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The basics:
Chef Zod Arifai returns to Montclair after a decade with Italiana by Zod
Restaurant features a custom Neapolitan wood-fired oven from Naples, Italy
Menu includes New York– and New Haven–inspired pizzas, pasta and entrees
Despite restaurant industry challenges, Arifai remains optimistic about quality dining
After decades working in the New Jersey restaurant scene, you’d think Zod Arifai had cooked with every piece of equipment imaginable.
A former rock guitarist-turned-celebrated chef, Arifai has owned several wildly popular eateries, including the critically acclaimed Blu in Montclair and its less formal offshoot Next Door.
After closing both restaurants in 2015 following nearly a decade in business, he went on to help briefly reimagine the Martinsville Tavern in Bridgewater as The Duke and Elephant, a casual upscale spot offering contemporary American fare.
Then, at the height of the pandemic in 2020, he unveiled his very first New York City restaurant – a fine dining establishment across the street from Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village called Wicked Jane. Along with rave reviews, the eatery earned a Michelin Star.
Born in Kosovo, Arifai moved with his family to North Jersey when he was 8 years old. After graduating high school, he spent his 20s as a musician. However, after his band didn’t have the level of success they hoped for, Arifai began focusing on food and became a self-taught chef.
Rock guitarist-turned-celebrated chef Zod Arifai has owned several wildly popular eateries, including the critically acclaimed Blu in Montclair and its less formal offshoot Next Door. His latest venture, Italiana by Zod, opened in the former Fiammella space at 558 Bloomfield Ave., also in Montclair. – PROVIDED BY JOEY PALMIERI
Since then, his career has included helping open Juniper, a Lyndhurst restaurant that received a rare rave review from The New Times, serving as chef at Ten Square in Morristown and leading the kitchen at Brooklyn’s Crisci.
Once described by food journalist Alan Richman as “even more obsessed with perfection than most Manhattan chefs,” Arifai consistently delivers favorites among consumers and critics alike, such as Blu’s crispy duck and Next Door’s classic comfort staples.
Heat is on
Now, he’s returned to Montclair after a decade-long absence. But, as he readies his newest venture, the chef is learning there’s still one thing he has yet to conquer — a wood-fired pizza oven made in Naples, Italy, that’s considered the standard for making authentic Neapolitan pies.
Built for performance with clay bricks and a proprietary mix of sand and volcanic rock, Acunto ovens can bake pizzas in under 90 seconds once they reach their peak temperature of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
In an age of smart kitchens and AI-powered everything, Acunto ovens are still constructed using techniques that haven’t changed much since the 1890s. There are no buttons, timers or automation, so pizzaiolos must skillfully manage the fire, temperature and timing by feel alone, making consistency a true craft.
So, everything – from fire management to pizza rotation – is done manually, demanding precision, speed and serious intuition.
Built for performance with clay bricks and a proprietary mix of sand and volcanic rock, the Acunto ovens at Italiana by Zod can bake pizzas in under 90 seconds once they reach their peak temperature of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. – PROVIDED BY JOEY PALMIERI
Ahead of opening in the former Fiammella space at 558 Bloomfield Ave., Arifai is working hard to master the heat, flame and timing of the oven so he can offer a unique style billed as “New York pizza mixed a little bit with New Haven pizza.”
Just a few of the pies on Italiana by Zod’s menu include:
fresh lemon, chili, mozzarella, pecorino and almond
cauliflower, lemon, garlic, anchovy, mozzarella and long hots
Shrimp, cod, cauliflower, olives, lemon, garlic and pesto
ricotta, wild mushrooms, fontina, truffle and roasted onion
cabbage, peanut, honey, Calabrian chili, bechamel and lemon
The 130-seat, full-service BYOB restaurant will also serve high-end pasta dishes, salads, appetizers, desserts and entrees, like fire roasted chicken parmigiana that is not breaded or fried and Atlantic salmon with miso organic glaze and spicy brussels sprouts. Following its soft opening, Italiana by Zod will initially host lunch and dinner service and eventually handle to-go orders, according to Arifai.
In addition to pizza, the 130-seat, full-service BYOB Italiana by Zod serves high-end pasta dishes, salads, appetizers, desserts and entrees. – PROVIDED BY JOEY PALMIERI
Time is right
“The idea for the concept has been floating in my mind for a long time — many years. It’s just that the timing was never there. I always had something else going on,” he said. “Even when I closed Wicked Jane, I closed it to move to a different location. And this space became available as I was looking for a new location for Wicked Jane. So, the timing just happened to be right for me to do this.”
“If my rent hadn’t gone up by 130%, I probably would still be Wicked Jane and this concept would never see its day,” he said. “I was negotiating for a place in Soho on Washington Street for a new space for Wicked Jane. And then a realtor called me up – a guy that I knew from Montclair – about this space. At first, I said, ‘No, I’m not really interested.’ But they pursued, and the landlord pursued it as well. The landlord knew me because Blu was right next door to this.”
“After about a month of them asking me to come and look at the space, I said, OK, I’ll just come and look.’ And, at first, I didn’t like the way the place looked,” he said. “It was really old, rundown and quite ugly. But I said, ‘You know what? Maybe this is the right time for me to give this concept a chance.’”
‘That oven is the heart’
After signing a lease for the 3,000-square-foot storefront in July, Arifai began remodeling it into a fresh, contemporary place that “looks nothing like a typical Italian restaurant.” In the kitchen, upgrades included entirely new equipment – except for the Acunto oven.
Given the steep learning curve for the oven, Arifai sought out local experts for tips on handling fire control, timing the dough and getting rotation just right.
Chef Dan Richer created Razza’s first dairy-free pizza – PHOTO BY ROBIN & SUE PHOTOGRAPHY
Among the chefs he turned to for help include Dan Richer, the owner of Razza in Jersey City, and 2025 James Beard Award finalist. When Richer opened Razza in 2012, the Grove Street eatery quickly became popular for its wood-fired pizzas made with fresh, local ingredients. Besides running a restaurant consistently ranked among the best pizzerias in the U.S., the Matawan native authored the New York Times bestseller “The Joy of Pizza.”
Arifai also connected with Tommaso Colao, the former owner and chef of Bivio Pizza Napoletana, a wildly popular Montclair pizzeria specializing in Neapolitan pies prepared in a wood-fired brick oven. After Colao closed the business in September 2022, it reopened a year-and-a-half later under new ownership.
“Both guys are known to be two great pizza makers and they both said it’s very difficult to make the kind of pizza that I’m looking for in the oven. So, that’s my challenge, is to make that style of pizza in a wood-burning oven because of the consistency of maintaining a certain temperature for four or five hours during service,” Arifai said.
In addition to enduring long preheat times to reach optimal high temperatures, oven operators must pay constant attention to maintain even heat. Even slight fluctuations can lead to uneven cooking, burnt crusts or soggy middles.
Colao admitted the oven is challenging to learn.
“This oven is built in Naples by a family that’s been building them since, I believe, the late 1800s. I had one at Bivio Montclair that was much smaller,” he said. “It is the original cooking utensil: fire, oven, brick. Every oven has its own personality.”
He went on to say, “We need to learn the oven correctly; that’s our business and that takes time. Where’s the hot spot? Why does it get freakin’ hot there and not somewhere else? That oven is the heart of what you want to do. It’s the engine.”
Open door policy
Because Arifai’s pies will be thinner and crispier than the traditionally light, airy and slightly chewy consistency of Neapolitan pizza, he needs to fire the oven completely differently.
Chefs who prepare an authentic Neapolitan pizza typically heat the oven to reach 900-plus degrees Fahrenheit. Arifai said his pizzas “ideally” cook at about 633 degrees Fahrenheit.
Arifai said, “This oven is one of the premier ovens for Neapolitan-style pizza. However, I’m not looking to make Neapolitan-style pizza here. The pizza that I’m looking to make here is my own version … And this oven definitely does not cook that style of pizza and dough. This oven cooks pizza really, really fast. It gets really hot because you are constantly adding a lot of wood to it, but that’s not how my pizza cooks. It doesn’t cook in 90 seconds … It needs six to eight minutes to cook and become more crispy.”
Chef Zod Arifai (left), owner of Italiana by Zod in Montclair, and fellow restaurateur Kurt Knowles, whose family owns Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, work with an Acunto oven at the restaurant. – PROVIDED BY JOEY PALMIERI
“So, the problem with the oven is maintaining a constant temperature,” he said. “The door stays open all the time, so heat is just constantly escaping from the oven, and if you close the door, you’re closing the oxygen, so your wood stops burning. That has been the big challenge right now is how to maintain a constant temperature with this. And it’s difficult, but when the pizza does come out, it’s one of the best pizzas I’ve had anywhere.”
“As of right now, I’m still not able to do that consistently every day. And I’m trying to figure out why at times it works and at times it doesn’t work,” Arifai said, adding, “But, to do anything great, you need time … You need months of making pizza five, six days a week.”
Cooked to perfection
Arifai is confident he’ll succeed. He recalled his experience perfecting a hamburger at his Next Door restaurant that went on to be voted as one of the Best Burgers in the state by New Jersey Monthly Magazine.
“You’ve got to take notes and compare what you did today and then compare it to tomorrow. How does it come together differently and why? So, you can see what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. And that’s exactly what I did with the burger – and eventually it was the best burger you’ve ever had,” he said. “And I can make the pizza here. It doesn’t matter what the oven is, I can make it. I just need time. Eventually, the oven will lose and I will win. But right now the oven is winning,” he said.
Arifai went on to say, “It’s like I’m starting a new relationship and we’re getting to know each other right now. So, she’s a running a little bit hotheaded right now and doesn’t want to cooperate with me and want to have a great relationship together, but she will.”
It doesn’t matter what the oven is, I can make it. I just need time. Eventually, the oven will lose and I will win. But right now the oven is winning.
– Chef Zod Arifai, on learning to operate Acunto ovens
At Italiana by Zod, Arifai has two employees he worked with at previous restaurants. However, they won’t be working the oven, he said.
“The pizza is me. I’m the one that needs to figure it out first, and then once I figure it out, I need to bring somebody else. I can teach them, but I can’t teach them unless I master it. So, I won’t be bringing anybody in until I know how to make this day in, day out consistently and perfect,” he explained.
Part of Jersey’s pizza culture
With an estimated 2,000 pizzerias in the state, specializing in everything from tomato pies to brick-oven Sicilian pies to thin crust tavern style to deep dish slices, New Jersey’s reputation for tasty pizza is already well established.
“If I get it right – I don’t know anybody else doing anything similar to the style of pizza that I’m going to be offering. Most of the places are doing Neapolitan-style pizzas or your regular New York style pizza,” Arifai said. “I’m not worried about it really … because I’m going to be using great ingredients and it’s a style of pizza that really nobody else is making.”
As for the pasta lineup at Italiana by Zod, Arifai described it as “classic” dishes.
“It’s going to be made more like how a pasta tastes if you went to Italy or some of the better Italian restaurants in the city,” he said, noting the restaurant will use imported pasta, as well as fresh-made mozzarella, organic tomatoes and organic flour.
“And part of the reason why, when you go to Italy or you go to France and you eat bread or pasta, you don’t get that bloated feeling and you don’t feel the way you feel when you eat pasta or pizza here is really the ingredients. So, I’m using the same quality that’s used in Italy or France,” he said. “I think everybody takes for granted like, ‘Oh, it’s pizza, it’s pasta. It’s not that big of a deal.’ But you can make great pizza and great pasta if you use good ingredients.”
“Pizza and pasta are the most popular foods in the world. So, I’m giving them food that they already love, but just giving them something better and different than they’ve had anywhere else. It’s my version of it,” he said.
As for desserts, Arifai said, “Originally, I was going to concentrate and have a big dessert menu, but everyone says, ‘Oh, we don’t eat dessert anymore.’ So, I’m on the border whether or not to have a big dessert or not, because it is an expense. Because you have to have an extra person who is a pastry chef in the house if you’re making pastries and desserts,” he explained. “I’ll see how the sales of that are. I’m going to be making them in the beginning, but if people are not going to be eating desserts, then I would probably not hire a pastry chef and just cut down the amount of desserts that they offer.”
Industry challenges
Amid lingering inflationary pressures and concerns over the possibility of price increases from the Trump administration’s tariff policies, there has been a general pullback in spending among U.S. consumers.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant closed all locations in September 2025. – PROVIDED BY FOOD SHELTER PR
The full-service restaurant sector continues to experience record high labor costs and continuing staff shortages, as well as elevated food and supply prices. In response, many restaurants are raising menu prices to keep up, but foot traffic is flat. The razor thin profit margins have caused eateries to trim hours, simplify menus and optimize operations.
Over the past year, closures have affected smaller, independently owned restaurants, like well-known Montclair pizzeria DaVinci’s Brick Oven Pizza. The restaurant closed in September after more than 25 years in business.
In a message on its website, the restaurant cited multiple challenges, including “limited volume” and “rising labor and food costs.” It also said went on to say that “despite a sound business model” those factors “make it impossible to continue.”
Bigger chains have been feeling pinched for some time because of the continuing consumer shift from legacy casual dining brands. Within the past year, TGI Fridays, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Red Lobster and On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina have all sought bankruptcy protection.
‘People will go out’
Despite economic headwinds, the state’s $30.4 billion restaurant market continues to benefit from high population density, affluent suburban areas and a customer base that values dining as a social and cultural experience.
Arifai said, “I went to buy Valrhona chocolate from France the other day. It was a 5-pound bag that used to be around $95 a bag. It’s now $175. So, we are already seeing some of those tariffs taking place and making it miserable for restaurants. I’m not sure if that’s going to last. Hopefully it’s not going to last.”
Though a federal appeals court ruled in August that many of the administration’s tariffs exceeded presidential authority, the duties were left in place while challenges continue. The White House is expected to push the case forward to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Arifai said, “So, I guess we’re going to see whether or not they’re going to fully take place or not. But in general, even if things slow down in general, the good restaurants will always be good because people will stop going to places that are just offering mediocre foods and are not taking a chance.”
“I think people know when something is good and know when something is reasonable – regardless of how much you’re charging – and whether or not it makes sense for them. And I think customers will continue to go to the places that are being reasonable for whatever they’re giving. Whether it’s a steak, pizza, whatever, that is reasonably priced according to what quality they’re getting. People will continue to go to those places regardless of what the economics are because people will go out no matter what.”
Dining and Cooking