Pizza Fun House Opens as a Happy Days Tribute
If you're in NYC, come by for a free slice on May 2 (while they last)
One of the classic sitcoms of the 1970s is Happy Days, the story of a clean-cut Wisconsin family in the 1950s and their friendship with the coolest guy in the world — the Fonz. Much of the show revolved around the classic diner, Arnold’s (later called Al’s), where Richie, Ralph, Potsie, and Fonzie would enjoy milkshakes, burgers, and tunes on the jukebox.
It seems Happy Days is having something of a renaissance, thanks to Henry Winkler’s memoir, Being Henry, The Fonz…and Beyond.
If you want to relieve those fun times complete with milkshakes — but with pizza instead of burgers and fries, then Pizza Fun House might be the place you’re looking for.
The restaurant, which opens in Greenwich Village tomorrow, May 2, is a retro pizza place by the co-founders of Serafina, Fabio Granato and Vittorio Assaf. The restaurant partners were inspired by their childhood, growing up in Italy and watching the American pop culture classic TV show. Granato’s dream as a kid was to open a restaurant based on Happy Days and Pizza Fun House is the culmination of that dream. Granato worked with designer Julius Babilonia on the interior — with bright yellow, orange, red, and brown graphics, a mustard yellow booth, and a bar area.
The food features classic American pizza by the pie or slice, made with dough using a combination of Antimo Caputo Chef's 00 Flour and American flour. The dough is topped with Italian tomatoes, and Sicilian olive oil, before being baked in a Roman Castelli oven for five minutes. Pizzas include the Boogie Boogie Pepperoni, Shroom Supreme, Plantastic, Disco Meatball, and more.
The menu also offers classic Italian dishes such as eggplant, chicken, or meatball parm; meat lasagna, penne a la vodka, and a sausage and peppers hero.
Of course, you cannot open a tribute to Arnold’s Diner without offering milkshakes. At Pizza Fun House, you can have an iconic black & white, Vanilla Sky, Strawberry Field Forever, Bananarama, and Salted Caramel.
To celebrate the opening, Pizza Fun House is giving away free slices of pizza to the first 500 people tomorrow, May 2, starting at 1 p.m. until they run out.
Pizza Fun House is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 63 W. Eighth St., New York; pizzafunhousenyc.com.
Tell ‘em the Fonz sent you.