Restaurants in the Garment District, one of the borough’s last remaining gritty, industrial patches, have perhaps the toughest row to hoe in Manhattan. Not only must they lure diners in without the advantage of any real architectural appeal, they must also survive in an area that offers little residential space. Imagine a dirtier Wall Street, populated with zipper sellers instead of investment bankers, and you have the idea.

At the same time, the neighborhood has always offered rents low enough to attract risky, creative food ventures that might never have a chance elsewhere–Macaron Café and Go-Go Curry are two of the best examples of this. Lazzara’s Pizza, hidden upstairs in a nondescript stone building on 38th Street, is another. But, in the strangest synergy imaginable, Lazzara’s on 38th exploited its bargain Garment District rent even further by cleaving half its business into a recording studio that lives upstairs from the dining room. This, quite literally, is what they call vertical integration.

The downside to serving food from a GD address, especially one that requires climbing stairs, is that it is hard to build up a clientele of devoted patrons, no matter how good your chef is. So a few months ago, Lazzara made its move to a second location in the space left behind by Sawa BBQ on 9th Avenue, between 43rd and 44th Streets, right in the heart of booming Hell’s Kitchen. No matter that the storefront is narrow and features just three barstools and a slim wooden counter for diners–takeout and delivery are what this location is all about. Indeed, the décor, while inviting with its exposed brick and chunky dark wood detail, is so sparse that all attention inside is directed to the counter. No hip-hop beats to keep you hanging around, no tables or waitstaff to bother you. Come in, order your pizza, and go somewhere else to eat, it says quite plainly.

This message should not dissuade you, however. The pizza at Lazzara’s 9th Avenue location is quite possibly even better than at the Garment District location, and absolutely worth a visit, even if it means finding a local resident willing to host you while you snack on a few slices.

Sold in rectangular, thin-crust pies, Lazzara’s pizza looks like a crossbreed between Sicilian and Neopolitan styles, with crunchy, pleated edges and a tender, almost pasta-like base crust. At the (slightly further) uptown location, the pies all seem to be a bit crisper and with less of the bottom char that sometimes marred the pies on 38th. Of the several dozen toppings on offer at the 9th Avenue storefront, we have a few firm favorites: the Alorna (pictured above, $18/pie), a deconstructed meatball pie covered in peppers, Italian sausage, and ground beef; the vodka sauce and spinach pie ($16.50/pie), a piquant and very savory gloss on a 1970s pasta favorite; and the Tony’s Anchovies with a Twist (pictured right, $16.00/pie), where the ‘twist’ is succulent, sweet pan-fried onions that temper the intense saltiness of the briny anchovies–also quite easily the best anchovy pizza I have eaten all year.

Yes, there are appetizers, pastas and heros on the menu, but ignore them all, apart from the perfectly adequate salads and a super-gooey chicken parm. Really, Lazzara’s curious little oblong pies are the only thing that deserves your attention–and they only seem to be getting better. Which makes us wonder: If starting over sans recording studio improved the pizza as much as it seems to have done, what might losing the rest of the menu’s culinary dead weight do?

Lazzara’s Pizza, 617 9th Avenue (between 43rd and 44th Streets), 212-245-4440.