About East Village Pizza
The Story
I arrived in New York on January 2, 1997. I had almost no money and almost no English.
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The next day I found a job at a pizza place on 1st Avenue called East Village Pizza. I worked whatever they needed — deliveries, dishes, whatever. Six months later they fired me.
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I kept going. I got a job at another pizzeria in the East Village and learned how to actually make pizza. Then I went to a Domino's on Long Island and they made me store manager in eight months. That's where I learned how to run a business — inventory, labor, marketing, how a kitchen actually operates.
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By 2003, I heard the original owners of East Village Pizza were selling. I borrowed money from my aunt in Turkey. I bought the place with my brother and a business partner.
I came in the next day and changed everything.
The Pizza
Every ingredient is made or sourced fresh. The dough proofs for 72 hours before it goes anywhere near the oven. The Baker's Pride gas oven I bought in 2003 is still running — I'm not replacing it. The heat, the timing, the way the crust finishes — you don't get that from newer equipment.
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I don't put more than three toppings on a pizza. When you stack four or five, you stop tasting the dough. The dough took 72 hours. It deserves to be tasted.
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I've been making pizza this way for over 20 years. The process hasn't changed. The execution keeps getting better.
The Recognition
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Dave Portnoy One Bite Score: 8.0
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Selected for the One Bite Pizza Festival at Randall's Island, September 2025
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Manhattan's Best Pizza - Good Day New York Best of the Boroughs, May 2024
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Featured by NBC New York, Food Network NYC Wine & Food Festival 2025
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2 million Instagram followers — organic, since 2012