SEYMOUR — A restaurant that opened a few weeks before the U.S. was shutting down has changed its menu and rebranded for a second chance to win over Valley foodies.
Olives & Oil in Seymour is now Olives & Oil Pizzeria, and the community joined the owner for a grand re-opening Wednesday (March 16).
The restaurant at 318 Roosevelt Drive next to Villa Bianca and across from the Housatonic River, closed in January and half of February to rebrand. They added “Pizzeria” to its name, changed up the menu, added more specialty pizza, including the addition of what the owners are calling “the Valley’s largest grinders.”
Chef and co-owner John Brennan, who boasts more than 20 years in the culinary business, and has been regularly featured on local and national television, including the Food Network’s “Chopped,” is excited about the changes made to make Olives & Oil even better.
The restaurant first opened its doors in January 2020, with an initial grand opening just 44 days before COVID-19 was officially discovered in Connecticut.
“It’s been a really crazy rollercoaster for us, certainly throughout the pandemic,” Brennan said. “We tried every different way to service the community, from being a marketplace and selling prepared foods, even toilet paper and soap, whatever goods people couldn’t get their hands on. We had time to slightly rebrand into a pizzeria and switched our menu around a little bit. We still have burgers, sandwiches, classic pastas and entrees and our craft cocktails. We’re looking forward to reintroducing ourselves to the community again.”
Another big change to draw people in, especially the lunch and early dinner crowd, is “half price happy hour” every day from noon to 6 p.m.. Brennan and co-owners Erick Williams and Matt Bailey said everything on the bar menu, from Grey Goose to its signature cocktail the “Notorious P.I.G.” featuring strawberry infused vodka, blood orange, Aperol, lemon and Prosecco, are up for discounted grabs.
Chef and co-owner John Brennan.
Williams said a lot of lessons were learned from weathering the pandemic storm. The restaurant, which has an original location in New Haven, is focusing on what Valley folks want.
And in the Valley — pizza is currently king.
“We talked to all the Valley people who came in and asked what they wanted, and it was this concept we came up with,” Williams said, adding the owners also recently opened up another pizzeria, Tomato Joe’s, in Rocky Hill. “We had our set pizzas and they were one size, had only eight types of pizzas ‚and realized that’s not what people wanted. We got a new (brick) pizza open, added a bunch of new specialty pizzas, and the largest, 14-inch grinders around.”
Williams said the Seymour location started with more than 30 employees when it initially opened, and at one point during the pandemic, had to lay almost everyone off. He said staffing levels are not fully back up to snuff, but hopes to be soon.
Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Purcell.
“During the height of the pandemic, Connecticut lost 292,000 jobs, many of them in the restaurant, hospitality and tourism-related businesses,” said Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Purcell. “But those that survived are coming back strong, and that’s really a credit to the innovation, perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit of people like Chef John and his partners, Erick and Matt.“
As of November 2020, an estimated 600 restaurants in Connecticut went out of business due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis was glad to see Olives & Oil stick around.
“Thank you for giving Seymour another shot and staying open,” Drugonis said. “We look forward to continuing having you here in Seymour, and thank you for never giving up.”
Brennan still subscribes to making the best food possible to please every palate, borrowing his “from-scratch” recipes from his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. The tasty pizza made in the new ovens didn’t go unnoticed during Wednesday’s re-grand opening.
Selectman Christopher Bowen was on hand to sample some of the pies.
“You can tell the difference with a scratch kitchen,” said Bowen. “Everything from the dough to the sauce to the spices was fresh, and you can taste the difference. Basic spices, but the quality is in every bite.”
Olives & Oil is open noon to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, with “half-off happy hour” every day, take-out, and delivery. They can be reached at 203 – 751-9579. There’s also a room upstairs that can accommodate up to 80 people for private parties. For more information, visit their website at https://www.olivesandoil.com/
