Business

‘Pray For Me and I’ll Be Back’: Joe’s Pizza Temporarily Closed As Lorenzo Colella Attends to Health Issues

By |

The popular owner of one of New Canaan’s most beloved pizzerias is asking locals to be patient as he works through health problems that have forced its temporary closing. Asked what he’d say to the many loyal customers of Joe’s Pizza on Locust Avenue, Lorenzo Colella said, “I just want them to be patient with me and I love them and appreciate all of their support.”

He added, “It’s just hard being away from them, my family and New Canaan.”

Colella spoke from Hartford Hospital, where he’s undergone a battery of tests for the past week following a yet-undiagnosed heart issue that first appeared Aug. 19 and re-emerged last Wednesday, prompting an emergency admission at Hartford following a consultation at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport. Asked what New Canaanites can do to support him, Colella said, “Just prayers.”

“My wife’s got it down for now, and my mother-in-law,” he said.

Business

Local Restaurants and COVID-19: Joe’s Pizza

By |

In this installment of our daily Q&A this week with a local restaurant owner dealing with restrictions during the COVID-19 emergency, we hear from Lorenzo Colella of Joe’s Pizza on Locust Avenue. Here’s our exchange. 

New Canaanite: What has this past week been like for you? 

It’s been pretty hectic. The new system of doing everything works well when they can’t come in but it takes planning. I had to hire two new kids, a high school kid and college kid. It’s just the logistics of it all when it’s busy.

Business

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

By |

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.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

Police are urging residents to beware fraudsters posing as IRS agents by phoning local numbers and leaving computer-generated or live voice messages. On Thursday, residents reported receiving unsolicited phone calls from people claiming to represent the IRS. When asked whether the call was a “scam,” the caller disconnected, according to New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. The actual IRS generally contacts citizens through snail mail, authorities say—never give personal information to unknown parties via telephone or computer. ***

New Canaan Library’s renowned “Conversations with Business Leaders” lecture series this year will feature Jamie Forese, president of Citigroup.

Business

Beef Stew for Emergency Responders in Snow Storm: A Legacy Endures at Joe’s Pizza

By |

Lorenzo Colella awoke Tuesday morning to the same winter storm news as fellow New Canaan merchants: What had been predicted as two feet of snow would come to about half of that total. Despite the still-hazardous road conditions, the Joe’s Pizza owner decided to open at 11 a.m.

And he decided to do something else. “I just thought about these guys being out there and I figure they’re on the roads and need some food, so maybe I can help them out and give them a little extra kick in their step,” Colella told NewCanaanite.com. That kick came in the form of a beef stew, and from a recipe near and dear to the 1995 New Canaan High School graduate. With potatoes, carrots, beef, onions, cumin, rosemary, salt, pepper, thyme and brown gravy, the stew that Colella offered up to New Canaan police, firefighters, EMTs and public works crews was his mother’s.