A pizzeria with origins in New Haven, Connecticut and a stamp of approval from Bar Stool Sports pizza aficionado David Portnoy has made its way to West Palm Beach.
Local pizza chain Ah-Beetz will open its second Palm Beach County restaurant at 2600 Broadway Avenue in the former WiseGuys space this week. Located on the outskirts of the city's Northwood business district, the 800-square-foot restaurant offers counter service for both takeout and dine-in orders offering pizzas, calzones, salads, and chicken wings.
The name Ah-Beetz is the phonetic spelling of the word "apizza" — the type of pies you'll find in the city from which the restaurant's owner, Nick Laudano, hails.
"We don't like to say 'New Haven-style' here. This is New Haven pizza, in South Florida," explains Laudano, who began making apizza more than 40 years ago. "Growing up, it's the only pizza I knew, but I still haven't found anything better."
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New Haven — a city often considered ground zero for the Neapolitan-inspired pies known as apizza — is home to several of the nation's most lauded pizzerias. They include Sally's, BAR, Modern, and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, which recently opened two South Florida outposts in Plantation and Delray Beach.
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While they vary in taste and texture, most are cooked in coal-fired ovens (Modern uses oil) and defined by their characteristic thin, charred crust, light layer of tomato sauce, and a blanket of mozzarella or fresh-grated Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheeses.
According to Laudano, the key to good apizza is high-quality ingredients and — most importantly — the pizza maker's skill.
"The real secret is how the chef handles and cooks the dough. Apizza has a feel and taste unlike any other pizza. That's what sets it apart from the rest," says Laudano.
At Ah-Beetz, the pies are made using a simple proprietary dough that is hand shaped and pulled before they're cooked in the restaurant's coal-fueled oven at temperatures as high as 780 degrees. The entire menu, including sauces and dressings, are prepared fresh and in-house, and the coal-fueled oven, designed by Laudano himself, is the restaurant's only source of heat.
When it comes to apizza, you can't go wrong with the "Mootz," a simple traditional pie topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, grated Pecorino Romano, and oregano.
Signature offerings highlight longtime New England favorites like Ah-Beetz's sauceless white pies. Some, like the broccoli and garlic, are made extra creamy with the addition of ricotta cheese. Others, like the clam apizza, are finished with nothing more than oregano, garlic, olive oil, Pecorino Romano, and a touch of mozzarella, and New England-sourced clams that arrive fresh several times each week and are shucked in-house daily.
Nearly 20 topping choices allow customers to craft their own apizza or calzone with meats like pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and chicken, alongside vegetables like broccolini, cherry peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. Twice-baked, jumbo chicken wings round out the menu.
Laudano says he spent most of his career conceptualizing and operating establishments ranging from full-service Italian restaurants to casual pizzerias in both Connecticut and Florida, beginning with Nick's Apizza in Wallingford, Connecticut, where he cooked pies from an oil-fired brick oven he built in the back of an authentic 1920's Philadelphia subway car.
Ah-Beetz lands nod from Portnoy's Barstool sports review
In 2008, Laudano relocated to South Florida, opening recently shuttered in Boca Raton in 2011. Laudano parted ways with the restaurant in 2017, choosing to focus on Ah-Beetz.
Laudano conceived the original Ah-Beetz as a build-your-own pizza restaurant in 2016, the same year he opened his first location in New Haven. Laudano closed a year later, relocating the brand to South Florida, opening at 15200 Jog Road in Delray Beach with Nick Laudano Jr., his son, and co-owner Kassandra Frantz.
"In the beginning it was mainly word of mouth. Our customer base was mostly New Englanders and people in the know — people who know about apizza and appreciate the quality," says Laudano.
Then came Portnoy, the influential social media-based personality behind the YouTube channel Barstool Sports "One Bite Pizza Reviews," where nearly 1.2 million subscribers watch him rate pizzerias for their ability to meet his pie-approval standards with just "one bite."
During his visit, Portnoy gave the 10-month-old restaurant an 8.4 score — one of the highest he's awarded to a restaurant serving apizza outside New Haven.
To date, Portnoy has rated more than a dozen South Florida restaurants above an 8.0, offering top scores to restaurants like Miami's Mister 01, Eleventh Street Pizza, and Lucali alongside Boca Raton's Tucci's, as well as Heritage and Pizza Craft Pizzeria in Fort Lauderdale.
None, however, serve authentic apizza, Portnoy shared in his review of Ah-Beetz.
"We were busy before, but his review escalated it to a whole new level," says Laudano, whose counter service restaurant continues to pump out nearly 1,400 pies each week. "Portnoy introduced the apizza to a younger crowd. We had a totally new demographic almost overnight."
Pizza fave Ah-Beetz eyes more Palm Beach County locations
The Ah-Beetz team hopes the success of their Delray Beach store will help grow the burgeoning franchise, which has plans to expand to additional locations.
The West Palm Beach store stands as the brand's first franchise location in partnership with South Florida Franchise Group, which will open eight additional stores in Palm Beach County including Royal Palm Beach and Lake Park later this year. Moving forward, the brand plans to expand across Florida in cities like Fort Lauderdale, Naples, Tampa, and Orlando.
This fall, the Delray Beach store will become Ah-Beetz's flagship location, relocating to a 3,000 square-foot space in the same shopping plaza. The move will also make room for seated dine-in service, beer and wine, and an expanded menu while the original store will operate as a franchise training location where the family will teach franchisee owners how to make the perfect apizza.
"Making this type of pizza is a craft. This is a family business, and a lot of work has gone into creating the pies you taste here," sums up Laudano. "That's what makes this true New Haven apizza."
Located at 2600 Broadway Ave., West Palm Beach, 561-619-3680; ah-beetz.com.
Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 4:30 to 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 1 to 8 p.m.
