FNYCRR Award: Best Bronx Style Pizza in Manhattan

Co-op City Pizza – Tribeca

The Bronx is burning! No, we don’t mean it’s actually on fire, we mean this charming area is heating up the food world at a rapid pace. Some are even starting to refer to it as “The Fourth Bourough.” We wouldn’t quite go that far (literally and figuratively), but we will admit, Bronx style pizza is truly something “dope.” Besides sporting a slightly thicker crust and tangier sauce, Bronx pie really isn’t all that different from NYC pizza, but hey, this is Manhattan and there should be at least one of everything, right?

Located in the heart of Tribeca, Co-op City Pizza is owned by former Bronx native Anthony Jackson, a self-made man on Wall Street, and now a restaurateur. He opened the pizzeria in the hopes of giving New Yorkers a taste of the grub he grew up with. “Most people who live here in Tribeca don’t know a whole lot about the Bronx,” he says. “You have to drive through it to get to Connecticut, so while some people have seen it from their cars, not many have actually stopped there.”

The pizza is cooked in an aluminum oven and all ingredients are sourced from the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue. Which, according to locals, is the most authentic Albanian neighborhood outside of AlbaniaTown in Woodside, Queens. Our only complaint was the music, which was a bit loud and the CD in the jukebox seemed to be skipping: (“South Bronx The South South Bronx…etc.” )

Tribeca is the perfect setting for this Bronx themed space, as now with Jay-Z, Russel Simmons, and Robert DeNiro (Scarface) in the neighborhood, some are calling Tribeca, “The Birthplace of Hip Hop.”