Business & Tech
Meet Prisco Abate, Owner of Abate Pizza and Restaurant
Abate himself gives Patch a brief history on how his name has become synonymous with savory pizza pies in East Haven.
Prisco Abate have been at the North Branford location of going on eight years, but the Abates have been in business since 1956. In addition to the North Branford pizzeria, there is another on Wooster Street in New Haven as well as one in Orange.
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North Branford Patch: Why did you move the business to North Branford?
Abate: We were in Branford, our lease was up and we were scouting locations and we saw this location and the building was available. We were familiar with Route 80 and it worked out.
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North Branford Patch: How did you come to be in this business?
Abate: My dad started his first business in 1956 on Whalley Avenue in New Haven. With five boys and two girls, we’ve all been in it, pretty much. My father was one of those that said, 'You have to learn how to make pizza and cook. You can do something else, go to college, but you have to learn how to cook and make pizza,' so, it was hard not to. We learned from our dad and from other cooks we hired. They brought in different things and we picked up from everyone else.
North Branford Patch: What style pizza do you make?
Abate: Our style is called neapolitan, it's the origninal thin crust pizza, served Sicilian style, it’s 99 percent of our pizzas and made with corn meal underneath.
North Branford Patch: What's the toughest part of the job?
Abate: In this business there's a lot to take care of. You have to watch everything. Luckily I have my wife and son here when I need them, but it’s a challenge. It takes more than one person to make everything work.
North Branford Patch: What sets you apart from all the other pizzerias nearby?
Abate: First off, we were in East Haven for 27 years and we were the only ones there for a while. Domino's moved in and closed down within a year–the people there know their pizza, they know what they want. East Haven was kind of saturated, though, so we moved to Route 80.
But we've still got customers from 1978 coming here from when we were on Wooster Street, so the name carried over. Everyone knows about us, we've got really good, friendly service, we'll know you by name. We've been since 1956, so we've got that down.
