When ZA chef and co-owner Brandon Tenney talks about his food, he’s often unassuming. Ask him about ZA’s margherita pizza, though, and his pride bubbles up like mozzarella in a scorching oven.

“It really showcases the dough, the sauce, the really good cheese,” Tenney says. “It’s such a simple pizza, but everything has to be perfect to make a good margherita pizza. I think the quality of our ingredients really come through with this pizza.”

Believe him on this. ZA offers plenty of non-traditional pizza toppings — Mexican-style street corn, dill pickle and potato chips, cheeseburger — but the margherita (14-inch, $23; 18-inch, $28) shows ZA, and its crust, at its best.

Bright, zingy pizza sauce, creamy mozzarella and vibrant fresh basil from Olivia’s Garden in New Gloucester top the thin, crisp, lightly blistered crust. Like a lot of pizzas these days, ZA’s style is a kind of New York-Neapolitan hybrid. Tenney’s margherita crust approaches the platonic ideal in its balance: sturdy yet delicate, chewy yet tender, light yet substantial.

The margherita was the best expression of ZA’s crust in the various dishes my group tried at the Preble Street restaurant on a quiet Thursday night in October. Pork belly-apple pizza (14-inch, $24; 18-inch, $29) is a fun fusion pie, its Asian sweet chili sauce base loaded up with seductively fragrant morsels of applewood-smoked pork belly, sweet-tart Maine Gala apple, shaved Brussels sprouts, scallion, cilantro and a few distracting slices of pickled ginger. But the crust somehow seemed a little denser here.

Same with the potato pizza (14-inch, $22; 18-inch, $27), reminiscent of a loaded baked potato — roasted halved fingerlings, shaved jalapenos, thick-cut bacon and a mozzarella-provolone blend scattered on a base of aioli-thick ranch dressing. It had less potato than we expected, though that’s a hollow complaint: Everyone knows the best part of a loaded baked potato is the load. But the crust was a little pale, and while almost naan-like at the crisp, pillowy edges, it felt heavier overall, bogged down by the rich ranch.

When bearing lighter freight, as with the foldable slice of cup-and-char pepperoni ($6), the crust shone again, putting ZA solidly among the ranks of the better pizzas in Portland, and even statewide.

ZA has some big shoes to fill in their high-ceilinged space in the former Portland Public Market. Slab Sicilian Street Food, a pizzeria beloved for its thick, hefty yet airy Southern Italian slices, held court there for 10 years before closing last fall.

Tenney and his co-owner and wife, Jessica, also also own Truckin’ Pizza, a food truck and catering business they launched in 2022. They’re hospitality industry veterans, with 50 years of experience between them, though ZA is their first restaurant.

The couple was looking for a production facility to accommodate their growing business, when Slab’s owners approached them last winter about opening a restaurant in the Preble Street space. “Sometimes you just have to jump when opportunity knocks,” Jessica said.

The industrial-chic venue didn’t need much in the way of renovation. The Tenneys coated the walls with a moodier palette of black, red and orange, and added a few stylish touches like a live moss wall-hanging with the ZA logo, and a neon “Feed Me Pizza and Tell Me I’m Pretty” sign that’s like catnip to selfie snappers.

Truckin’s pies are wood-fired, so Tenney tweaked his dough recipe — which uses four types of flour, including spelt from Maine Grains for subtle nuttiness — to make it work both in the Truckin’ ovens and the gas-powered Bakers Pride decks he inherited at ZA.

ZA’s kitchen doesn’t have a multi-burner range or fryer, just a couple of induction burners for sauces and prep work; the ovens are the chief source of heat. Tenney uses them to first sear and brown his excellent pork-and-beef meatballs ($16), before returning them to braise in red sauce fortified with mirepoix and a tomato reduction. Bound with a panade that uses Kate’s buttermilk from Arundel, the two baseball-size meatballs are fully seasoned throughout, moist and fork tender.

ZA uses its pizza crust for sandwiches, too, like the panuozzo-style prosciutto, burrata and pesto ($17), with an ample portion of salty Parma ham, cheese, peppery watercress, sweet roasted red pepper and a robust pesto that nearly steals the scene. The crust — char-leoparded and crisp outside, though a touch gummy within — steals it back, partly because there’s so much more of it.

A side C-ZA salad (also offered as a starter, $14) comes with Meyer lemon dressing that lacked Caesar-style anchovy-and-cheese satisfaction, or even lemon flavor. The crunchy croutons are made from — you guessed it — pizza crust.

Jessica Tenney oversees ZA’s front of house, and also put together its bar program, which includes nearly 20 mostly local beers on tap ($5-$11), and four wines by the glass ($9). Her well-calibrated Basic Witch ($14) cocktail — an espresso martini with pumpkin spice and vodka from Wild Bevy Distilling in Wells — goes down dangerously easy. The Woodsman ($14), a riff on an Old-Fashioned, was poured over a tall mound of small ice cubes that watered it down in no time. We ordered another, but served “up,” martini-style, which revealed warm citrus notes and the sweet bite of Tenney’s Maine maple-ginger syrup.

Those cocktails would also be excellent after dinner, maybe pairing well with ZA’s sweets. We asked our companionable and speedy bartender-server, Maya, if any of the items she’d listed for dessert — cannoli, chocolate-peanut butter pie, strawberry ice cream — were made in-house.

She shook her head no, somberly, to convey she was sorry to disappoint. Then with quiet confidence and a little smile, she added, “We’re good at pizza.” Believe her on this.

RATING: *** 1/2
WHERE: 25 Preble St., Portland. piz-za.net.
SERVING: 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, salads and sandwiches $9-$17, pizza slices $5.50-$6.50, whole pies (14-inch and 18-inch) $19-$30
NOISE LEVEL: Medium-low on a slow weeknight. Echoey acoustics may make it challenging for some at busier times.
VEGETARIAN: Some dishes, and they offer vegan pizza cheese
GLUTEN-FREE: Some dishes, and the kitchen can make any pizza with gluten-free crust on request
RESERVATIONS: No
BAR: Wine, beer and cocktails
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
BOTTOM LINE: Several months ago, ZA pizzeria took over the loft-like space at 25 Preble St. where Slab slung its renowned Sicilian pies for 10 years. It’s the first restaurant for Brandon and Jessica Tenney, who also own Truckin’ Pizza, a food truck and catering company. Chef Brandon’s pies are a blend of New York and Neapolitan style, with foldable single slices and a scrumptious, remarkably balanced crust. The menu includes plenty of creative fusions. They’re good, but the crust seemed lighter and crisper with simple standards like the margherita or cup-and-char pepperoni. Pizza crust envelops the full-flavored filling in the prosciutto, burrata and pesto sandwich, though ZA could tweak the ratio of crust to filling for less doughy bites. Tenney’s moist, tender meatballs would surely win approval from even the most discriminating Nonnas. If you visit this fall, try one of the bar’s autumnal cocktails: Basic Witch is just right as is, while you should ask for the Woodsman straight up to savor its nuances.

Ratings follow this scale and take into consideration food, atmosphere, service and value and type of restaurant (a casual bistro will be judged as a casual bistro, an expensive upscale restaurant as such):

* Poor 

** Fair

*** Good

**** Excellent

***** Extraordinary

The Maine Sunday Telegram visits each restaurant once; if the first meal was unsatisfactory, the reviewer returns for a second. The reviewer never accepts free food or drink.