REVIEW
We imagine selling pizza in Connecticut is more challenging than in any other part of the country. After all, America’s greatest pizzas are found in the Nutmeg State. The bar here has been set awfully high. And while we wouldn’t match Letizia’s up against the best of its New Haven brethren, emerging from their oven are pizzas that we would be glad to call our neighborhood pies. These are well-executed pizzas, served with an unusual level of hospitality for a pie joint.
A small provolone salad
Letizia’s grabbed our attention as soon as we opened our menus, where we read the following:
This attention to crust doneness gets us where we live. We’re of the opinion that a pizza is not fully cooked until some significant black is visible. The pepperoni pie pictured at the top of this writeup was requested crispy and, in retrospect, we could have asked for it well done. The crust, while not jaw-achingly chewy, has good flavor. There are no leftover bones here. Not only do we like blackened pizza, we also like oily pizza, which is a good thing in this particular instance because the pepperoni weeps an extravagant amount of, well, what should we call it? Grease. Fat-phobes be forewarned.
Letizia’s is simply a neighborhood pizza joint in a strip mall, but also an especially good one.
Besides pizza, Letizia’s offers calzones, grinders, pastas, and dinners like eggplant parm, along with a few salads (the small provolone salad pictured above, topped with mild sandwich provolone, was inoffensive and forgettable). We wouldn’t make a special trip to get to Letizia’s but, if we were already in the area, we’d be more than happy to pop in for a pie.
666 Main Avenue Norwalk CT 06851 203-847-6022 Letizia’s Website
I agree! Norwalkers who live near Letizia’s probably think of it as the neighborhood pizzeria. They don’t know how good they have it!
New Jersey has some great pizza, but the “base level” quality is pretty poor. It seems to me that if you were to walk into a random pizzeria, your highest chance for a good pie would be in Connecticut.
Yes, but only in certain parts of the state, I think. The area around New Haven is pretty safe, but the eastern side is devoid of great places.
Yeah what do they call the NE quadrant of CT? Something like the quiet corner? Not a hotbed of culinary interest.
The quiet corner, yes. There’s a few noteworthy places but certainly not a hotbed.
We’ve been to We-Li-Kit together. Anyplace else you can think of offhand?