How One of the Country’s Most Famous Pizza Makers Is Navigating the Shutdown — From N.J.
Anthony Mangieri of Una Pizza Napoletana is keeping it lean, running a 2-person operation on the Jersey Shore
When I spoke to Anthony Mangieri, the pizzaiolo icon of Una Pizza Napoletana, he was working from his Atlantic Highlands location, the fourth iteration of the restaurant that has inspired pizza pilgrimages no matter where he’s located. Since February, he’s slinging pies Friday through Sunday only. And, like the early days of his career, he’s making around 100 pizzas a day himself.
By choice, Mangieri is back where he started, not too far from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, where he learned baking in the mid-’90s. From there, he opened a shop in the East Village in 2004 in what became known as one of the quirkiest and most delicious pizza destinations in Manhattan. This location propelled him to fame among pizza people, for his superlative Neapolitan-style pies baked lightning-fast in a wood-burning oven. The result: a light-as-air blistery crust with an almost voluptuous cornicione dressed with San Marzano tomatoes.
Looking for a change from the relentless work hours and lured west by exquisite produce, by 2010, Mangieri closed the East Village spot so he and his…