Business

‘He Has Always Been a Kind of Mentor’: Chef Returns To Volunteer at Cherished Pizza Place

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Lorenzo Colella has known Paul Mauk since he was a kid growing up on Forest Street. 

The eatery his parents had opened in 1967, Joe’s Pizza, sat for most of its life just two doors down from Mauk’s Tequila Mockingbird, and Colella would come to see the family friend as a mentor. Colella’s mother Annunziata passed away two years ago, his father Giuseppe in May. Soon after, he lost some help at the pizzeria, now on Locust Avenue, and consulted Mauk, who had sold Tequila last summer after a successful 25-year run. Mauk volunteered to help out, and in just a few months, he’s made an indelible mark at Joe’s, primarily through encouraging Colella to trust his own talents as a chef and in tweaking a pizza recipe that’s been feeding New Canaanites for decades. “One of the main things he does is motivating me mentally, and making me realize I have a lot of capability and what I do is unique,” Colella said.

Business

Giuseppe Colella, 77, Founder of ‘Joe’s Pizza’ in New Canaan

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Giuseppe “Joe” Colella, age 77, a resident of New Canaan for over 45 years died Tuesday May 22nd, 2018. Born in Marcanise, Province of Caserta, Italy October 30, 1940, he was the son of the late Lorenzo Colella and Annuziata Iuliana. He was the husband of the late Annunziata Gaudino Colella. Giuseppe, or Joe as he was best known, was the founder and longtime proprietor of New Canaan’s first Pizzeria, the eponymously named, “Joe’s Pizzeria” on Locust Avenue. As a new immigrant to the United States, Joe pursued a number of jobs including working in a fireworks factory in Pennsylvania and painting a number of iconic Stamford landmarks upon moving to Connecticut. A fateful job at Roma Pizza in Stamford, CT led to a passion for food service and the opening of his own business in nearby New Canaan. Joe and his wife, Nancy, soon became fixtures of New Canaan as they grew their business and raised their 4 children in town. His dedication to hospitality and caring expressed through the sharing of food made Joe’s Pizza one of the top restaurants in Fairfield County. His generosity and larger than life personality is still fondly recalled by his family and many customers.