On St. Mark's Place, Funzi's Pizzeria is a throwback modeled after grandmother's house

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Funzi's Pizzeria, now in soft-open mode at 36 St. Mark's Place, aspires to be an East Village throwback here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Hospitality vet Kevin Cox is behind the venture, which he calls "a passion project."

You've likely seen him hanging out in a lawn chair on the Funzi's patio in recent months...

Cox refers to this outdoor space as St. Mark's TV, "where you can watch real New Yorkers of all shapes, sizes, ages, fashions, etc. And there are no commercials. All while eating fantastic pizza."

Funzi's is named after Cox's youngest of three sons... seen here during a recent visit...

Cox calls the place "an ode to the East Village in the 1970s and 1980s," the design is inspired by everything he loves, especially a family member. "This is my grandmother's house — I tried to rebuild it," he said.

Other Funzi inspirations include artists, thrifting, weird inside jokes, and fine attention to detail. 

That detail is evidenced in the signage, hand-painted by artist Joe Lotto, the custom woodwork and stucco by Giovanni Martini, and chain-stitched uniforms by Jose Ballena.

Cox boasted that the Funzi's team "has arguably the best culinary prowess of any NYC pizzeria." Head chef James Jaworski previously worked at Nolita hotspot Pasquale Jones, then Brooklyn-based L'Industrie and Baby Luc's. He is joined by Chefs Aminu Tedla and Alberto Estévez — also vets from Pasquale Jones. 

"We are all happy that we were able to get the band back together to launch Funzi's," Cox said.

Cox hired some of his front-of-house after meeting them on the Funzi's patio... a few days after they purportedly crashed the Met Gala...

As for the pizza, the soft opening best-seller has been the burrata tomato/Rosso pie, with a crisp thin crust, herbaceous sauce, and "no slice flop."

Also available is a chicory pie with dandelion greens, cream, housemade pesto, and bacon lardons with a lemon squeeze finish. Cox and Jaworski refer to this as a green pie.

There is a vegan pie available, but no gluten-free options just yet.

For dessert, there's an ice box cake, whose flavors include a housemade lemon curd with coconut whipped cream and crushed wafers and a banana pudding flavor with a crème anglaise. 

During this soft opening, hours are in-flux... usually opening at 5 p.m., earlier on weekends...

If you're on Instagram, you can find Funzi's here.