To hear Dante Cistulli tell it, there wasn’t a person within Max Restaurant Group who didn’t know of his passion for pizza. And in his first interview with the company, he stated his intent to become a managing partner.
“I left the office and they laughed at me,” he said. But after several years with the group, working for Max a Mia in Avon and Max’s Oyster Bar in West Hartford, Cistulli is now the managing partner of the newest Max concept: Savoy Pizzeria & Craft Bar in West Hartford Center.
The 94-seat pizzeria on LaSalle Road opened softly the third week of October, featuring a menu of Neapolitan-influenced pizzas, wood-fired small plates, salads, cheese and charcuterie. Savoy is the group’s 11th restaurant and its third location in West Hartford.
Anticipation for the new restaurant has been building since the plans were announced in December 2015. Cistulli said Max Restaurant Group president Rich Rosenthal saw the potential for a different sort of pizzeria and invited him to come on board for the new project.
“He just realized there was a real market for it,” he said. “I think other pizza places, similar-concept pizza places started to come about, and he saw it as an opportunity to do something new.”
Cistulli spent months preparing for the opening, sampling pizzas at top spots in Connecticut, Boston and New York, and also working with Doug Horn, proprietor of Dough Pizza in San Antonio, to learn the craft. Max also invested in what’s now referred to as the “Savoy Road Show,” a portable wood-fired oven mounted on a trailer, which allowed Cistulli and his team to perfect the pies through catering opportunities and pop-up dinners.
The pizzeria’s name pays homage to Queen Margherita of Savoy, per its website. According to legend, she had declared her favorite pizza to be one with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, its red, white and green colors reflecting the Italian flag. It’s now commonly known as the classic Margherita pizza.
The queen’s portrait is incorporated into the restaurant’s decor, along with exposed brick, subway tile and eye-catching red bench seating. Two wood-fired ovens are the centerpiece of Savoy’s open kitchen space; one burns at 850 to 900 degrees and handles pizzas, and the other, slightly cooler at about 600 degrees, is dedicated to cooking small plates.
Cistulli calls Savoy’s pizza style “Neapolitan-influenced,” but says it doesn’t follow the same stringent regulations on ingredients and preparation that a Neapolitan pizzeria would need to become officially certified.
The menu features 18 chef-designed pies, priced at $10 to $17. Varieties with red sauce range from classic marinara and Margherita to more intricate combinations of sopressata with oregano, hot honey and Mystic Cheese’s Melinda Mae; a puttanesca with Stonington red shrimp, anchovies, Kalamata olives and capers; and an early bestseller: the “Jersey Shore” with meatball, fontina, cherry peppers and Parmesan.
White pizza preparations feature freshly shucked clams, pork belly with fingerling potato and Sub Edge Farm egg, cauliflower and garlic oil, ‘nduja and caramelized onion and sweet sausage with broccoli rabe. Another best-seller, the Joey Ravita, combines prosciutto, fig, Asiago, Parmesan and hot honey drizzle.
Topping additions are $1.50 to $5 apiece, and gluten-free crust is available for an extra $3.
Guests are also gravitating to salads in single and share portions ($8 to $15), including presentations with fennel, arugula, kale, radicchio and a Caesar wedge. Burrata is served with slow-roasted tomatoes, roasted beets or Black Mission fig with prosciutto, and “share boards” of meats and cheeses ($14 for a combination of 3) are served with bread and other accoutrements. Savoy makes its own fior di latte and ricotta cheeses in house.
Among the popular wood-fired share plates ($5 to $13) are the pane tasca, or “pocket bread” spread with truffle paste; the veal pancetta meatballs in San Marzano marinara, octopus with gigante beans and roasted peppers, littleneck clams with pancetta and cipollini onion in white wine and tomato sauce, and thick planks of roasted mortadella with cherry tomatoes, capers and green olives.
“The pizzas have definitely been the highlight, but guests have really been jumping for small plates,” Cistulli said. “Burrata’s been a huge hit. They love the salads. I’m really proud of this menu; I think across the board everything has been doing well.”
A simple dessert menu ($3 to $7) offers gelato or sorbetto in several flavors, biscotti, tiramisu and an affogato. Savoy’s wine list is all Italian, save for its signature Max Cuvee from California, and wines are available by the glass, quartino, half-bottle or bottle.
General manager Mike Oliver says Savoy’s cocktail list takes “Italian traditional” and puts an American flair on it, replacing gin with bourbon in certain classics and putting interesting spin on others. There are several variations on Negronis, including one that will be cask-aged for about three months.
Signature drinks include a bellini with raspberry and peach flavors; “Apples & Zu,” or draft cider mixed with bison grass vodka; the seasonal “Fall in Kentucky” with bourbon, maple, amaretto and lemon, and the Savoy Cosmo, with vodka, acqua di cedro, grenadine and Peychaud’s bitters. Craft cocktails are $8 to $12.
Craft beer is another Savoy focus, with 10 rotating draft lines (one always dedicated to cider). Guests can sample beers with a four-glass tasting flight, or even bring home 32 ounces of a favorite draft brew in a Savoy-branded glass growler. The beer is priced at the larger volume based on cost; growlers are filled during legal hours and at the restaurant’s discretion.
Savoy is presently only open for dinner service, starting at 4 p.m. Cistulli said he would like to add lunch hours in the near future once the restaurant is settled in, and he’s also working on the best possible setup for takeout orders.
Cistulli said it only helps the Max Restaurant Group brand to open its third restaurant within a city block, and that it was essential to him to introduce Savoy’s pizza in West Hartford’s “booming culinary center.”
“You can’t survive in West Hartford Center unless you have good food and service,” he said. “The restaurants, the chefs that are popping up, people that are coming to the area, [are] testament to that. Dorjan Puka, Scott Miller [both of DORO Restaurant Group], Tyler Anderson [Millwright’s, Cook & The Bear], Hunter Morton [Max’s Oyster Bar] — these guys have been in the game for years. They’re not going to waste their time. This is an important place to be to bring something like pizza, and this style of pizza is new, different to the area.”
Savoy Pizzeria & Craft Bar, 32 LaSalle Road, West Hartford, is open Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4 to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Closed Mondays. (Bar stays open until last call.) 860-969-1000 and savoypizzeria.com.
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