While on a visit to Mystic, Connecticut, we had to visit the place that inspired the 1988 film, "Mystic Pizza." The Zelepos family opened up this small restaurant in 1973. Their Pizza recipe was really what put this place initially on the map, especially to those tourists visiting this fishing town.
I will admit that I am a bit of a pizza snob having grown up in New York. However, I had to try this "slice of heaven," as this culinary treat is described. I have to admit that while it is different from the pizza that I am used to eating, it was very tasty. I can understand why screenwriter Amy Jones became enamored with its flavor. She decided to use Mystic Pizza as her focal point for the coming-of-age story she was writing about three young waitresses.
Researching their story further, I found out that most of the scenes in the movie were shot in neighboring towns, including a home in Stonington Borough that was transformed into the pizzeria. The actual restaurant was later revamped to match the one in the movie. The Mystic Seaport Planetarium and the Mystic River Bascule Bridge were used for location shots within the actual tourist town.
The film starred Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor, with Matt Damon making his big screen debut. Needless to say, the traffic at this pizzeria increased tremendously after the release of the film.
Film memorabilia now fills the walls of the eatery, as well as the movie containing the place's name playing on a loop. Our waitress Gina has been working here for a very long time. If my memory serves me well, I believe she stated the time frame to be over 20 years. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this movie was released over 30 years ago. Gina was not only a pleasure to have as a waitress, but she also had a great sense of humor. Their pizza reached such a high demand that they now distribute a frozen version, which is advertised to come with the same expected flavor, to many stores across the United States. While it could be said that the movie made this little pizzeria famous, it was actually this eateries' pizza that was able to inspire this movie!
