The Seaport Is Getting a Big, Serious Pizzeria

pizza courtesy KestéEater brings word that Lower Manhattan is getting some serious Neapolitan pizza:

Master pizzaiolo Roberto Caporuscio, a partner in Don Antonio on West 50th Street and Kesté on Bleecker Street, will be opening an as-yet-unnamed 120-seat pizza restaurant along with a school at 77 Fulton Street. His daughter, Giorgia, a skilled pizzaiolo in her own right, will oversee the restaurant’s kitchen, which will offer 20 types of pizza and other regional Italian specialties like cuppo, baby fried fish served in a paper cone. Due in October, it will start serving traditional Italian pastries at 6:30 am. Giorgia will also teach at the school, which will have classes of up to 40 for professionals, amateurs and children, and be available for private events.

I don’t know about Don Antonio, but the pizza at Kesté is quite goo; many folks in north Tribeca are lucky enough to be in the delivery zone. The atmosphere at the West Village restaurant leaves something to be desired, so let’s hope this one is an upgrade on that front. 77 Fulton is the space in Southbridge Towers, behind DeLury Square, formerly (and briefly) home to the Lot 77 café (pictured below soon after it opened).

lot 77 facade

 

16 Comments

  1. “Don Antonio by Starita” on W 50 is *really* good.

  2. This is amazing but that space is horrible. I hope they can sustain themselves with delivery biz…

    • It’s pushed back from Fulton which is no good for a place like Lot 77 but when you have the name Caporuscio people know to look for it and then it has the benefit of being slightly away from the crowd….. there could be a nice opportunity for side walk searing as well. With that, the Seaport, Trade Center and Wall Street as destinations – it’s a great spot. IMHO

    • Fulton has a lot of foot traffic, as it’s a prime path between the WTC and the Seaport.

      • You can’t see it from Fulton as its hidden by the park and it’s in what looks like a giant housing project. I don’t think they’ll get tourist biz.

        This would’ve been a great place for that empty building on Nassau and Anne but the build out for a restaurant is probably too expensive.

        • Not only tourists shuttle between the Seaport and the WTC.

        • First off it’s not in a “housing project” it’s in Southbridge Towers. Nice veiled racism there. Why don’t you just say “it looks like it’s in a building where lots of poor non-white people live” and so what it if was? Get a clue about the neighborhood.

          Second this is not a bad location , it is a prime location. Proof is Pizza & Pasta Delight, a pizzeria, existed for over three decades in that location before moving to Battery Park City. Lot 77 didn’t work out because the food didn’t appeal to a broad group of people like pizza does. Also The only pizzeria in the neighborhood (not dollar slice slop or white cloth napkin restaurant serving pizza) is Rosella’s on William St. between Beekman and Ann Sts. so it’ll be nice to have a new and it looks like better option for pizza in the neighborhood/area.

          Ohhh it’s not directly on a street, so it’s no good.

          • An all brick building with balconies and large, empty spaces around the buildings is legitimately the recipe for what the projects look like in NYC. No one said anything about race or it’s residents.

            And I’m not questioning the pizza! I’m sure they got a hella good deal on the rent (because the space sucks).

          • In defense of John, whenever I see a cluster of brick buildings that look exactly the same, I immediately assume they’re housing projects. It has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with living in NYC and knowing what a NYC housing project looks like.

  3. Though this retail space would be a challenge for some retailers, this space was occupied for MANY years by a pizzeria before they lost their lease. I think they will do well.

  4. I am a pizza aficionado who lives in Greenwich Village the epicenter of thin crust pizza.
    Keste on Bleecker Street is just plain bad!
    If you want the best authentic thin crust pizza head directly to Numero 28 at 28 Carmine Street (not their other locations)
    Here you will enjoy killer pizza made in a wood burning oven built by guys from Naples where they certainly know something about thin crust pizza. Everyone working there is from Italy and so are the owners.
    They use the best ingredients many imported from Italy.
    Definitely worth the trip!

    • The best pizza in Greenwich Village is John’s Pizzeria on Bleecker Street (no slices tho.)

      The best slice joints in GV are Ben’s Pizzeria at MacDougal and West 3rd Sts. a block east of 6th Ave. and Rivoli on 7th Avenue at Perry St. Honorable mentions go to Fiore’s Pizza, Joe’s Pizza, and Bleecker Street Pizza.

    • Have to second numero 28! Their Pizza is the best thin crust around. I love their Diavolo!

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