A Brooklyn Pizza Staple Migrates to Manhattan

As time has rolled on, especially in the wake of the pandemic, Ops partners — Mike Fadem, Marie-Anna Tribouilloy (Forêt Wines), and Gavin Compton (Variety Coffee, Blue Collar, and Three Decker Diner) — have noticed how centrality impacts business. So, Fadem literally took out a subway map and traced the L-train route, past his second restaurant, Leo, their something-for-everyone Italian-esque eatery in Williamsburg, and ultimately arrived at 176 Second Avenue between 11th and 12th streets. The plan is to bring a bit of that Brooklyn essence into a more accessible avenue where they can serve more diners.

The ultimate goal, Fadem says, is to “be the best pizzeria in Manhattan that’s open every day, and the one you keep going back to.” This Ops is much more than a slice shop; it’s a full-service restaurant that he likens to a sort of “Ops, deluxe edition,” with more dishes and pizza styles than you’d find at the original.

The former tenants in the space, Numero 28, left behind a built-in wood-fire oven that’s been luckily grandfathered in. A long ramp brings you into the slightly subterranean restaurant but take a U-turn and you’ll find a raised stage area in the front, bordered by floor-to-ceiling windows which will open up to sidewalk seating. The snug O.G. Brooklyn Ops vibe is replicated further inside, with slatted wood booths tucked into the back, an area where you’ll want to cheer the night away.

In addition to the wood-fired oven, the new Ops is also equipped with an electric Pizza Master three-deck oven in the back kitchen. It’s the same one that other top pizza places around the country like Razza in Jersey City, N.J., Lovely’s Fifty Fifty in Portland, Ore., and Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix all use to supplement their forward-facing hearths and fulfill larger volumes.

As in Bushwick, the menu will be a trim list of pies, including marinara, margherita, and certainly their much-admired mortadella, with a few minimalistic sides. Fadem is already primed to dish out specials, too. Let’s just say there might be a square-cut tavern-style pizza in the works, a tribute to Fadem’s St. Louis roots, though using Caputo Brothers Creamery Gouda instead of Imo’s polarizing Provel cheese.

What is unchanging, and unwavering, however, is the dough — it’s the same sourdough as you’ll find at Ops Bushwick and Leo. “Pizza gets attached to a name, an identity of a place,” but Fadem really thinks it’s in the flour: “Pizza is 80% dough — with cheffy toppings.” Ops uses a five-flour blend from Central Milling (which L’Industrie also uses), as well as Farmers Ground spelt, Italian semolina, and high-extraction whole wheat.

The Ops kitchen is a lesson in ingredients sourcing, including DOP tomatoes from Casa Marrazzo, which is near Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy; mozzarella from Pennsylvania’s famed Caputo Brothers creamery; and mortadella from Tempesta Artisan Salumi in Chicago, which Fadem special orders without pistachios. “We’re always thinking about allergies,” he says.

Tribouilloy has roots in both the kitchen and front-of-house. At the original Ops, in the early years, she cooked everything except the pizza, and helped manage the rest, from staff training to cocktails making. Her influence is most seen in the glint of seasonal produce speckled across the menu; she’s particularly thrilled with the East Village spot’s vicinity to Union Square’s Greenmarket for, amongst many beautiful things, frilly lettuces and fractalian radicchio from the Campo Rosso stand. They’ll also bring in big, beautiful boxes from Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op, Finger Lakes Farm Fresh, and HOG Farm in Long Island, and dream up dishes from what’s best, rather than forcing herself to find food for a requisite recipe.

In addition to the salad from the Brooklyn menu, Fadem is also plotting to serve tomato and mozzarella suppli (Roman rice balls), fritto misto of pollack and shrimp with an anchovy aioli — which also happens to be gluten free, made with a rice flour and tapioca starch tempura-like batter — and lasagna, with which Fadem is obsessed. Spring may bring artichokes with Trapanese pesto, “probably some sort of clam pie,” teases Fadem, and maybe even (canned) tuna as a topping. And you’ll also find a soft-serve ice cream sundae, too.

Tribouilloy is in charge of the aesthetics of the new place. “It’s a concrete box,” she says, “but we want customers to come in on the first week and feel [that] the place has been lived in.” To this end, she’s tracked down some vintage objects to fill the space, including an array of lamps triumphantly won on eBay auctions.

For inspiration, she says, “I looked at a lot of old trattorias, old Parisian cafes, diners,” emphasizing that she looked to spots that are legitimately old places, “not made up old, places that aren’t trying to prove anything.” She points to Andrew Tarlow’s Achilles Heel in Greenpoint as nailing this style: “I loved the place even before spending time there. It was built in 1928, and it hasn’t changed since then,” with its uneven steps and overall charm. That intentional irregularity will even hang on the walls at the new Ops, with, with midcentury art beside modern illustrations. (Funnily enough, Tarlow, the restaurateur often associated with encompassing the entire look and feel of a Brooklyn restaurant in the mid-aughts, with spots like Diner and the now-closed Marlow & Sons, also recently made his Manhattan debut last year with Borgo.)

There’s an inspired natural wine list, and cocktails are from the general manager of the original Ops, Cedric Obando.

As for the soundtrack, it’s something Fadem feels very strongly about. (He attended City College in Harlem as a jazz drummer and played in the band Jealous Girlfriends, opening for the likes of Nada Surf.) The music at Ops in the East Village will be eclectic, and highly curated. Being back in the East Village brings him back to a time full of energy, optimism, and potential, and Fadem thinks of Ops East Village in the same way.

“Pizza is one of the first foods you remember, so it’s loaded, and we don’t want to fight [anyone’s] comfort level,” Fadem says. Here, you’ll be able to return to your creature comforts, revisit a more youthful moment, one pie at a time.

Ops East Village will be open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight, beginning Saturday, June 28, eventually adding lunch service. Reservations are now open.

Michael Harlan Turkell is a food photographer, writer, and cookbook author. He most recently hosted the Modernist Pizza Podcast, and continues to explore the art, history, and science of many foodways. Follow him on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.