MILFORD — There’s no dining room at the original Papa’s Pizza. At 258 Naugatuck Ave., closer to Walnut Beach than downtown, two red words on the end of a low white building, “Papa’s Pizza,” sit over a small window, and if nobody’s standing there, you ring the bell on the counter. Somebody comes out of the back, takes your order and tells you how long. Then you wait in the car, or on the little bench out front. Russell Pietrini opened it in 1986, and 40 years later regulars still pull into the lot and hear their first names called when the box comes through the window.
The pizza is New Haven-style apizza, the thin, charred, oily kind most people drive to Wooster Street for. And the name on the box goes back further than the pizzeria does.
Who ‘Papa’ was
Papa’s is named for Pietrini’s grandfather, Peter Lasse. According to the pizzeria’s own website, Peter and Mabel Lasse married in 1921 and raised four children: Madeline DiBona, Helen Pietrini, Russell Lasse and Genevieve Lasse. “All of our family has worked in the food business, in one form or another, for many years,” the site says. “Good food has been a tradition for 3 generations and we are proud to continue this tradition.”
In the 1940s, Peter and Mabel opened The Maples, a restaurant and banquet hall on Naugatuck Avenue, Daily Nutmeg reported in 2022. It changed hands and names in 1959, but the family kept cooking. If the Lasse name sounds familiar, it should: the family’s Milford food history also includes Lasse’s on Bridgeport Avenue, carving hot roast beef since 1964.
There’s a little family history on the menu, too. The first of the 25 house specials is the Pizza Di Bona, and the fourth is the Pizza Di Papa.
A recipe built with help from church ladies and New Haven cooks
Pietrini worked out the dough and sauce himself back in the mid-’80s. He got input, Daily Nutmeg reported, from family, from Italian women at his church, from cooks he knew in New Haven and from an Italian cookbook. Both Papa’s shops still make their own sauce and dough from those recipes, and the menu sums it up: “classic Napoletana apizza baked in fire brick ovens New Haven style.”
Around 2008, Pietrini opened a second shop, Papa’s Pizza II, at 2005 Bridgeport Ave., with his late cousin Jeffrey Salito and friends Dylan Bruno and Jamie Cavallo. Today the website signs off with a thank-you from all three: “Russ Pietrini, Dylan Bruno, Jamie Cavallo.” The two shops share a website, the pizza boxes and the menu. The Bridgeport Avenue shop has a red-walled dining room with a few tables. The Naugatuck Avenue shop is still takeout only.
Scott Amedy, who was managing Papa’s II when Daily Nutmeg visited in 2022, called pizza “an art” and said he learned it at the original shop. He also gave the writer his two tests for a real pizza joint: “We don’t deliver, and we’ve got Foxon soda.” Both are still true. The menu lists Foxon in 12- and 28-ounce bottles, and there’s no delivery line on it.
Papa’s is also one of the stops on the state’s official Connecticut Pizza Trail.
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What to order
Prices below come from the Papa’s take-out menu posted on the pizzeria’s website (dated February 2025), listed as small (12-inch), medium (16-inch) and large (18-inch). Call ahead if price matters.
The tomato pie ($10 / $17 / $18)
The cheapest pie on the board is the purest test of the crust: sauce and a charred, bubbled rim, no mozzarella. If you want mozzarella, a plain mozz pie is $13, $19 or $21, and a single topping brings it to $15, $21.50 or $24.50.
Sausage or pepperoni, or half and half
When CT Bites writer Jeff “jfood” Schlesinger rang the bell in 2025, he ordered a small, half pepperoni and half sausage, and was told, “Give me fifteen.” The sausage, he wrote, is Lamberti’s sweet Italian sausage from New Haven, “fennel-accented with a little spice,” and he put the slice “in Zuppardi’s league.” The pepperoni, he wrote, had “a medium level of spiciness and just a tad of crispiness.”
White clam, or the Pizza Di Papa
The clam pie comes white or red ($21 / $28 / $31). For a little more, the house special named for Papa himself, the Pizza Di Papa, adds peppers and bacon to clams, garlic, olive oil and mozzarella ($22 / $32 / $35).
Shrimp and bacon: the Pizza Di Luigi ($22 / $32 / $35)
Shrimp, mozzarella, Parmesan, olive oil, garlic, bacon and oregano on a white pie. It’s the one Kristopher pointed people to in his Google review: “I’d recommend the shrimp and bacon.”
A white pie with greens
Several of the specials are built on spinach. The Pizza Di Madalena is spinach, olive oil, garlic, ricotta, mozzarella and fresh tomatoes ($18 / $27 / $31). The Pizza Di Stacy swaps the ricotta for bacon and basil ($18 / $27 / $32). The Pizza Di Bona is broccoli, garlic, olive oil, mozzarella and Parmesan ($17 / $24.50 / $29).
The ‘cone’ grinder ($13–$14)
Papa’s grinders are baked in a cone of pizza dough, not stuffed into a sub roll: meatball, sausage, eggplant or chicken cutlet for $13, chicken breast for $14, and $1 per extra topping.
Also on the board
- Pizza Di Sonny / Old School: sauce, oil, cheddar and mozzarella, cooked well done ($13.50 / $20 / $22).
- Pizza Di Erika (“A Diva’s Delight”): hot and spicy, red or white, with chicken and cherry peppers ($18 / $27 / $32).
- Pizza Di Nanni: marinara, ricotta, mozzarella and meatballs ($17 / $24 / $29).
- Pizza Di Jeff, the newest special: white, with mozzarella, fresh chicken breast, broccoli and garlic ($20 / $28 / $32).
- Pasta, Naugatuck Avenue only: spaghetti, ziti, fettuccine or cheese ravioli, from $14 for aglio e olio to $22 for clam sauce or shrimp; baked ziti is $20.
- Gluten-free: one 14-inch size, $16 for mozzarella plus $3 per topping.
What people say
The original Papa’s has a 4.7-star rating on Google from about 326 reviews, and Papa’s II has 4.5 stars from about 270.
So good! Add this spot to your CT pizza trail list.
Mike, Google review
Mike’s only complaint was that there’s no seating at the Naugatuck Avenue window: “no big deal. I enjoyed it in my car.” Linda said she has only done takeout, “but the service has been consistently fast and friendly. And the pizza? Incredible! It has officially become our new go-to spot.” Another regular recommended the white clam, or “a red pie with sausage and cherry peppers,” and added a reminder: “keep in mind It’s a ‘take out joint.'”
Over at Papa’s II, Judy wrote two weeks ago that she stopped in with her 2-year-old son and found the shop “decorated perfectly for Halloween.” She ordered a meatball cone to go: “I was not disappointed it was delicious!” She also had a shout-out for the man behind the counter: “Scott is an amazing asset to the place! He made us feel like home even though it was our 1st time there.” Scott, another reviewer, called it a “great little spot with a family run atmosphere,” where the man running it “seemed to know everyone who walked in the door.”
Not everybody likes the char. One recent reviewer thought his pie was burnt and too thick for the price. Another, a few years back, said she knew a dark crust “is the new haven style” and suggested you just say so if you don’t want it: “Specify not burnt if you don’t want that.” She called the sauce “great” and the staff “friendly.”
Good to know before you go
- Naugatuck Avenue is closed Mondays. Hours posted on the website: Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Papa’s II on Bridgeport Avenue is open Mondays and closed Sundays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. the rest of the week, per the website.
- Call ahead. Naugatuck Avenue is (203) 874-0215; Bridgeport Avenue is (203) 283-5433. No delivery.
- The window is the whole storefront on Naugatuck Avenue: no tables inside, and a bench for a few people outside. Papa’s II has a handful of tables.
- Want it crispy, or not? Say so when you order.
PAPA’S PIZZA AT A GLANCE
Papa’s Pizza: 258 Naugatuck Ave., Milford · (203) 874-0215 · takeout window
Papa’s Pizza II: 2005 Bridgeport Ave., Milford · (203) 283-5433 · a few tables
Since: 1986 (Naugatuck Ave.); about 2008 (Bridgeport Ave.)
Run by: Russ Pietrini, Dylan Bruno and Jamie Cavallo
Named for: Peter “Papa” Lasse, Pietrini’s grandfather
Known for: New Haven-style tomato pies, sausage, white clam, cone grinders, Foxon soda
Online: papaspizzaonline.com
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