It Started With a Delivery Job

Frank Kabatas arrived in New York in 1997 and took a job as a delivery driver at East Village Pizza, a small shop that had just opened its doors in Manhattan's East Village. He learned the counter, then the oven, working his way through every station in the kitchen over the next several years.

In 2003, after being let go and coming back, Frank bought the shop outright. He's run it every day since: the same corner of Manhattan, the same recipe, the same oven technique, for more than two decades.

The dough is where East Village Pizza actually differs from most pizzerias, including plenty of other "New York style" shops. It's mixed at 60–70% hydration and cold-fermented for a full 72 hours before it's ever stretched onto a pan: three days of slow, controlled proofing that most kitchens skip in favor of same-day dough.

That patience is what gives the crust its character: a slightly tangy flavor from the extended fermentation, an easier-to-digest crumb, and a texture that holds up whether it's a plain cheese slice or a fully loaded pie. It bakes in a vintage Baker's Pride gas deck oven, the same style Frank installed when he took over in 2003, still running today.

East Village Pizza's menu goes well beyond a basic cheese-and-pepperoni lineup: signature pies like the Tartufo, Buffalo Ranch, and Dubai Royale, by the slice or as a 14-inch or 20-inch whole pie, alongside the double-stacked format the original Manhattan shop is known for.

Every pie, no matter how it's topped, still starts from the same 72-hour cold-fermented dough and bakes in the same style of oven Frank installed in 2003, the constant across every menu the shop has ever run.

East Village Pizza Dubai is the brand's first location outside New York, a licensed expansion of the original shop, not a new concept borrowing the name. The dough recipe, the proof time, and the oven technique are non-negotiable: whatever changes about running a pizzeria thousands of kilometers from Manhattan, the pizza itself doesn't.

The Meadows was chosen deliberately, a residential pocket of Dubai spanning The Meadows, The Springs, The Lakes, and Emirates Hills, with no craft or New York–style pizza brand currently operating from its community mall.