Peek inside this soon-to-open Wichita pizzeria. (And learn how to say its name.)
Wichita has until July 1 to learn how to properly pronounce this word: Apizza.
No, it’s not “ah pizza.” In Connecticut, where the style of pizza that will be served by new Wichita restaurant Tommy’s Apizza originated, it’s pronounced “ah-beetz.”
Owner Tom Geagan, a Connecticut native, is a couple of weeks away from opening his New Haven-style pizzeria at 2330 E. Douglas to the public. Though he’ll be putting on practice runs for his staff in the coming weeks, he plans to throw the doors open to the masses on July 1.
On Wednesday afternoon, he put on his first practice run, inviting the builders and electricians who helped put his restaurant together to sample his pizza. The place was packed with men in their work clothes eagerly devouring the slices Geagan and his staff brought to the tables.
One of the guests, who hails from the East Coast, yelled out to Geagan as he hurried past the table.
“Tommy, I feel like I’m back home, man,” he said.
New Haven-style pizza has a distinctive crust that’s slightly charred on the underside and comes out of the oven both crunchy and chewy. For his pizzeria, Geagan invested in high-dollar deck ovens that are lined with pizza stones made with materials from Mount Vesuvius.
The homemade dough ferments for four days, and the pizzas aren’t smothered with cheese. Geagan will use mostly just mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese, which is made with sheep’s milk and has a salty, tangy flavor profile.
Geagan, 60, was born and raised in Guilford, Connecticut, which is just outside New Haven. He grew up eating pizza made by New Haven restaurants like Frank Pepe, Sally’s Apizza and Modern Apizza. The restaurants all frequently have lines of people that stretch down the street.
He moved to Wichita nine years ago to take a job leading the video production department at video production at Koch Inc — a job he left earlier this year to pursue his pizza passion. During the COVID-19 shutdowns, Geagan started experimenting with preparing the type of pizzas he grew up eating and eventually opened a mobile pizza business that he frequently set up on the weekends at Central Standard Brewing.
People were so enamored with his pies that he would frequently run out of dough. Geagan decided to take a risk and open his own restaurant.
Designing the restaurant
The space Geagan has taken over previously was home to Varsity Barbershop. It’s on the northwest corner of Douglas and Grove, and in the early 1980s, it’s where The Spice Merchant operated.
Over the last several months, Geagan and his team of contractors and designers have transformed the space into a bright and airy restaurant. Some of the special touches inside were added by designers John Ernatt and Brady Hatter, who built custom tables out of layered birch plywood, fitting them with decorative metal stands. Ernatt also designed a plywood piece for the restaurant’s west wall that is meant as an homage to the wood paneling found in Connecticut pizzerias.
The interior has seating at booths, high-top tables and standard tables for about 32 people. A patio on the east side of the restaurant, which isn’t quite complete, will have seating for another 32. Customers who want to dine-in will enter from the front door, which faces Douglas. Customers picking up pizzas to go will enter from the door on the patio.
When the restaurant first opens, Geagan said, he plans to focus on six standard pizzas and a rotating specialty pizza. He’ll add more standard pies as his staff gets comfortable.
The opening menu will include pepperoni; sausage; vegetarian; cheese; smoked bacon and red onion; and the Saucy Sally, which features sauce, garlic, olive oil and Pecorino cheese. The specialty pizza for the opening will be called Joey Brisket, which will be topped with brisket, smoked bacon, mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, cheddar, red onions, jalapeños and garlic. People will be able to order whole pies, which are 18-20 inches, or quarter pies. A house salad also will be available.
Tommy’s Apizza will serve beer and wine. Its hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays; and noon to 8 p.m. Sundays. At first, it will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, though Geagan said he’ll eventually open one of those two days.
Geagan said he’s nervous but ready to get people through the doors — and to start teaching them the proper way to pronounce “apizza.”
“It’s taken longer than I thought,” he said of getting the restaurant ready. “But I’ve enjoyed the journey.”
A note about parking: Customers will be able to park in the lot just to the east of the restaurant, and there are also parking spaces behind the building. Beyond that, Geagan said, there’s a long, dead-end street just behind the restaurant that has lots of street parking.
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