Potenza Centrale closes in the East Village after three years
Luigi Iasilli's Roman-style pizzeria on Avenue B shuts without explanation, the latest closure on a block that has struggled to hold a restaurant since his previous spot left a decade ago.
Potenza Centrale, the Roman-style pizzeria that reopened the ground floor of 38 Avenue B in 2023, has closed after not quite three years, owner Luigi Iasilli confirmed to EV Grieve.
The East Village spot specialised in square slices cut from dough fermented for 72 to 96 hours, alongside focaccia and housemade mozzarella. Iasilli named it for Potenza, the Basilicata town where he was born, and gave no detailed reason for the closure beyond confirming it to the local blog that had tracked the pizzeria closely since it first opened its doors back in late 2023.
Potenza Centrale marked Iasilli's return to Avenue B a decade after his previous restaurant, Max, left the same stretch between Third and Fourth streets in 2013. The block has struggled to hold onto tenants since that closure: four adjacent storefronts sat empty at once after Max's departure, a stretch locals still bring up whenever a new lease on the block goes up for grabs.
A second act on Avenue B ends after three years, with no explanation offered.
Part of a wider October shake-out
The pizzeria's exit is one of several the neighbourhood logged this week. Hekate Cafe & Elixir Lounge, billed as Manhattan's first sober bar, closed nearby on Avenue B in late September after four years; owner Abby Ehmann cited rising competition in the low-alcohol category and rent the independent room "could not pay" once its lease was up. New York has logged a string of long-running closures this autumn, from Kips Bay to Prospect Heights.
Eater New York's October closures tracker, updated weekly, also lists Wayward Fare in Prospect Heights and Chicken Feastin in South Slope among the month's early shutters, alongside several bars and a Bed-Stuy coffee-and-books spot that closed at the end of September.
A volatile stretch of Avenue B
Whether another operator takes on 38 Avenue B a third time, or the storefront joins the block's recent run of vacancies, is the open question for a corner that has rarely kept a restaurant running for long.
