A New York pizzeria has dethroned a southern Italian restaurant as the ‘best in the world’.
Una Pizza Napoletana, located on the Lower East Side, has been praised by the World 50 Top Pizza Awards 2024, on Tuesday.
Last year, they placed number two – behind Masanielli in the Campanian city of Caserta – but emerged months later to take home the prize.
The 50 Top Pizza Awards – dubbed the ‘Michelin awards for pizzerias’ is an annual event that recognises the best pizzerias and chefs in the world, based on a rigorous selection process involving anonymous visits by experienced pizza critics.
Owned by Anthony Mangieri, Una Pizza Napoletana was praised for its ‘theatrical’ setting, delicious ingredients, and very tasty desserts.
Una Pizza Napoletana, located on the Lower East Side, has been praised by the World 50 Top Pizza Awards 2024, on Tuesday
‘We are in the East Side for this very New York-style pizzeria, reminiscent of the New York that becomes more beautiful and fascinating outside the windows of Up Town,’ 50 Top Pizza wrote on its site.
‘Soft lights, the work area at the back in the center of the restaurant like a theater stage. The proposal is very simple, two appetizers to start, marinated olives, lupini beans, and dehydrated vegetables.
‘To finish, the ice cream or fresh fruit sorbet, truly amazing, the other great passion of Anthony Mangieri, pizzamaker and owner.
‘In a country always accustomed to putting everything on pizza, Anthony proposes only the purest tradition in toppings, with extraordinary quality ingredients.’
Taking to their Instagram, the restaurant wrote of the honour: ‘We are so grateful.’
Anthony, 52, has been making pizza since he was 15 years old – and told Eater that running his own restaurant has been a childhood dream.
‘I wanted a storefront where I could put a little chair out front,’ he said in an interview with the outlet. ‘I’d go inside, make pizza, come back out and sit in my little chair, and think, “This is my life.”‘
The chef also explained that nurturing his vision and maintaining the independence of the restaurant has been important to him.
Anthony, who has also come out with a frozen pizza line, called Genio, said it was a trip to Naples that spurned his love for cooking
Anthony, 52, has been making pizza since he was 15 years old – and told Eater that running his own restaurant has been a childhood dream
He admitted workflow at Una Pizza Napoletana is ‘a little strange’ in that ‘everyone, even the front of house, all arrive at the same time, and they all leave at the same time’.
He said that ‘everybody does everything’ – from dishwashing to bussing, with the exception of course, prepping the food and making pizza – and all tips are split evenly.
Anthony, who has also come out with a frozen pizza line, called Genio, said it was a trip to Naples that spurned his love for cooking.
‘My parents took me when I was 15,’ he told Grub Street. ‘I was just a kid, but after that I sort of became obsessed. There was no internet, so back in Jersey I went to the library.
‘I read all the baking books I could find. I decided I was going to make pizza the way they’d been doing it in Naples for 100 years — no yeast, no refrigeration, cooking with straight wood, mixing everything by hand. I did that for ten years after I opened my first bakery, but I use a machine mixer now.’
Aged only 22, Anthony opened a bakery in his native New Jersey, in and in 1996, set up the first iteration of Una Pizza Napoletana in Point Pleasant Beach.
He relocated it to Manhattan in 2004, where it cemented as a New York staple. In 2010, he relocated to San Francisco where it was also a hit – but returned to New York’s Lower East Side in 2018.
In 2022, he reopened its now one and only location in the Big Apple.
Diego Vitagliano Pizzeria, in Naples, followed up in second place, tied in with I Masanielli, which was year’s winner.
Third was The Pizza Bar on 38th in Tokyo, Japan, and fourth was Milanese Confine.
In fifth, it was a humble west London restaurant – which earlier this year was named the as the home to the best pizza in Europe outside of Italy – Napoli on the Road, in the desirable west London neighbourhood of Chiswick.
Head chef and founder Michele Pascarella, , who was born in Caserta, near Naples, started his business by wandering around with his three-wheeler Ape Piaggio making wood fire pizzas all over London.
Recognised as the first pizzaiolo to bring contemporary high-crust pizza to the UK, Michele is now considered a ‘pioneer of contemporary pizza’.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .