Una Pizza Napoletana

"What It Is: A beloved pizza spot that just returned to NYC (after a stint in San Francisco) in partnership with the people behind Wildair & Contra Perfect For: Date Night Roughly eight years ago, there was a pizza place in the East Village called Una Pizza Napoletana. But then the owner moved his operation to San Francisco, where he made some of the best pizza in the city. Now, this place is back in NYC, in a somewhat industrial-feeling Lower East Side space that used to be Whynot Coffee. And the pizza is very good. They don’t offer a lot of toppings, but the margherita pizza is a great example of what a margherita pizza should be, and the crust is worth having on its own. There are also some interesting small plates from the Wildair people (who are partners in this place), including some beef crudo that may actually be better than the pizza. Right now, they don’t have a liquor license, so what should be a lively bar area is pretty dead, and it still feels like they’re somewhat in a soft open phase. Waits can also be unpredictable. We’ll definitely be back. The Verdict: We’re putting this place on the Hit List, but unless you are a pizza fanatic or you’ve been counting down the days until Una Pizza’s return, we’d suggest you wait to come here until they have a liquor license." - hannah albertine, bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg, chris stang, matt tervooren

"This is the sixth iteration of Una Pizza Napoletana, and we know exactly why this place won’t die. It’s serving the best Neapolitan pies in NYC—and possibly the world. Open three days a week, Una Pizza is now in a remodeled, candlelit room on the Lower East Side. Our go-to order is the margherita, but if you’re in the mood for something without sauce, try the bianca with anchovies and dip torn-off pieces of crust into the fishy and salty pool of olive oil that forms in the middle of the pie. Since all the pizzas have the same otherworldly crust, you can’t go wrong with whatever you order. " - bryan kim, willa moore, kenny yang, carlo mantuano, molly fitzpatrick

"Open in one place or another — the Jersey shore, East Village, San Francisco, now the Lower East Side — since 1996, Una Pizza Napoletana produces some of the most perfect evocations of pizza in the Neapolitan style. These are smallish pies dappled with char, steaming straight from the oven. Only five or six different configurations are offered when they’re open — Thursday, Friday, and Saturday — using scintillating ingredients." - Robert Sietsema

"Deciding who makes the best pizza in a city like New York is an inherently impossible task. But if you’re speaking strictly of Neapolitan-style pies—as opposed to Detroit-style squares, New York slices, Roman pizza al taglio, or Chicago’s towering amalgamations of sauce and cheese—you could make a strong case for Anthony Mangieri’s. Certainly, other people think so. The Italian organization 50 Top Pizza has named it the Best in the USA and even the Best in the World. But regardless of how much stock you put in awards lists, these pies, with their puffy, leopard-spotted corniciones, speak for themselves. The dough varies every day, as Mangieri continues to tinker endlessly with proof times, hydration levels, and flours in the unending pursuit of perfection. A few truths remain consistent: the dough must be naturally leavened with a sourdough starter; the only ingredients are flour, water, salt, and time; and most importantly, every single pie must be made by Mangieri’s hands. If he’s sick, the Una Pizza Napoletana simply doesn’t open that day. “More of my life has been spent making pizza than not,” says Anthony Mangieri, who estimates he made his first pie at age 13 in his home state of New Jersey. He spent much of his teenage years eating his way through the New York greats—Totonno’s, Lombardi’s, John’s on Bleeker—followed by the coal-fired classics in New Haven and finally the titans in Italy. “I’m 52 and 37 years of it was spent making pizza.” While Una Pizza Napoletana is internationally known today, it was born as a ramshackle six-table operation just off of Point Pleasant Beach in the thick of the Jersey Shore. At the time, 25-year-old Mangieri was something of a one-man show. “I’d be making pizza, taking orders on the phone, and bringing people their pizza at the table while I’m still on the phone. It was nutty,” he recalls. Over time, the place built up a small community of regulars, some of whom would pitch in to help with dishes. “My friends from the local tattoo shop would come and hang out and drink espressos, and people would be playing quarters in the back, gambling and smoking cigarettes,” he says. There was no website, let alone social media, so the whole operation was word-of-mouth for years. “It was a completely different era than the world now. But it was great.” The sixth and current iteration of the restaurant is a tad more upscale, but the menu remains deliberately minimalist. There are no real sides or salads; just a handful of olives or roasted peppers for appetizers, plus a rotating gelato and sorbet as palate-cleansers. At any given time, there’s a half-dozen pizzas, each with a handful of ingredients. Diners can now add Calabrian hot peppers, anchovies, pepperoni, or 36-month-aged Parmigiano Reggiano, but the Margherita here requires none of these. “Everything we add to the menu or take away from the menu is very purposeful,” Mangieri says. “I don’t like I don’t like clutter. I really love food that when you eat it, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, every ingredient just made sense, and they all enhance the dish, and nothing was left to chance.’” Know Before You Go Una Pizza Napoletana is only open three evenings a week, from Thursday to Saturday. Reservations are strongly recommended. If you’re lucky, you may be able to snag a seat near the open kitchen, where you can watch 12-inch pizzas being born." - Diana Hubbell

"Expect lines at this destination that inspires many a pizza pilgrimage. Anthony Mangieri is known for his almost militant approach to Neapolitan pizza making, and a simple menu featuring classics done well. This summer, Mangieri’s Una again earned first-place title in the U.S. and second place for the best pizzeria in the world by the organization 50 Top Pizza." - Eater Staff