Sally’s Apizza opening new Fairfield restaurant on Dec. 1

Sally’s Apizza plans a Dec. 1 opening for its newest location in Fairfield, according to its social media posts. The new restaurant will open at 6 p.m. at 665 Commerce Drive, in the space formerly home to Barbacoa Smoke House.

Sally’s officially announced the opening in March. Jim Wendt, Fairfield’s planning director, told Hearst Connecticut Media that Sally’s received a building permit in February 2021 to do interior renovations at that address. Trademark Fairfield, a luxury apartment complex, is currently there with retail space on the first floor.

Fairfield will be the third Sally’s location, coming just over a year after its Stamford restaurant debuted on Summer Street. The 4,000 square foot restaurant features a doubleheight bar dining area, full bar with cocktails, a mezzanine and floor to ceiling windows, along with a dedicated fulfillment area for takeout and delivery. Sally’s website also notes projected openings for four more pizzerias in 2023, including Wethersfield, Norwalk, Newington and Woburn, Mass. The Hartford Business Journal reported earlier this month that Sally’s would open in a new mixed-use development on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, next to existing Best Buy and Raymour & Flanigan stores.

Many locals have their favorite Wooster Street stop: either Frank Pepe’s or Sally’s, and typically a fierce, unwavering devotion to one of the two. Sally’s, started by Frank Pepe’s nephew Sal Consiglio in 1938, has earned the same national attention and praise as its neighboring rival over the years, with the spotlight usually shining on its classic tomato pie.

The Stamford location was Sally’s first foray out of New Haven. Sally’s promised a commitment to authenticity as the opening approached, using original recipes and recreating identical custom pizza ovens in the new location. Brothers Bob and Rick Consiglio (Sal’s sons) sold the business to new owners Lineage Hospitality in 2018, but have stayed on as consultants.

“These exact same recipes, techniques and ingredients are still how we make the pizza today, in our original location, and now in Stamford,” Rick Consiglio said in a statement in October 2021. “Everything’s the same, even the oven.”

Sally’s also now ships its pizzas throughout the country, offering three-packs of its frozen pies through Goldbelly for $99.

Pepe’s has expanded well beyond Connecticut in the past two decades, and now has seven outposts across the state, with additional restaurants in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Virginia.