Uni Pizza Purveyor Prova Cools its Ovens

Prova, the third pizzeria in five years at 184 8th Ave, is closed for the moment. The restaurant was the brainchild of Sushi Nakazawa partner Maurizio de Rosa, restaurateur/TV personality Donatella Arpaia, and members of the Ribalta team. It opened about a year ago with a menu that included a pizza topped with squid ink and lobes of uni. Here's the sign in the window:

The team has not announced where it might be headed next.

Five years ago, Donatella Arpaia opened her pizzeria Donatella in this space. It closed in January 2014, and Heartwood, another Donatella-affiliated pizzeria, opened in its place a few months later with a pizza inspired by Peter Luger. That restaurant lasted about half a year, and Prova moved in two months after its demise. Hopefully, someone can salvage that Stefano Ferrara oven, which currently has red tiles on its exterior but originally had gold and white ones that spelled "Donatella."