Valley Independent Sentinel

Marco Pizzeria Opens In Derby

by Fred Musante | Mar 6, 2013 10:50 pm

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Posted to: Derby

For Tom Andrew, who opened Marco Pizzeria Restaurant in Derby this week, it’s great to be back in the Valley.

“I’m from the Valley. I graduated from Seymour High School in 1966. My family still lives in the Valley,” Andrew explained Wednesday (March 6) at the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new pizzeria at 656 New Haven Ave.

This is the second Marco Pizzeria. The other is a popular spot in Branford.

Andrews said he and his business partner, Bill Severino, jumped at the opportunity when they heard the space within the Wal-Mart Plaza was available.

Many local business people and city dignitaries showed up Wednesday for the ribbon-cutting and to sample Marco Pizzeria’s pizza, including Mayor Anthony Staffieri, who declared the pizza was “very good.”

Staffieri said the new restaurant means more to Derby than just more good pizza to eat. He said it will provide tax revenues and jobs and help reinvigorate the local economy.

Moreover, it is a vote of confidence in Derby’s business future.

“It shows the climate is very good for new business,” Staffieri said.

Andrews’ family is remembered for owning two noteworthy former catering halls, the Actor’s Colony Inn on Roosevelt Drive in Seymour and the Royale banquet hall just down the road in Derby.

His pizzeria experience has roots in the legendary New Haven pizza tradition.

For 15 years he ran The Spot, a satellite pizza restaurant owned by, and next door to, Pepe’s Pizza on Wooster Street in New Haven.

Andrew said in 2000, Severino suggested he buy a pizzeria in Branford. He did, and named it after Marco Island in Florida where he and his wife, Janet, a retired Branford High School science teacher, have a vacation home.

They followed a similar course of action for the new restaurant. Andrew said he and Severino already wanted to open a second location when they learned that the old River Restaurant was up for sale.

“They were here for 20 years after they moved out of downtown Derby,” he said.

That fits with Marco Pizzeria’s ideal of being a gathering spot for the community, and Andrew said he invited the Valley Arts Council to exhibit its members’ artworks there as well.

Unlike other pizzerias, Marco Pizzeria doesn’t deliver. It offers Neopolitan style thin crust pizza with a variety of special toppings, including specialties like broccoli rabe and sausage, margherita (with fresh basil and garlic) and white clam sauce pizza, as well as more traditional pies.

“Pizza is 80 percent of our menu,” Andrew said. Also on the menu are calzones and pasta dishes, he said.

The new location has an open area near the front that he plans to rent for birthday parties, small wedding showers and other events.

Click here for Marco’s website.

The hours, according to the website:

Sunday 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Closed Monday
Tuesday – Thursday: 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Phone: 203-732-7931

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