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Upper East Side Staple Zesty's Pizzeria Reopens on Third Avenue

By Shaye Weaver | June 24, 2015 5:22pm | Updated on June 26, 2015 5:08pm
 Stephano Grimaldi opened Zesty Pizzeria & Salumeria after closing it temporarily in 2013.
Zesty Pizzeria & Salumeria Reopens
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UPPER EAST SIDE — Zesty's is back.

Original Zesty's — now called Zesty Pizzeria & Salumeria — officially reopened in its new home at 1670 Third Ave. between East 93rd and 94th streets Monday, just a block south of its former location.

Its usual fare of pizza, pastas and salads has returned, but with additions like cold deli sandwiches made with Italian meats. The restaurant's well-known “grandma” and “upside down Sicilian” pizzas are still on the menu.

“People come by and ask, ‘You’re not changing the menu right?’” said Zesty's owner Stephano Grimaldi, 30. “After everything I went through to get this place where it is, I feel accomplished…I really do. It was a long journey that was very, very difficult. The city dares you. It’s gonna be tough, but if you make it, cool.”

In 2013, Grimaldi’s family — who are not related to the founders of the famed Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn  —  was forced to close Original Zesty's at 1693 Third Avenue, which had been open since 1982, because their landlord at the time refused to renew their lease

It took Grimaldi 15 months to find the perfect place to reopen. It was imperative to him that it stay in the same neighborhood, and if possible, on the same block, he said.

“I didn’t want to venture out too far, which is why it took so long to find a spot," Grimaldi said on Wednesday. “I know everybody here because we were like the go-to place. It would have been a waste to give everything we’ve done in this neighborhood away.”

He said he looked at roughly 20 locations before he chose the spot at 1670 Third Ave.

His father, Salvatore Grimaldi, who opened the Original Zesty’s, also works with his son, making pizzas like he has for the past three decades. Salvatore had taken over Sal’s Pizza in Maspeth, but in January he sold that business to a colleague.

Since Zesty opened on Monday, people Grimaldi has not seen since they closed in 2013 came in to pick up a slice or simply say “hello,” he said.

Longtime customer Sarina Everetts, who walked in for a bite on Wednesday, was delighted to see the neighborhood spot reopen. 

“The workers are the ones that keep you coming back,” she said. “They remember me and [give] me extra love. Somebody remembers you and makes you feel like you’re coming home.”

Ultimately, that is what Grimaldi wanted to accomplish by opening his new store.

“Honestly, it is a sense of feeling as if we had never left, which is amazing," Grimaldi added.