How a Pizzeria Owner With a Million Fans on Instagram Spends His Sundays

The New York Times does not write about every pizzeria in Manhattan. When the paper's New York region section devoted a profile to Frank Kabatas and East Village Pizza in November 2024, it was both a recognition of the restaurant's standing in the city and a study in what modern small business success actually looks like when the owner is also one of the most-followed pizza accounts on social media.

The Times piece, published November 2, 2024, framed the story through a specific lens: how does a man who is simultaneously running a busy pizza restaurant and maintaining an Instagram following of 1.7 million actually spend his Sundays? The answer, as the profile reveals, is that the two activities are not as separate as they might appear. The content that Kabatas posts — slices coming out of the oven, dough being tossed, the scene of a busy corner pizzeria in the East Village — is the authentic reality of running the restaurant, documented in real time rather than staged for an audience.

This approach to social media is one of the things that distinguishes Kabatas from pizza operators who hire content creators to produce polished brand videos. His Instagram is him: the energy, the humor, the genuine pride in the product, the occasional glimpse of the difficulties of running a business that is open until 5AM on weekends and serves hundreds of customers a day. Followers respond to the authenticity because it is rare, and the 1.7 million account size reflects years of consistent, honest engagement rather than a viral moment or a paid promotion campaign.

The Times profile captured the restaurant at full speed — the Sunday rush that combines late-sleeping East Village residents, NYU students, tourists, and regulars who time their visits to the rhythm of the pizza oven. The cheese slice at $4.99 remains the anchor of the menu and the item that most people try first, though the double-stacked pizza has become the visual centerpiece of the Instagram account and a primary driver of new customers who encounter the restaurant through social media.

For a newspaper that has covered New York food culture for generations, the East Village Pizza profile represented something specific: a restaurant that is simultaneously deeply traditional — a neighborhood slice shop at a fixed address, open for walk-in customers the same way pizzerias have operated in New York for decades — and genuinely contemporary in how it connects with audiences beyond its immediate geographic reach. The 1.7 million Instagram followers include people in other cities and countries who have never been to 145 1st Ave and may never go, but who follow the account because the pizza looks exceptional and the person making it seems real.

The New York Times profile brought new customers to East Village Pizza and validated the reputation that regulars had been building by word of mouth for years. The restaurant is at 145 1st Ave, open until 3AM on weekdays and 5AM on weekends. The Sunday scene described in the Times piece plays out every week — slices, whole pies, double-stacked pizzas, and heart-shaped options for anyone who wants something the city cannot get anywhere else.