MERIDEN — From “Flex’s Wake & Bake” breakfast-inspired pizza to “Pop’s Garden” white pie, the menu at Laudano’s Apizza on Broad Street tells stories from the owners’ lives. And the two brothers aren’t shy about sharing. 

“Our Uncle Felix used to wake up every morning and make us egg and cheese sandwiches and we called him ‘Flex’,” said co-owner Sal Laudano about the egg, bacon and cheese pie.

“He pretended to workout,” added co-owner Chris Laudano.

The Laudano family moved their pizza restaurant from Naugatuck to Meriden three years ago to serve New Haven-style pizza with special tributes to family and friends.

“‘Like the ‘Pop’s Garden’ is named after our grandfather because he always had a garden,” Sal Laudano said. “The ‘Meatheads’ is named after our group of friends because...”

“They’re a bunch of meatheads,” Chris Laudano said. 

There are also tributes to the community with a white pie named the “Main Street Pizza,” because “every town has a Main Street, but not every town has Laudano’s,” according to the menu posted above a graffiti-painted counter.

The restaurant offers more than 20 specialty pies, from a double crust, pepperoni, sausage and sugary caramelized onion creation called “The Big Hit,” to a white pie with house made bruschetta named “The Sinatra.”

The brothers said it “depends on the weather” in terms of the most requested pie.

“The buffalo chicken is popular right now,” Chris Laudano said. “The hot oil pie is popular too.”

The hot oil pie uses a combination of oil and spices drizzled under sauce and light cheese.

“It does depend on the weather, I think there’s something in the sky,” Chris Laudano said. 

The restaurant will be rolling out more dessert pies soon, with toppings like Nutella and strawberries.

The family is not afraid of taking unique orders either. A request for a Yankee baseball pizza was made possible recently with dough shaped into the “NY” symbol.

“We can pretty much make anything you want,” said Sal Laudano

“Sky’s the limit,” Chris Laudano said.

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