Business

Local Businesses and COVID-19: New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria

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For today’s Q&A with a local business owner navigating the COVID-19 public health emergency, we talk to Jose Guttierez of New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria. 

After purchasing the East Avenue mainstay three years ago, Guttierez oversaw an extensive interior renovation and then reopened in 2018 with the addition of authentic Mexican cuisine to New Canaan Pizza’s classic Greek-style pizza menu. The restaurant is open 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day, offering pickup and delivery. 

Here’s our interview. New Canaanite: How are you doing? Jose Gutierrez: We are surviving in this pandemic situation. There are good signs of surviving. 

What has the response been like from the community?

Business

‘I Feel Very Excited’: New Canaan Pizza Reopens with Addition of Mexican Menu

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More than one year after it was sold and closed for renovations, New Canaan Pizza has reopened with both the same classic recipes and an expanded menu. According to Jose Gutierrez, the new owner of a cherished East Avenue business that the same family had operated for more than 40 years, Tommy Romas himself will return to work the very same ovens that made New Canaan Pizza’s Greek-style pies a must-have for generations of locals. “I feel very excited,” Gutierrez said Monday afternoon from behind the counter at what is now known as ‘New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria,’ a familiar, cozy commercial space at 53 East Ave. “We are back in business after a long remodeling process and some circumstances that were against our will. Tommy, he is going to come refresh the menu and make sure the customers are aware the recipe is still as it was 30 years ago, and we added a Mexican menu.”

He added: “We don’t want to disturb the pizza recipe.”

The additional new menu—including Soft Corn Tortilla Tacos with steak, chicken, spicy pork, chorizo or tongue ($3.50), Tortas ($10), Tacos Dorados ($9), Burritos ($10), Tostadas ($9) and Quesadillas ($8)—is designed to serve contractors in New Canaan who are seeking authentic Mexican cuisine, Gutierrez said.

Business

End of an Era: Romas Family Sells ‘New Canaan Pizza’

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New Canaan Pizza, owned for more than 40 years by the same family, has been sold and will undergo a renovation, those associated with the downtown restaurant confirmed. Closed since Sunday for an extensive renovation, the Greek-style pizza place at 53 East Ave. is to be reopened as New Canaan Pizza & Taqueria and will use the same ovens to continue serving up its signature pie, according to Tommy Romas, a familiar face behind the counter who owns the business with sister and brother-in-law. The sale marks the end of an era in New Canaan. “We appreciate everybody’s business and we are going to miss everybody,” Romas told NewCanaanite.com. 

“We are sorry that we did not officially announce it [the sale] at the time of the closing, but that was because of a management agreement.