Relax and Get Botox in New 13th St. Spa

Travel back to 1901 and take a look at the 4,5,6 train being built up the east side of Union Square. Remarkable images! You can even see the statue of George Washington at bottom center of the first photo. This was his original location, at the intersection of 4th Ave. and 14th St., before he was moved into the park itself.

Over on East 12th St., it was Piola, the Brazilian pizza place, and now it’s Ribalta, the Italian pizza place. And it’s a pizza school, too. UrbanDaddy writes:

There are book smarts.

There are street smarts.

And then there are pizza smarts.

Today, we’re going to focus on that last one.

Also, we’re going to eat a bunch of pizza pies.

So let’s enroll at Ribalta, the only pizzeria in New York with three different types of ovens and its own university (but alas, no football team), now open.

Bottom line, this restaurant is really quite absurdly serious about pizza. The dough: imported from an Italian mill and aged 48 hours before baking (we’ll let you imagine what this does to a crust). The tomatoes: all San Marzano and all hand-crushed. The ovens: plentiful, varied and powerful.

Yes, these master pizzaiolos/fusspots felt it was necessary to install three different ovens in the place. Brick. Wood-burning. And stainless-steel convection. Reason #1: to bake your sausage-and-sage pie precisely the way God intended. Reason #2: the syllabus required it.

See, when this place is not standing in as the prototypical Friday night date spot, it’s doubling as the city’s first Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli—an esteemed pizza school that’s been around in Italy since the ’80s. So eventually you’ll be able to register here for classes, seminars and lectures on the science of the slice.

Assuming you scored high enough on the pizza SATs.

With rooms starting at $529 (rack rate), you probably can’t afford to stay at the new Hyatt Union Square when it opens, but perhaps you can check out one of its restaurants or bars:

THE FOURTH: The Fourth, an all-day American Brasserie serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch provides straightforward high-quality items with surprising accents. A chic European style espresso bar, located at its entrance, will offer a comfortable casual place to enjoy our signature coffee – Café Quatrième – pastries and nibbles. Soaring ceilings and wide open-air French doors allow streams of light to fill the room.

SINGL LOUNGE: A full service bar and lounge featuring an extensive single malt scotch selection and single vineyard wine by the glass selection. An exciting place to gather during the day and evening.

KITCHEN AND WINE GALLERY: A vibrant venue for your next gathering. This versatile space features an open kitchen and hearth connecting you and your guests to our team of chefs. This venue features a New York approach to South American Dining combining progressive Latin sounds with warm succulent scents. Glowing wine displays and decanting stations will enhance the beverage aspect of your experience. Cutting edge art throughout the space reflects the art scene of Greenwich Village and Union Square.

The upscaling of the neighborhood continues as Luke’s Lobster opens its doors on University between 13th and 14th, where Crumbs Bakery used to be. Tasty…but pricey.

An urban planner who has been looking around for ways to make the city more pedestrian-friendly (and to open up more space for protesting) wrote “Union Square could be greatly enhanced by following through on a 2010 plan to pedestrianize Union Square West. Also pedestrianizing University Place would be a bold step that could link Union Square and Washington Square Park, merging two vital public spaces into a permanent platform for open expression.”

That would certainly change the neighborhood.