Pie and coffee
Seattle restaurateur brings his pizza and caffeine empire to lower East Side
Sure, restaurateur Michael Mcconnell knows his coffee. He opened Caffe Vita in the Queen Anne nabe of Seattle in 1995, and eight more throughout the Northwest in the years following. But he also knows his pizza.
In addition to his caffeine empire, McConnell began expanding into classical Neapolitan pizza in 2004, when he opened his first Via Tribunali in Seattle’s Capitol Hill. The good news for New Yorkers is that now both of his venues sit side by side on Ludlow St.
“New York seemed like an obvious next move, and the neighborhood fits our audience perfectly,” says Mcconnell. His fiancée, Elizabeth Weber, who is also a partner, adds that the lower East Side has a similar feel to that of Capitol Hill in Seattle, where she grew up.
“We’ve very much found a sense of home here,” she says.
Tribunali is run by pizza masters Nico Calzone and Gennaro Nasti, who man the open-faced, handmade Vesuvius brick oven which cooks pies in 45 seconds flat. Try the Diavola pizza, with pepperoni, or one of the signature calzoni, made with fresh tomatoes straight from the homeland itself.
“I’m big on quality, and there are no shortcuts when it comes to that,” says McConnell. “You cannot possibly make the best product if you aren’t using the best ingredients.”
The warm, cozy environment of the restaurant is mirrored in the cafe next door, which will serve fresh brews from artisanal roasters. Pichet Ong (Coppelia, Qi Bangkok Eatery) will be serving up pastries, and a vintage, restored La Marzocco espresso machine from the late 1970s decorates the bar.
As for their planned domination of all things coffee and pizza in New York, McConnell and and Weber agree that they aren’t through. Though they’ll now divide their time between the West Coast and the lower East Side, where they also live, they’ve been keeping their eyes peeled for space in Brooklyn to expand.
“We happen to know the two things that New Yorkers love, pizza and coffee,” says Weber. “Seems like there can’t ever be too much of it.”
Caffe Vita, 124 Ludlow St.; Via Tribunali, 122 Ludlow St.