; personal, 12-inch pies start at $12. There’s a variety of nutritious offerings, and a full liquor license, with cocktails and wines, by the glass or bottle, at a range of prices.
The eatery had a “soft opening” Monday, co-owner Vincenzo Abbattista said Thursday afternoon.
That’s a way getting a new restaurant up and running slowly while working out the kinks, rather than a splashy opening that risks getting slammed with business you can’t quite handle yet.
Thursday afternoon, Pizza Lyfe appeared to be running smoothly.
Abbattista came to the U.S. from Bari, Italy, 28 years ago, and worked at Columbus Park Trattoria in Stamford.
Bari is in the south of Italy, “where the good food comes from,” he said.
His fellow owner, Gino Riccio, also owns Quattro Pazzi, with locations in Fairfield and Darien, and Organika, in Southport.
Thane Grauel, executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.
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