Pictured: VCo's New York-style deluxe pizza and calzones. Photo by Alex Alfaro.

A meatball parm hero emerges on a crackled sub roll wedged open with four fat meatballs nestled shoulder to shoulder, oozing mozzarella and marinara, ketchup and fries on the side.

VCo Pizzeria opened in Fruitville Commons in July, replacing the plaza’s Irma’s Tacos in a neighborhood starving for independents. It’s the latest venture from Tommy Villani’s OTW Restaurant Group, which also runs Villani & Co. steakhouse and the original Irma’s in Wellen Park. Inside, exposed brick, blue tin chairs and ruby-red plastic tumblers welcome friendly neighborhood drop-ins. Direct delivery reaches a zone where pizza usually comes by app.

Executive Chef Mike Leopold, who oversees all of Villani’s concepts, roots the kitchen in a scratch-pantry rigor that needs little freezer space. “Fresh proteins and vegetables drive the menus,” he says. While most pizzerias order ready-to-go toppings, the kitchen cooks fresh Italian sausage batch by batch, then crumbles it over the pies in-house. Every topping follows suit. “It takes just as much time and energy to do something the wrong way by trying to figure out a shortcut, so do it the right way,” Leopold says.

That hands-on approach shows up in every bite. Start with garlic knots: shiny, buttered, warm. Add an antipasto salad that would never skimp on peperoncini.

The carnivore pizza earns its heft: pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham and meatball crowding a blistered, golden crust. On the deluxe, saucers of pepperoni catch oil alongside green peppers and onions, briny black olives and pools of mozzarella. A calzone opens golden and doughy, spilling seasoned ricotta with earthy mushrooms and fennel-flecked sausage. The wings have a proper kick.

Grab a draft beer and a stack of napkins. This is unapologetic comfort food worthy of a true New York fold.

VCo Pizzeria, Mon-Sun, 11 am-10 pm, 3080 Fruitville Commons Blvd #100, Sarasota, 941-217-6594, vcopizza.com

Pictured: VCo's New York-style deluxe pizza and calzones. Photo by Alex Alfaro.