Could Famed Pizzeria Una Pizza Napoletana Be Returning to NYC?

Editor’s note: This news is indeed confirmed. Read all about it here.

Contra and Wildair restaurateur Jeremiah Stone has publicly filed more information on his potential new pizzeria on the Lower East Side, and some wild information is listed — the corporate name for the restaurant is Una Pizza Napoletana LLC, and a sample menu is exactly the same as one from the esteemed restaurant of SF-based pizza obsessive (and NYC escapee) Anthony Mangieri.

Stone did not immediately respond to request for comment. Chef Mangieri, who also did not immediately respond to comment, is not listed as an owner for the potential new restaurant at 175 Orchard Street, between Stanton and Houston streets.

But details on an application for a liquor license at the space point to some version of the SF pizza destination. The menu listed in the app is virtually the same as the California location, including a pie named after Mangieri’s wife Ilaria and one after his daughter Apollonia.

The proposed restaurant offers room for as many as 75 people, including a bar. It would be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to the questionnaire submitted to Community Board 3. The actual trade name for the restaurant is listed as “to be determined.” The board uses the information to determine whether to approve the new liquor license, a decision that’s ultimately advisory to the State Liquor Authority.

Mangieri’s one of the country’s most acclaimed pizzaiolos, known for slinging his masterful Neopolitan pies with a bit of an attitude. In SF, people from around the world flock to the restaurant to try the pies, which he serves until he runs out of dough each day.

If he is indeed involved with this project, it would be a homecoming for the chef. He originally opened a pizzeria in New Jersey and moved to the East Village in 2004. While here, he was among the first wave of chefs who turned pizza into a serious culinary endeavor in New York. In a 2009 review, Frank Bruni wrote in the Times that Mangieri helped bring “a new kind of cachet (and vanity) to pizza making and pizza eating in this city.” The chef closed the restaurant shortly after and reopened in SF in 2010.

Meanwhile, Stone has made quite a name for himself in the neighborhood with Wildair and sibling tasting menu spot Contra, both projects with chef-partner Fabian von Hauske. Previously, Stone told Eater that there was “a strong chance we will not pursue” the LES space for a pizzeria at all.

Still, looks like the restaurateur is at least putting in the work to go in front of the community board. And it would be a surprise if Stone were opening a restaurant with the corporate name Una Pizza Napoletana without Mangieri.

Stone will need to appear in front of the community board on Monday, November 13 if he’s still pursuing the space. Stay tuned for more.