Big cheeses of the Downtown Manhattan food world came out for the reopening of acclaimed eatery Una Pizza Napoletana on Tuesday night after the pizza mecca was closed for two years, we hear.
Dough pro Anthony Mangieri manned the kitchen between greeting pals at his relaunched space with an updated menu, spies said.
Spotted savoring his pies at a friends-and-family night before the public opening this week were Mission Chinese founder Danny Bowien, Hearth restauranteur Marco Canora, Peter Luger GM David Berson and Dan Richter of Jersey City’s Razza.
Also on the upper crust pizza scene were “Billions” creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien, fresh from their latest Showtime project, “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.”
They were seen dining with “Rushmore” producer Paul Schiff, who’s working on the series as well.
Pie and this guy: Anthony Mangieri mans the kitchen at his Downtown Manhattan eatery.Instagram/unapizzanapoletanaWell-inked Mangieri’s reopened spot also attracted top tattooers Robert Ryan and Michelle Tarantelli, plus PBS chef Mike Colameco and Wheels Up founder Kenny Dichter, who jovially worked the room between courses.
Mangieri showed off a new menu that includes a “cosacca pizza” with San Marzano tomatoes, Pecorino Romano, basil, Sicilian sea salt and extra virgin olive oil.
The pizzas were ready for their close-up at the reopening of Una Pizza Napoletana.Instagram/briankoppelmanFor dessert, he served up lemon sorbetto and almond cremolata, and one guest exclaimed that the chef’s ice cream is as good as his pizza.
The restaurant’s interior has also been upgraded, and Mangieri reportedly has plans to convert the space into a coffee shop in the mornings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
He’s known for his “strenuous, exacting approach to pizza-making” and famously opened Una Pizza Napoletana in the East Village in 2004 before later moving to San Francisco and returning to NYC to open on the Lower East Side in 2018. He then shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Una Pizza Napoletana kept the pies pumping at its friends-and-family reopening night.Instagram/unapizzanapoletanaMangieri told Eater in an emailed statement on the reopening this week: “I’ve spent the better part of my adult life running toward a finish line, wondering when are you truly the best you can be at something? When have you reached the point of mastery? Now I know that the finish line doesn’t exist, but I’m driven by the pursuit.”
