Michael McConnell's Seattle-based pizzeria Via Tribunali shuttered earlier this week after a two-and-a-half year run, reports The Lo-Down. Diners generally liked the Neapolitan pies flash-baked in an 1000 degree oven, but the pizzeria never became a destination like Paulie Gee's or Roberta's. No word on the reason for the closure, but making pizza is a tough gig in a slice-saturated city like New York.
The past few weeks have been rough ones for several New York pie shops. Forcella closed its Bowery outpost, Two Boots on Bleecker Street shuttered, and the location in Grand Central is fighting tooth and nail for a lease renewal. Caffe Vita, another McConnell project next door to Via Tribunali, is safe for now, and business appears to be booming at all the shops out west.