Tag Archives: Westport Pizzeria

All’s Well That Ends, Mel

Posted on February 24, 2014 | 3 comments

For Westport Pizzeria, one door — the one at 107 Main Street — closed yesterday.

But another one opened today, at 143 Post Road East.

Here — without missing a beat — was the noontime scene:

Westport Pizzeria 1

Westport Pizzeria 3

Westport Pizzeria 2

It was Day 1, of the next 45 years.

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Posted in Downtown, People, Restaurants

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The Last Slice

Posted on February 23, 2014 | 8 comments

Tomorrow, this scene will be part of Westport history:

(Photo/Ted Stonbely)

(Photo/Ted Stonbely)

After 45 years, Westport Pizzeria is closing its Main Street doors. The narrow, never-changing restaurant, with its skinny tables, small stools, and special smell — all will be memories, after the last slice is served tonight.

But all is well. Tomorrow, “the pizzeria” opens at its new location: 143 Post Road East, across from the old post office.

Mangia!

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Posted in Downtown, Restaurants

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Throwing A Parade For Westport Pizzeria?

Posted on February 2, 2014 | 13 comments

S&M Pizza

Well, not exactly.

But this photo — sent by alert reader Mark Potts, showing a 1972-ish Memorial Day parade — illustrates several key takeaways from today:

Westport Pizzeria is moving to a great new location.

Westport loves a celebration.

Yes, there really was a restaurant called “S&M Pizza.”

Is this a great town or what?

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Posted in Looking back, People, Restaurants

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Main Street Post-Pizzeria: And Then There Was One

Posted on February 2, 2014 | 64 comments

As Mel Mioli and I chatted yesterday afternoon about the imminent relocation of Westport Pizzeria to 143 Post Road East, we remembered the many Main Street businesses that his narrow restaurant outlasted.

We didn’t chat about chain stores. Our trip down memory lane was all about the “real” stores that — once upon a time — defined downtown.

Back in the 1970s, a Mobil station sat opposite Westport Pizzeria. Today, it''s Vineyard Vines.

Back in the 1970s, a Mobil station sat opposite Westport Pizzeria. Today, it”s Vineyard Vines.

All of these places existed during the 45 years Westport Pizzeria has been a Main Street mainstay:

  • Achorn’s Pharmacy
  • Bill’s Smoke Shop
  • Charles Market
  • Chez Pierre
  • Charles of the Ritz Hair Salon
  • County Barber Shop
  • Dorain’s Drug Store
  • Klein’s Department Store
  • Liquor Locker
  • Mark’s Place
  • Remarkable Book Shop
  • Sally’s Place
  • Selective  Eye
  • Sloane’s Furniture
  • Soup’s On
  • Sport Mart
  • Swezey’s Jewelers
  • Westport Food Center
  • Welch’s Hardware

And that’s just off the top of our heads.

Mel and I came up with the name of just one Main Street non-chain business that was there in 1968, and still remains. In fact, it started out a few doors down, a couple of decades before Mel and Joe Mioli opened their pizzeria.

Congratulations, Oscar’s! You’re the last of a great bunch left on Main Street.

Oscar's Delicatessen (Photo/Videler Photography)

Oscar’s Delicatessen (Photo/Videler Photography)

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Posted in Downtown, Local business, Restaurants

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Westport Pizzeria: Big Changes In Store

Posted on February 2, 2014 | 38 comments

The bad news: After 45 years, Westport Pizzeria is closing its Main Street doors.

The good news: The day after it happens — later this month — the legendary, much-loved restaurant will re-open around the corner.

The new location — 143 Post Road East — was most recently the site of EATalia. It’s got great Italian bones: Before that, it was Joe’s Pizza. Even earlier, it was the bizarrely named S&M Pizza.

Westport Pizzeria owner Mel Mioli. His shirt says, "Serving generations with kindness and love since 1968!"

Westport Pizzeria owner Mel Mioli. His shirt says, “Serving generations with kindness and love since 1968!”

Owner Mel Mioli says his landlord — Malkin Property — sent him a non-renewal notice around January 1. Earlier, Mel says, Malkin offered him a 5-year lease if Kate Spade — 2 doors down — did not rent the entire building. But that didn’t happen, Mel says. Then the landlord stopped answering letters, emails and phone calls.

Now Mel is out. So is Kate Spade. And — in between them — Francois DuPont Jewelers.

At first, Mel says, he was sad. After nearly half a century on Main Street, the pizzeria he and his brother Joe founded has become a Westport institution. Customers became  friends — and he’s watched their children, and now grandchildren, grow up.

But a couple of years ago, Mel bought the 143 Post Road East property — just in case something like this happened.

Now, that’s a hot location. Just a few steps away are a host of restaurants: Post 154. Finalmente. La Villa. Blue Lemon.

A familiar scene, for 45 years. The backs of the shirts say "A true slice of Westport."

A familiar scene, for 45 years. The backs of the shirts say “A true slice of Westport.”

Westport Pizzeria’s new space is a lot larger than the beloved — but very narrow — Main Street site. Mel is renovating the Post Road property, making it bright and welcoming.

He’ll add a few dishes to the menu. Plus — grazie! — beer and wine.

Mel’s initial sadness has turned to excitement.

“I’m very, very happy,” he says. “We’ll take care of old customers better than before, and I know we’ll make new ones.”

The other day, he walked past his new Westport Pizzeria. The sidewalk was packed with pedestrians. “I can’t wait to open,” Mel says.

So will he stay another 45 years on Post Road East?

“At least!” Mel promises.

At the end of the month, this will be just another Main Street memory.

At the end of the month, this will be just another Main Street memory.

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Westport Pizzeria: 1968 All Over Again

Posted on October 10, 2013 | 19 comments

In October 1968, Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey were battling it out for the presidency. Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave glove-and-fist black power salutes on the medal stand at the Mexico City Olympics. “Hey Jude” sat atop the record charts.

And on October 12, 1968 — its opening day of business — Westport Pizzeria sold a slice for 25 cents.

In October 2013, we all know what happened after Nixon became president. We’ve seen how far our country’s race relations have progressed — and how much further we have to go. “Hey Jude” is still a great song.

2013 -- or 1968?

2013 — or 1968?

It also costs quite a bit more than a quarter to buy a slice. But — in a downtown that has changed so much — Westport Pizzeria still looks just as it did 4 1/2 decades ago.

This Saturday (October 12) the pizza place celebrates its 45th anniversary with a special deal: From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., they’ll sell slices for 25 cents. Sodas are a quarter too. (At the counter only.)

In 1968, Westport Pizzeria was the only game in town. Now there’s competition everywhere, from thick-crust Planet to gourmet Tarry Lodge.

But the Mioli family — the founders and still the only owners of Westport Pizzeria — must be doing something right. A restaurant doesn’t last 45 years here on luck alone.

Some don’t even last 45 days.

19 Comments

Posted in Looking back, People, Restaurants

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Main Street Gas Lamp: Harder To Find Than Waldo

Posted on May 2, 2013 | 5 comments

Redoing the Main Street “bump-out” — in front of Westport Pizzeria, across from Vineyard Vines — was a great idea.

But the execution — meh.

The Downtown Merchants Association wanted something pretty, quaint, eye-catching, different. Something that screamed (or at least whispered) “Westport.”

What they got was:

Main Street, Westport CT

Somewhere along the way, the trees got cut. The planned plantings were eliminated.

And — probably because of some obscure state Department of Transportation rule — the fairly funky faux gas lamp was obliterated by 3 big signs.

The bottom 2 of which have seen better days.

Look closely. You can find the “gas lamp.”

But the drivers entering downtown — folks we hope to attract by our cuteness — never will.

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Posted in Downtown, Organizations

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Grandfather Clause

Posted on May 1, 2013 | 186 comments

The other day, a longtime friend and fellow Staples grad joked — at least, I think she was joking — that Westport natives like us should be “grandfathered in” for certain privileges.

For example, she said, we should be exempt from the 1-way prohibition on Wright Street — near that gross office building — because it was 2-way all the way, back in the day.

She also said we should still be allowed to call Earthplace “The Nature Center” — because that’s what it always was, and really still is. Plus, whenever we walk into Elvira’s, we should not be surprised by the full shelves and lack of grubbiness.

Before it was Elvira's, it was The Old Mill Deli. Also known as Kenny's. Or Grub's.

Before it was Elvira’s, it was The Old Mill Deli. Also known as Kenny’s. Or Grub’s.

I came up with my own grandfather clause: driving both ways down Main Street — like from the pizzeria toward Thompson’s Pharmacy. I mean, Ships. Sorry: Tiffany.

Sure, that would cause a bit more chaos than turning onto Post Road West from Wright Street.

But it is a grandfather-driver-type thing to do.

Yep, there was 2-way traffic on Main Street. And Klein's, the Townly Restaurant, and a Mobil station.

Yep, there was 2-way traffic on Main Street. Plus a traffic light, Klein’s (now Banana Republic), the Townly Restaurant, and a Mobil station.

If you’re a long-time Westporter, click “Comments” to add your own ways of being grandfathered in.

And if you’re a newcomer, click “Comments” to share ways you might be grandfathered in to Westport, years from now.

186 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Local business, Looking back, Organizations

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Eat!

Posted on January 5, 2013 | 20 comments

Over the past few years, Westport’s pizza places have multiplied like mushrooms.

The latest entrant — with a menu that includes plenty of other Italian dishes — is EATalia. (Get it?)

What makes this new restaurant blog-worthy is that it replaces another Italian place: Joe’s Pizza. The site is the Post Road, opposite the old post office.

But Joe’s did not disappear. It relocated up Main Street, to the small shopping center past Avery Place that includes Sally’s Place.

That puts it just a few pies away from Westport Pizzeria — which hasn’t changed anything (except a few prices) for 43 years, to the delight of pizzaphiles everywhere.

And — to complete the circle — the landlord for EATalia is Mel Mioli. That’s right: the owner of Westport Pizzeria.

Mamma mia!

pizza

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Posted in Downtown, Restaurants

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Stumping On Main Street

Posted on November 21, 2012 | 29 comments

‘Twas the day before Thanksgiving — and the start of what everyone calls “the holiday season” — but downtown Westport looked decidedly unfestive.

This morning, work crews chopped down every tree on the west side of Main Street — right to ground level.

Word on the street (ho ho) is that light poles will replace the trees, which were planted only a few years ago. We’ll have to see if this is a step forward — aesthetically and Westportically speaking — or not.

Paul Bunyan arrived while several stores remain shuttered — more than 3 weeks after Sandy surged up Main Street, onto floors loaded with merchandise and into basements housing electrical equipment.

The locked doors and we-don’t-want-you-to-see-in windows added to the dismal atmosphere, on what is usually one of the most bustling days downtown.

At the same time — slowing what little traffic there was, while adding a decidedly un-holiday glow — work continued on the new “bump-out” opposite Westport Pizzeria.

Meanwhile, directly across Main Street, the little patch of life on the corner of Elm Street shows the after-effects of a recent accident. An enormous truck failed to make the tricky turn.

But hey. We’ve still got that magnificent tree next to Vineyard Vines.

For now, anyway.

29 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Local business, Restaurants, Weather

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