Business of the Week: Mike and Joe’s Wood Fired Pizza and Pasta, Mahopac
When he moved to Mahopac in August, Anton Vuli didn’t want to just live in Putnam County. He wanted to do more in order to be part of the surrounding community.
For him, that meant opening up his own business in the community, one that is a short walk from his house. And in January, that’s exactly what he did, opening up Mike and Joe’s Wood Fired Pizza and Pasta along Route 6. And since the start of the New Year, Vuli’s pizza place has kept him busy and helped him get to know his neighbors.
“I feel like I’m here five or six years,” he said. “Knowing the people and stuff like that.”
And with Mike and Joe’s opening, it almost completes the revitalization of a plaza storefront that was barren for several months. A bakery, bagel place, and a Subway all closed one after the other and are now replaced by Vuli’s business, a pet salon and barbeque restaurant. Also coming soon is a bakery in the same plaza that Vuli and his family are involved in.
“When it was empty, it wasn’t good for anyone in the town,” Vuli said. “Because it was empty for a long time.”
And with the pizza being wood fired, Vuli points out how there’s a different—and better taste in the food he serves. He already has one wood fire pizza place in Dutchess County.
“You have to come with something different,” Vuli said as a way to draw customers. “There are a lot of pizza places in town but wood fire is something different.”
Vuli said the pizza tastes different depending on the wood used in the oven, from oak to cherry to hickory wood. Every wood has a distinct flavor. In addition to pizza, Vuli offers pasta dishes, wedges, chicken, seafood, calzones and anything else you’d expect from an Italian restaurant.
While Vuli’s family owns several culinary businesses in the Lower Hudson Valley, coming up with a name for his most recent business wasn’t too difficult.
He decided to name Mike and Joe’s after his two sons. Joe is 12-years-old and Mike is 10-years-old. When it came down to whose name would go first, Vuli said Mike and Joe’s just rolls off the tongue better.
So far the business has kept him busy and Vuli is there 7 days a week despite his other businesses in the region. But he notes the convenience of being so close to work. With all the snow Putnam County has dealt with this winter, Vuli loves the fact he can walk to work and it won’t slow him down.
“I don’t have to think I might be late to work,” he said.
Mike and Joe’s is open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and open Sunday from noon-9 a.m. Customers can dine in, takeout or order delivery. Catering is also available. For more information, customers can call 845-628-5100. It is located at 961 Route 6 in Mahopac.
