Zozo's on the Bay pizzeria opens in Bayville
The Margherita pie at Zozo's on the Bay in Bayville. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
And the award for most out-of-the-way pizzeria goes to ... Zozo’s on the Bay in Bayville. Located on a narrow, L-shaped peninsula that extends east from Locust Valley, Bayville has a small business district. Zozo’s isn’t in it — you must drive to the end of Bayville Avenue. to reach the wind-swept building. (Drive much farther and you’ll be stopped by the Centre Island police, unless you are Billy Joel or a resident of the gated village.)
The freestanding building at 424 Bayville Ave. has been an off-and-on bar but it never had a kitchen. Not only did owner John Zozzaro build one, but he also installed a dual-fuel Marra Forni pizza oven that you can see bulging out of an exterior wall.
Zozzaro makes 20 individual Neapolitan pies, from a classic Margherita, a cheeseless Naked Napolitano and a Bella Bianca with ricotta and mozzarella to the Uncle Tony’s Heart Attack (tomato, mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni and bacon), Toni’s Two-Times (hot sausage, Peppadew peppers, Calabrian chilies and Mike’s Hot Honey) and the relatively tame Green Vespa (mozzarella, ricotta, baby spinach, roasted garlic and freshly grated lemon zest). Prices range from $15 to $22.
John Zozzaro hefts a Margherita pie at his pizzeria, Zozo's on the Bay in Bayville. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
His dough is made with finely milled Tipo 00 flour with some coarser Tipo 0 mixed in for a heartier taste. The taste and texture are amplified by a cool, five-day ferment, but Zozzaro has learned that his customers don’t like the floppy (some would say soggy) pies that fly in Naples. To that end he uses less water in the dough and bakes at a lower temperature.
He makes his own fresh mozzarella, one of three cheeses you’ll find in his setup, along with low-moisture mozzarella (for his New York State of Mind and other American-inspired pies) and Cheddar which he deploys in conjunction with the low-moisture mozz in his six 8 x 10-inch Detroit-style pizzas ($17 to $19).
Zozzaro has been on a pizza journey since 2003 when he opened Downtown Cafe, a restaurant-pizzeria in Glen Cove. There he was making New York-style pies but, about 10 years ago, he got his pizza consciousness raised by a class he took with Roberto Caporuscio, the teacher-guru behind Manhattan’s Kesté Pizza e Vino. Inspired by the wood-fired Neapolitan tradition, he bought a decommissioned firetruck and outfitted it with a wood-fired oven and launched Pizza Company 7, a mobile catering unit. In 2022, he left Downtown Cafe to focus on the truck.
Zozo’s opened quietly in the summer, first only on weekends and now from Thursday to Sunday. The restaurant has two dining rooms, a bar and patio. In addition to pizza there’s a full menu of appetizers, pastas, sandwiches, soups and salads.
Zozo’s on the Bay, 424 Bayville Ave., Bayville, 516-212-3000, zozosonthebay.com. Open Thursday to Saturday 4 to 9 p.m., Sunday 3 to 8 p.m.
