The Rockaways Is Getting a New Pizzeria

To differentiate Crown Square Pizza from the Neapolitan pizza pop-up, Aiken is serving Detroit-style square pies at his new restaurant — a type he’s played around with in the past. “It’s a slept-on pizza,” he says, perhaps controversially, consisting of thick cheesy, saucy rectangular slabs bordered by the cheese frico (raised crispy edges that look like a crown; hence the name of the restaurant). It joins other Detroit-style pizzerias that have opened around the five boroughs in recent years, with Ace’s at the front of the helm. And, it joins a growing number of pizza pop-ups — where some of the city’s “most inventive pizza is served” — that have settled down.

Crown Square Pizza hopes to offer something new for the neighborhood — even if it requires some pizza education for those more familiar with NY-style slices, he says. “But if we put passion into it, there’s enough people that it will attract even in the off-season. My goal is not to do what feels easy, but I just want to do something that feels just a little bit out there. The Rockaways is a distant place and we don’t get too many concepts out here.”

Aiken’s pizza journey started in his youth, growing up and eating pizza throughout Queens and the city. As an adult during a Chicago trip in 2018, he randomly decided to buy a pizza cookbook, baker Ken Forkish’s The Elements of Pizza. That sparked a new fixation on making pizza on his own while he worked as a manager at Brooklyn Bowl at the time.

When Aiken decided to seriously focus on pizza-making, he reached out to one of Brooklyn’s pizza experts, Paulie Giannone of Paulie Gee. That turned into an apprenticeship with longtime staffer Andrew Brown, followed by a stint at Clinton Hill pizzeria Speedy Romeo. He started making wood-fired pies on his own for family, friends, and the occasional pop-up, which turned into his first residency in 2019 through 2021 at Rockaway Beach Brewery (which closed in 2024). In 2022, he relocated to the main boardwalk concession at Beach 97th in the Rockaways.

Crown Square Pizza’s 800 square feet space will be mostly taken over by the kitchen, along with counter seating inside and along the window. Aiken is already thinking about solidifying his delivery and pickup services for cold off-months. Along with pizza, Crown will serve chicken wings, salad, bread, and maybe sandwiches. Aiken tagged Chris Cristiano and Emma Hastil of the newly formed Mates company to help figure out his branding, which will recall a mixture of the beach, iconic NYC pizzerias, and recognizable New York City logos. When Crown does open, Aiken plans on still running his Neapolitan seasonal pop-up Seany Pizza.

“I hope the local community comes away with the idea that this is as much for us as it is for [me] to build a business,” Aiken says. “I want people to feel good and I want Rockaway people to feel connected.” He adds, “The Rockaways have been through so many changes. It’s exciting and I want to be part of it now.”