In a sea of emerging pizza places, Bangalore’s 23rd Street Pizza stands as a testament to how a restaurant can become an inextricable part of a city’s cultural lexicon.
When founder Vijay Sekhar first thought of 23rd Street, his vision was never just to open another restaurant. “The idea was to build an experience centre, a space that people could feel as much as they could taste”, says Sekar in a conversation with Homegrown, “The goal was to create something that instantly felt different from anything else in the city.” A place where you could walk in and sense a distinct pulse — part New York wine bar, part Bengaluru soul.
The seed for this idea was planted one random morning when Sekhar was reheating leftover delivery pizza. He realised he preferred the crisped-up slice over the soggy one from the night before. That small moment became the spark for his obsession with New York–style pizza. After spending three months in New York City, working at multiple pizzerias, Sekhar finally learned what the perfect pie should look, taste, and feel like. One chef in particular, Luigi, whose pizzeria sits on East 23rd Street, opened both his kitchen and his philosophy to Sekhar, and in return, inspired the name.
Now, a year and a half later, 23rd Street Pizza feels like a slice of NYC planted in the centre of Bengaluru. With its neon-red LED lights and subway-style tiled logo that greets you at the door, the space evokes a certain kind of New York nostalgia. But it’s not about imitation — it’s about translation. And perhaps what makes 23rd Street special is what happens beyond the kitchen. The space often transforms into a venue for musical evenings like their recent collaboration with local record store, On The Jungle Floor, for a night of Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul.
In the past couple of months, the space has gained an increasing amount of traction across social media. "We didn’t do anything different and we do everything in house," explains Sekhar. "The idea was to rope in our friends and organically something switched. But you can’t fake that, social media obviously helps, but your product has to back it up.” And as 23rd Street becomes more and more loved, Sekhar’s focus is and has always been on keeping the soul intact.
23rd Street sees itself as something that transcends a restaurant, a space that captures the rhythm of the city while remaining its own thing. It’s less about dining out and more about tuning in with a glass of wine, a slice of their Hotwheels pizza, and a bite of their olive oil cake. It's a place with good food, good music, and a community that grows naturally around it. It doesn’t try to be everywhere; it focuses on being genuine. And in a city that’s always on the move, that’s what makes it stand out.
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