Pizza is nothing new to our city, it is part of our DNA. But with the opening of Masani, Frenzie, and Crown Square, this summer is quickly becoming the season of pie prowess. Here are three new (and soon to open) pizza joints to put on your radar right now.
All the deliciousness at Masani Pizza in the former Lillian’s in Forest Hills
I grew up in Forest Hills, not the fancy part in the Gardens, but on the other side, on Burns Street off of Yellowstone Blvd. As a kid, and with my own kids, we often found ourselves at Lillian’s Pizzeria on the corner of Harrow Street and 69th Avenue. It was a family-run favorite of Ray Romano’s; a neighborhood slice joint, full of love and really good greasy slices.
Lillian and her husband Tony ran the pizzeria for almost 50 years and sold it in 2018 and then it changed hands again in 2024. They’ve now sold it to Mike Chau, the food influencer known as Food Baby, and a fellow native of Forest Hills (he and his wife and kids still live there), who has reopened it at Masani’s Pizza, a pizza sensation. The lines are longer than I think 69th Avenue has ever seen other than for the bus on the first day of school.
Like Lillian’s, this will be a family affair for Mike and his wife Alexandra; the name Masani comes from a mashup of the names of their three kids, Matty (13), Sammy (10), and Nicky (7), whose photos are hung in vintage frames up and down the restaurant’s red walls. (They’ve always been a family-business sort of crew; the Chaus, who are high school sweethearts, first came to fame with restaurant reviews that included their kids being ridiculous on camera.)
Ray came back to bless the new space!
Mike grew up eating at Lillian’s every Friday night with his family—he loved Lillian’s pastas and chicken parm—and hoped to create a similar family-friendly vibe with a similar menu of pies, pastas (and soon) chicken parm and the like.
Now, Mike can do a lot of things but he’s not a chef; to do the pizza making he hired longtime friend and pizza maestro Felix Toro of the mobile pizza shop Happy Bull (a translation of his name) Pizza. “I thought of him immediately because we love his pizzas and he’s another Queens kid; He lives in flushing.”
Toro’s menu is ambitious and delicious – with garlic knots, pinwheels, classic pies and impressive pastas for a slice joint. The best of the mix is the simplest – the margarita, but they’re also doing a cacio e pepe (this one can be used as a base for an Italian salad with pepperoncini and olives, that’s a pretty fantastic combination), a pepperoni and hot honey slice, one with creamy vodka sauce, and a bouncy, crispy-crusted focaccia-based tomato-sauce and cheese covered slice called the Lilian Sicilian (which they also do gluten-free). Their tidy pasta menu uses Brooklyn Pasta Lab and leans into the same sauces from the pies; their radiatore comes with vodka sauce, and the cacio e pepe with small shells.
Dessert comes from another Queens icon – the Lemon Ice King of Corona, where I went nearly every week with my kids when we would go out to the Queens Hall of Science. You’ll love these ices, but save room for @supermoonbakehouse’s Ube Pandan Ice Cream Sandwich. They will go fast! Hope you can make it over to the shop, it’s so good!
Masani Pizza is located at 96-01 69th Avenue, in Forest Hills. It is open 12-8 daily; closed Mondays because the Chaus need a break! = )
Brendan and Daniel, alumni of Roberta’s and L’Industrie are opening Frenzie next week!
You may know chefs Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman from Confidant, their popular Brooklyn Heights restaurant, but the pair met at Roberta’s making pizzas, which is why the opening of Frenzie next week is so exciting.
As you know, Brendan and Daniel took over the Colonie space earlier this summer to relocate Confidant, and it’s already become a beloved neighborhood staple, known for its bread service, prawn pot pie and smoked trout mousse toast (though my favorite dish of the moment is their roasted sunchoke with miso sabayon).
While opening Confidant, the pair have been working on building out the former Pips wine bar space next door, but recently had a change of direction. It started as an all day cafe they originally planned to call Lou & Bev’s. But they pivoted to a pizza and wine bar model with a menu that leans into their PhD-level pizza skills. Brendan was the sous chef at Roberta’s and opened the famous pizzeria’s new Domino Park location in October 2020; Daniel has been a mainstay in the kitchens of New York City’s pizza royalty, including Roberta’s and L’industrie. So, yeah, there’s a ton of experience and talent between the two. I’m very excited for this one!
When they open on Aug 13th (or abouts), they will be serving NY-style pies in the vein of Roberta’s and L’Industrie, with a late night menu that will be a chef’s choice – “slices or squares, or round or whatever we are feeling that day,” Daniel told me when we chatted last week at the space. There will also be small plates, wine and cocktails and soft serve!
Joe Bliffen, Frenzie’s chef de cuisine, on the left, with Brendan (center) and Daniel (far right) in the frenzied midst of opening Frenzie!
The team is calling it Frenzie because the word has a fun, buzzy energy and vibe. “Frenzie, in my opinion, is a watering hole,” Daniel told me. “It’s a place to gather, to come together and convene.” See you there!
Frenzie is located at 129 Atlantic Avenue; right now the opening date is set for August 13th, but things change so follow along on their Instagram for updates!
Rockaway native and boardwalk pizza maestro Sean Aiken (of Seany Pizza) is nearly ready to open Crown Square, his debut Detroit-style pizza shop in Rockaway. He signed the lease on this former bookstore on Rockaway Beach Blvd over a year ago and he has slowly and painstakingly renovated and redesigned it into a super cool slice shop with a Hip Hop NYC vibe – a stunning dark stained oak banquette and hard maple shelving anchors the space that’s got Knicks blue and white square tiled floors, and pops of Knicks orange on all the chairs. A window counter perch looks out onto the Boulevard with a view of the wide ocean beach beyond the boardwalk and the sound of the A train rumbling in the distance. It’s kind of dreamy.
Sean is getting ready to (finally) open Crown Square!
When I stopped in a couple of weeks to chat with Sean and check in on his progress, the place was looking beautiful and he’s ALMOST ready to serve bubbly pans of frico-crowned pies (hence Crown Square) and slices, wings, and, on weekends, breakfast pastries from Brooklyn Native, a killer breakfast burritos, BEC sandwiches, and breakfast pizzas too!
If you’re looking for olive oil, hot honey, a jar of gorgeous Calabrian chiles, or really good pasta, he’s curated a nice little pantry section on one wall of the shop so you can get some fine picnic supplies there too. He plans to do delivery as well! So excited for this one to come to life.
Crown Square is located at 9904 Rockaway Beach Blvd. Follow along @crownsquarepizza and @seanypizza to get updates on opening day and in the meantime visit him on the Beach 97th Street Boardwalk at Seany Pizza for his wood-fired slow-fermented Neapolitan pies.