Zazzy's Pizza Brings Fresh Mozz and 'Ronis to the Lower East Side

Zazzy’s is a three-month-old, mood-lit corner spot on Stanton & Orchard with mugshot-art of supermodels on the walls and beautiful pizzas behind glass at the counter.

No, this isn’t a frozen-state blog post from 2017; Zazzy’s soft-opened in November 2020 — billing itself as a vegan / health-conscious option — and has officially made it through NYC’s winter indoor-dining lockdown to see Valentine’s Day weekend, and the reopening of indoor dining.

Pizza, as they say, is pandemic-proof.

Sprigs of basil and conservative chessboard-patterns of mozzarella give Zazzy’s pies an upscale feel. The friendly cashier walked me through their variety — white pies topped with bon-bons of ricotta cheese, pepperoni pies with those lovely cup-and-char ‘ronis, tomato pies baked with quartered cherry tomatoes and a minimal dusting of parmesan — this is an elevated by-the-slice joint, to be sure. Zazzy’s even has their own line of “smart sodas,” which range from vitamin-infused tea to actual cola.

I ordered a pepperoni slice and a slice of the subtly-orange vodka pie; while waiting for my food, a squeaking noise persisted from under the table in front of me. This turned out to come from a fluffy doodle puppy, which was being considered for petting by a small child at the table.

The cashier came out from behind the counter at one point and gave the friendly reassurance that the doodle was, in fact, harmless, despite its urgent squeaks; the child and the puppy proceeded to bond. My pizza was ready from the oven shortly after.

Zazzy’s has a crispy crust, with just enough tenderness to fold in half; the ‘roni cups on the pepperoni slice were appropriately stacked throughout — you want ‘roni cups to be on top of, around and slid between one another in a good cup-and-char slice — and despite some initial misgivings I had about what looked like minimal cheese, the slice had plenty of melt.

The sauce in the vodka slice was subtle — a far cry from some of the cream-drenched vodka squares you’ll find in this city — and predominantly served as a background actor for the crispy crust and fresh mozzarella.

Both slices were very good; what made me really enjoy Zazzy’s pizza was Mike’s Hot Honey, the chili-infused nectar of Brooklyn. Several bottles of the stuff stood ready for squirting on a side-counter, alongside the napkin dispenser and the red pepper-shaker. I squeezed out a syrupy zig-zag on the back half of my pepperoni slice, and proceeded to squirt-and-bite down through the end of the crust for both slices.

Zazzy’s gets a 4 out of 5; this is very good pizza, with or without hot honey, and I think the menu’s breadth of interesting options warrants additional investigation.

That said, I’m not sure if the puppy was there to make very serious reviewers like myself up their scores, but rest assured — no part of my review was swayed by the baby doodle. I take my craft seriously. I’m an artist. Just like Zazzy’s pizza chefs. But, like, for blogs.

Until next time.