East Village Pizza’s $1 slices return for Knicks opening night and Halloween week

Two more cheap-slice hours are left this month at East Village Pizza, the shop at First Avenue and East 9th Street (No. 145). On Tuesday, Oct. 20, slices cost $1 from 2 to 3 p.m. for Knicks opening night. On Thursday, Oct. 29, customers who show up in costume during that same hour pay $1 a slice.

Each deal belongs to the pizzeria’s National Pizza Month lineup, which ties prices to New York occasions. Normally a plain cheese slice costs $4.99 there. The month opened with dollar slices on Oct. 1, and on Sunday, Oct. 18, slices went for 35 cents from 1 to 3 p.m. in honor of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s 35th birthday.

East Village Pizza deals still ahead in October

Knicks opening night is Oct. 20, and slices are $1 between 2 and 3 p.m. that day. On Oct. 29, wear a costume between 2 and 3 p.m. and a slice is $1, which gives a Halloween outfit an early outing. For a night out afterward, see the East Village Halloween bars nearby.

The owner who started out washing dishes there

The pizzeria has been on its First Avenue corner since 1997, the same year its current owner first walked in looking for work. Frank Kabatas says he landed in New York from Turkey that January and was hired the next day to run deliveries, scrub dishes and cover whatever else needed doing. That job lasted six months before he was let go. He picked up the craft at other pizza shops in the years that followed. By 2003 he was back on the corner, this time as an owner: Kabatas, his brother and a partner purchased the place together.

The menu today ranges from a double-stacked pizza baked from two whole pies to heart-shaped pies, Sicilian squares and classic New York slices. Kabatas lets his dough proof for 72 hours. The Baker’s Pride gas oven he still bakes in is one he bought almost 25 years ago.