Confirmed: Una Pizza Napoletana Moving Back to the Lower East Side
Whynot Coffee is toast, as the acclaimed Una Pizza Napoletana is confirmed for 175 Orchard Street.
Eater confirmed last week that pizzaiolo Anthony Mangieri is bringing his pizzeria back to the Lower East Side in a partneship with Contra/Wildair principals Jeremiah Stone and Fabian Von Hauske Valtierra. It’s a straight-up move, as the San Francisco location is set to close within the next month.
Stone and Von Hauske Valtierra will complement the pizzas with small dishes (cured meats and cheeses) and Italian desserts.
The proprietors together go before Community Board 3 tonight to argue for full liquor privileges. (The pizza maker’s name was not disclosed on the application materials submitted last week.) This is Hell Square, so expect a fight, regardless of the high-profile foodie pedigree here. The current operator – Whynot Coffee – failed twice in its bid for an upgrade.
175 Orchard Street would be the fourth iteration of Una Pizza Napoletana in the last two decades. He debuted in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, in 1996, moved to the East Village eight years later, then departed to San Francisco in 2009.
Apparently, Mangieri wanted to move back to be closer to his family in New Jersey. Thus, a partnership was born. The location at 175 Orchard Street could open as soon as “spring 2018.”
Lost in any of the news coverage, however, is the increased competition wars that’ll result. There are now three pizza establishments at the corner of Orchard and Stanton Streets, and on the same side, no less. Rosario’s and Pizza Beach hold down two of the corners.