CT Pizza Trail Top 100: Julio's Wood Fired Pizza & Grill Turns 30 in Southbury

Last year, the CT Pizza Trail map was created, recommending the top one hundred locations to enjoy pizza in our beloved state. I’ve been fortunate to have lots of notches on my waistline from a good portion of the places, but a few close-to-home spots have remained on my "gotta-try" list. With an opening appearing in my schedule, I decided to try Julio's Wood Fired Pizza & Grill, in Southbury.

 Julio's is the brainchild of Julio and Mari Duque, and initially opened its doors in 1997. The Duques were already well known locally as the owners of Rose's, the heavily trafficked Italian restaurant just down the road in Oxford. Their vision for Julio's was different, a restaurant centered around high-temperature, wood-fired cooking.

 The Duques purchased the bank building at 220 Main Street South, installed a wood-burning oven, and transformed the space into an inviting hundred-seat restaurant. The menu centered on the new wood-fired oven, featuring traditional Italian fare including salads, pastas, and parms, alongside a full variety of pizzas. While wood-fired pizza could be found elsewhere in the state, this was the first of its kind in Southbury. To elevate his culinary vision, Julio further honed his craft by completing several courses at the Culinary Institute of America, bringing added expertise to the restaurant's offerings. The Duques owned and oversaw Julio’s for the next twenty-plus years.

 The story of the current owners, Brian and Allison "Ally" Springer, is a romantic episode of love and food. Ally was Julio’s first hostess, and Brian, a culinary graduate from Johnson & Wales, joined two years later as the head chef. They met, fell in love, married, and in 2018 purchased Julio's from the Duques. The rest, as they say, is history. As it now approaches its thirtieth anniversary, Julio's continues to captivate its loyal clientele.

 On a beautiful afternoon, I pointed my car towards Southbury and ordered the 12-inch Pizza Ripiena, topped with ricotta cheese, pepperoni, Romano cheese, ground Italian tomatoes, and mozzarella. Julio's menu boasts a full lineup of Italian classics, but today, only one dish had my attention, the pizza.

 When the pie arrived, a few things immediately caught my eye. The sauce and toppings stretched almost to the edge, leaving virtually no visible crust. Where crust was exposed, there was just a smidgen of char, it appeared the pie was well baked. I peered underneath and, surprisingly, the bottom was tan, with very little charring, indicating it had rested in a cooler section of the blazing-hot wood-fired oven.

 I first tasted a piece of the pepperoni, which carried a nice level of heat (maybe a four on my spice scale) and the crust was remarkably thin and crispy. The sauce was generous, there was an ample amount of evenly melted mozzarella, plus dollops of ricotta. This had all the makings of an excellent pie.

 Onto the real test, I lifted a slice. How all the ingredients would work in unison was the big question. I tried a bite without any of the ricotta, and it was pretty good. Individually, each element was very flavorful. The long-fermented sourdough crust delivered a pleasant tang, the cheese provided richness, the pepperoni contributed a welcome kick of spice, and the sauce offered impressive depth. Yet somehow, they did not seem to work as seamlessly as I hoped, and the balance never quite came together as a unified whole. In my opinion, the sauce was a little too pungent for the cheese, the tanginess of the dough did not meld with the creaminess of the mozzarella, and then the kick from the pepperoni sorta acted on its own. When I tried another bite with the ricotta, the extra-smoothness was pleasant, but again, there was just some tension in the balance of the ingredients. It was a great set of non-synergistic flavors. While not my personal preference, I did manage to eat the entire pie.

Overall, the pizza ripiena offered a lot to enjoy, with bold, flavorful ingredients that were each very good. For me, the harmony just wasn't quite what I expected, but that's often just a matter of personal taste. And thirty years of devoted customers suggest plenty of people find exactly what they're looking for here. Stop by, order a pie, order some entrées, and see how the flavors strike you. Sometimes the best way to judge a dish is to taste it yourself.

220 Main St S,

Southbury, CT 06488

(203) 264-7878

julioswoodfiredpizzagrill.com