The Bernardo family is said to have pizza and stuffed bread running their veins.
It started a few grandfathers ago and now, a fourth generation later, a Bernardo brother is making it a business with his wife and five daughters.
Christopher ‘Bruno’ Bernardo, a longtime West Haven resident, and his family, are preparing to open Bruno’s Apizza in their hometown.
The pizzeria will be at 17 Wagner Place and the 7-foot by 7-foot Forno Bravo pizza oven imported from Italy is already in place.
“I was born into it,” Bernardo said of the business. “Pizza and Italian bread. That’s in my blood.”
While growing up his now late parents, Catherine and Luigi “GiGi” Bernardo owned the popular GiGi’s pizzeria and bakery in the Fair Haven section of New Haven.
From the time he was a youngster, Bruno headed there after school each day to help. His grandfather, great grandfather and other family members have been in the business.
Bruno Bernardo making pizza. (Courtesy)
”All of my parents children were in the business at some point either working or owning,” he said. One brother is retired.
Bruno Bernardo, is the youngest of seven children, five of them boys.
At present, brother Luigi owns Little Italy pizza truck out of North Haven, Arsenio owns the wildly popular New Haven Pizza Place restaurant in Milford, brother Frank owns New Haven Pizza Truck and catering.
National and local pizza expert Frank Zabski, who owns New Haven Pizza School, is friends with Arsenio especially, and said of Bruno Bernardo’s business, “If the new pizzeria in West Haven is close to Arsenio’s pizza or Frank’s pizza trucks, it’s going to be a homerun.”
Bruno Bernardo said he’ll take the best of all he’s learned working with his parents and brothers and put it together with his own twist. He expects to open sometime in August.
The restaurant, also serving stuffed breads, pasta and other Italian basics will be run by he, his wife Selene, whom he has been with for 35 years and to varying degrees, his five grown daughters, Catherine, Brianna, Christine, Selena, and Rosina.
“They want to be part of my journey as I was with my parents,” Bruno Bernardo, 54, said. “I always joke with them that I wanted a son, but in reality he couldn’t live with them all more.”
He said the girls are “very hip,” and will do a great job.
The second oldest wants to work side-by-side, he said.
“They all want a piece of it,” he said. “I want to make something for myself and them.”
Aside from working for family members throughout his life, Bruno also worked for Big Green Truck pizza and the inimitable Doug Coffin.
Wife Selene is also fabulous with pizza, he said.
Aside from doing the paperwork and everything else behind the scenes, Selene is a pro at working the intricacies of the oven, working the heat just right, Bernardo said.
“She’s my oven person. Occasionally she’ll make a pizza, he said.
The restaurant space is about 2,700 square feet and has seating for dining in.
“When you walk in you won’t be able to miss our wood-fired pizza oven that was brought in on an 18-wheeler,” he said.
The place will have, “a real pizza vibe,” as it is “the real deal,” Bruno Bernardo said.
As for the stuffed breads, “I know how my brothers do it and took that and put my own twist on it.”
Bruno Bernardo is proud of the 7 foot by 7 foot Forno Bravo pizza oven imported from Italy that he recently had delivered to future pizzeria in West Haven. (Courtesy)
Bernardo said a lot of people take pride in making pizzas quickly, but he likes to cook it slow so “the mozz” has a brown tinge and is “bubbling.”
“Bubbling, bubbling, it’s so good. I can feel it bubbling,” he said of his New Haven style pizza.
“We cook it to your perfection,” he said.
“It’s all I know,” he said of the business. “I love it, people are happy.”
He said there’s a lot of competition and customers always talk about, “who has the best spin?”
The idea, he said, “is to try to get it to the next level.”
Bernardo said of specialty pizzas he’s known for his Margherita pizza with fresh basil and basil oil.
Selene Bernardo said getting to know customers is her favorite part of the business.
“We’re super excited,” about opening, she said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
She said the restaurant will have a modern vibe with Italian themes.
It will also include a tribute to Catherine and Luigi Bernardo.
“They deserve it,” she said.