Hakki Pizza to Open Outpost at 123 Essex
Visco was one of the last old-world holdouts on Essex Street just north of Delancey. Was. It all ended late last month. The cornershop property has been pretty quiet of ever since, signaling some inevitable bad news. Word trickled in yesterday afternoon that the budget threads outpost had indeed bitten the dust.
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We stopped by last night to confirm the closure and noted plenty of plywood behind the roll-down security gates. Not only that, the adjoining storefront of 123 Essex Street, formerly Chun & George Architect Engineers, now sports brown paper in the windows. A tiny DOB permit printout was also present, explaining that the storefront is being converted into a pizza joint. Yup, this slice spot promises plenty of competition for the in-progress Goodfellas Pizza and the oh-so-delish Stanton Pizza, both one block away.
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What exactly is coming here, you ask so inquisitively? Well, it appears self-proclaimed Turkish pizza master Hakki Akdeniz is opening another neighborhood parlor. Akdeniz was actually crowned World Pizza Champion in 2010. Whatever that means. Seriously, though, he boasts other related accolades such as fastest pizza making (1:19) and best in “freestyle acrobatics.”
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This video is a nice primer…
Famous Hakki Pizza is located at 170 Rivington Street.