John & Morgan Nealon To Open New Restaurant, Crust Issues, in Norwalk CT

Restaurateur husband and wife super-team, John & Morgan Nealon, are back at it again! Enquiring minds wondered what was next for this duo, and now the wait is over. John & Morgan have just signed the lease on the old Davinci’s Pizza in Norwalk at 60 Connecticut Avenue. Get ready for CRUST ISSUES, a casual neighborhood joint, opening in early Fall. As the name might suggest, there will be pizza, but as per usual with these two, it won’t fit into a classic pizza-style. More on that if you keep reading… and wait till you hear what else is on the menu.  

Crust Issues is housed in the bones of an old school pizza spot, with tiled floors and big pizza ovens in the open kitchen, and the Nealon will be leaning in to this relaxed vibe. Guests will order at the counter, grab one of the 40 seats, and enjoy a cocktail (John’s got some fun new tricks up his sleeve in the cocktails department…obvi), and you’ll likely get a Nealon bringing some tasty elevated comfort food to your table. 

In regards to the menu, Nealon says there will be “some more unusual elements on this menu, but diners will always be able to get a great cheeseburger, every possible riff on a beautiful chicken cutlet (Scarp, Marsala, Piccata, Parmetc), a bowl of meatballs, and a pepperoni pizza for the kids.” And while we are on the topic of pizza, let’s talk about those pies. “These are going to be different,” says Nelson, ”what I want to do at Crust Issues is basically create a perfect union between a bar pie and a pan pies.” Translation: Thin crust pizza but with the great crispy buttery crust of a pan pie. Call those corner pieces now.  There will be roughly 8 specialty pies, all the usual suspects, including pepperoni, a proper sausage pie, but also a pimento pizza with green goddess sauce & fried chicken skins and wait for it….a pizza with micro-planed cold lobster doused with pork and garlic butter. Sign me up. 

And wait…huge news for those following a Gluten-Free diet. They are currently working on some truly great Gluten-Free pizza crust, made in house!

Although the full culinary lineup has not been finalized, other menu items will likely include: cigar sized mozzarella sticks, clams casino (cuz’ John likes them), baked pastas, garlic bread with cheese on their made-in-house bread, a short rib pot pie, some nice salads, and black truffle bread. More on this later.

Got kids? Crust Issues will be uber kid friendly with a full kids menu including kid-sized personal kid pizzas, dino nuggets, and healthy side options.

For those of us who enjoy watching the action, the most fun seats in the house will be the kitchen bar seats directly in front of pizza ovens, and in true Nealon form, guests will enjoy the cookbook themed bathrooms (I’m sensing some selfies). 

The cocktail program will consist of old school classics but with some fun takes, and we hear Aunt Dee and Liz Machette (Dee painted the iconic Fortina Armonk Octopus and will be coming out of retirement for this project) will be conceptualizing the restaurant’s artwork. 

At launch, Crust Issues will be serving dinner only but those hours will expand to lunch once they get up and running.

Welcome to Norwalk John & Morgan. We can’t wait to see what’s next.