Getting the Scoop: Behind the Scenes at Gioia's Gelateria

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Andrew Dominick January 20, 2026

Just past the original locations of Sally’s and Pepe’s on New Haven’s legendary Wooster Street is Gioia. Opened by restaurateurs and longtime industry guys Avi Szapiro and Tim Cabral in 2023, Gioia is a fascinating concept. It’s not only a restaurant, it’s got a gourmet market, a rooftop that switches its theme seasonally, and a walk-up window where you can snag square pizza slices and gelato. That last part is what this is about. And when we’re talking about great ice cream in Connecticut, Gioia would like to enter the conversation.

Sandra's Next Generation: Southern Cuisine With a Whole Lotta Heart in New Haven

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Andrew Dominick November 30, 2023

If not for her belief of setting “unrealistic goals,” Sandra Pittman’s namesake restaurant, Sandra’s Next Generation, may not have ever been born in the first place.

Now in over 34 years with no signs of slowing down as evidenced by our Thanksgiving week visit where we witnessed the crew rapidly filling catering orders and making so much cornbread stuffing and baking hundreds of homemade pies it would blow your mind.

And even with an already booming takeout business (the restaurant is mostly takeout, but there’s a patio when the weather is nicer), Pittman’s still finds time to put the SOUL in soul food by consistently giving back to the New Haven community and all its charitable causes.

Wait. Did I say 34 years? To tell the origin story of Sandra’s, we have to take it even further back to New Haven’s Edgewood neighborhood where Pittman, whose name back then was Harris, started cooking in the first place.