By Charlie Pogacar
New York City is arguably the most competitive pizza market in the world. That’s why, when they decided to open up See No Evil Pizza, co-owners Adrien Gallo and Edward Carew knew they had to do something—or, perhaps, they had to do just about everything—different.
It started with the location. See No Evil Pizza is located underneath Times Square in a former Dunkin’ Donuts. To be more specific: The restaurant is on the concourse level of 50th Street Subway station (a station where only the local 1 Train stops). Gallo also owns and operates a cocktail bar and a coffee shop in the same station—his entrepreneurship has helped turn a once-neglected space into a foodie destination.
A full-service restaurant, See No Evil Pizza also differentiates itself from other New York establishments by offering an elevated experience—from the decor, to the food to the beverages. Carew’s menu features starters like Toast alla Veloce (fresh sardines, caper-mint salsa, mozzarella, Fresno chili peppers, polenta bread).
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While diners can choose from a selection of traditional Neo-Neapolitan pizzas, like the Margherita or Pepperoni pies, the signature pizza is the Hell Pie, featuring hot soppressata, pepperoni, smoked mozzarella, pecorino, and Calabrian chilis. Another standout—one that shows off Carew’s considerable imagination—is the Rapini, featuring broccoli rabe, garlic, panna, ricotta, smoked mozzarella, pecorino, black pepper and sausage. Or the Vinnie Stigmata, topped with ragu alla genovese, marjoram, pecorino and cacciocavallo.
The beverage menu packs a similar punch. Highlights on the winter menu include The Orchard (apertif base de calvados, spiced apple cider, lemon), the 2 Part Negroni (Oscar Rosso vermouth, Casoni amaro) and the Italian Americano (Savoia rosso, Paesani gran sasso amaro, soda).
The restaurant’s interior was dreamed up by Little Wing Lee, an award-winning designer, and draws inspiration from the Times Square neighborhood as well as the storied New York City punk scene in the 1970s and 80s. The combination of ambiance, food, beverage and service earned the restaurant a spot in the Michelin Guide just months after it had opened. It was a testament to Gallo and Carew’s commitment to creating a unique space in the most unlikely of places.
“Ed and I don’t know how to do things [mediocre],” Gallo said. “It’s just not in our DNA. We’ve been in this game for a long time. The things we do, we go all in on them and do them to the best of our ability. It will probably kill us one day, but we’re here for it.”
According to Carew, if the duo wanted to do a pizza shop, it was imperative for them to be as different as possible. They didn’t want to swim in the same lane as the famed slice shops of the city—they wanted to set a standard all their own.
“Slices in New York is a really hard game,” Carew said. “It’s hard to do it really, really well. I don’t want to go up against those guys that’ve been doing it their whole lives, because they would’ve slaughtered us. But, at the same time, they might have trouble trying to do what we’re doing at See No Evil. In this city, you have to find a way to set yourself apart.”
At the same time, it wasn’t as if Carew and Gallo long held a dream of opening an upscale pizza restaurant underneath Times Square. Not by a long shot. See No Evil’s backstory contains plenty of serendipity.
It began when Gallo, who has spent his decades-long career in food and hospitality, wanted to open his own bar. After looking at and passing on countless spaces across the city, he finally got a tip from a friend who had recently seen the space at a Subway station on 50th and Broadway. Years prior, the space had been a dive bar called Siberia.
“The rub in New York is that it’s a [challenge] to get a liquor license,” Gallo said. “But because it had been this very famous dive bar years ago, I knew that getting a liquor license wasn’t out of the question. So instead of fighting the community board in, let’s say, the Lower East Side and trying to go up against everyone in the [State Liquor Authority, or] SLA…I went to the community board here in Times Square and talked to the Times Square Alliance, and they were like, wait, really? You want to do something like that? Here?”
With a greenlight from the powers that be—and having endured myriad COVID-induced construction delays—in 2022, Gallo opened Nothing Really Matters, a speakeasy-style, “hidden” cocktail bar in the Subway station. Later, Gallo opened up Tiny Dancer, the neighboring coffee bar. With both businesses up and running, Gallo moved to turn the former Dunkin’ space—which was serving as storage for Duane Reade when Gallo approached his landlord—into a restaurant that would cater to tourists, locals and theater goers.
Carew and Gallo were longtime friends, having met years earlier in the City’s tight-knit culinary scene. Carew brings with him impressive credentials, having worked at fine-dining establishments like Gramercy Tavern and Fiamma.
“There was a day where I was sitting in the coffee shop, looking at the space across from that, and I texted Chef and said, ‘what do you think about this crazy idea?’” Gallo said. “And he basically said, ‘Sure, why not.’ And believe me, there were more conversations than that, but it was just kind of this dumb, crazy idea that we ended up trying. And you could say it’s worked out.”
It’s no small feat that Gallo has almost singlehandedly turned a once-neglected Subway station into a culinary destination. It’s possible nobody loves Gallo’s work more than his landlord, who has watched his properties go from afterthoughts to vibrant, bustling spaces in the underbelly of New York City. (One way Gallo and Carew have made their restaurant more approachable is by taking the initiative to sweep the stairs leading down to it every day). And while you can get a slice or a pizza on just about every block in Manhattan, is there any place in the city that offers as unique a pizza-eating experience as See No Evil Pizza?
“We love this place,” Gallo said. “It’s an insane endeavor. We are underground, some people are scared to even walk down the stairs in the Subway. But we absolutely love this place.”
