Italy: Takeout from Grimaldi’s Pizzeria via Fulton Landing, Brooklyn

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria  Classic Italian Pizzeria under Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn

Subway: High Street   York Street

Location: 19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn 11201 (718) 858-4300

Summer! Yay! Iced coffees, cold showers, pizza in the park at sunset and outdoor movies! Wanna come? In July and August, when the mercury heads north of 80F, New York has all of the above in abundance and, tonight, Short and Bald are off to see a classic Humphrey Bogart movie under the stars –

BALD: Or “star” singular (probably Sirius), as is more often the case, under New York’s bright, night skies.

SHORT: And for dinner, we’re going to be munching on some of New York’s most famous pizza – Grimaldi’s. Coming?

Brooklyn! The famous bridge carries thousands of these gas-guzzlers across the East River every day. Of course, Short and Bald usually recommend you catch the subway to the restaurants we visit, however, it you’re coming from Manhattan, the absolute best to get to Grimaldi’s is to walk there across the Brooklyn Bridge.

BALD: John Roebling’s wire-rope masterpiece was completed in 1883 and at 1,825 meters long, was, at the time, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

SHORT: Thanks for sharing.

BALD: You’re welcome. Are you being sarcastic?

Once you reach the Brooklyn end of the bridge, look north and you can see the Lower East Side of Manhattan (left) and the Manhattan Bridge.

BALD: Manhattan Bridge was completed in 1909 and is 2,089 meters long.

SHORT: Great. Who knew?!

BALD: You ARE being sarcastic, aren’t you?

SHORT: Who? Me? You’re the best, Bald.

Directly below you’ll see the Brooklyn Bridge Park. This part of the Brooklyn waterfront was developed into a park over 10 years ago, and construction is now finally underway to extend it all the way from the Manhattan Bridge, south along the waterfront, to Atlantic Avenue (we’ll show you this in a future post.) This will expand the park from its current 12 acres, to 76 acres, which will eventually include lawns, bike paths, recreation fields, water access, boardwalks and playgrounds.

BALD: It’s gonna be freakin’ brilliant!

You can see here the crowd that’s already gathering to watch tonight’s movie in the park. For the last 10 summers, “Movies With a View” has been showing films in Brooklyn Bridge park once a week between July and August.

It’s free, it’s laid back, and unlike a normal cinema, if the movie is boring, you can always lie back and admire the stunning view of the Brooklyn Bridge lit up at night, with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. If you’re lucky, you might even see a star or two.

BALD: It’s very romantic, don’t you think, Short?

SHORT: Don’t get any ideas.

BALD: Ideas? Me?

SHORT: I’m not spending the night in the lockup again.

We’re going to head down to the park in a second, but first we have to get some dinner to take with us.

Grimaldi’s is one of New York’s most popular pizza restaurants. Zagat has crowned it as the best pizza in New York and, judging from the wide variety of languages spoken by the diners lined up outside, it is surely mentioned in most New York travel guides.

SHORT: They don’t take reservations, so you have to line up outside for take out and dining in. Depending on how big your party is, the wait can sometimes be over 30 minutes. Luckily, I have my Bald to entertain me.

BALD: For my next trick, I will curl this plastic straw at both ends, then ask my assistant, Short, to flick it with her fingers, to make a popping sound.

SHORT: You should do this in Vegas, Bald. (Pop!)

As Grimaldi’s is just a hop, skip and a jump from the park, on movie nights, the line outside is even longer.

BALD: I’m out of straws, Short.

SHORT: Well, tell me something, Bald.

BALD: All right. Did you know the guy who started Grimaldi’s was called Patsy Grimaldi.

SHORT: No.

BALD: Well, now you do. He learned to make pizza’s in the 1940’s when he was just a boy. When he grew up, he tried to open a pizzeria in Manhattan, but at the time, it was against the law to construct new coal-fired brick ovens. Young Patsy knew, though, that a coal fired oven creates the best flavored pizza.

SHORT: So what did he do, Bald?

BALD: I’m glad you asked, Short. To get around the law, he moved to Brooklyn and opened Grimald’s at Fulton Landing.

SHORT: And the rest is history?

BALD: Yup. Now, Grimaldi’s has been used as a location on Law & Order, it was in the top 5 best pizzeria’s on The Food Network, and they’ve opened restaurants in Las Vegas, Texas, Arizona, and New Jersey.

SHORT: Thanks, Bald. Here’s your straw back.

Grimaldi’s offers two sizes of pizza. Large (18”: $14) and small (16”: $12).  The large is enormous! We ordered two large, as we were meeting our good friend, Ms. Nagano and her date, Mr. Moscow.

Grimaldi’s provides a large list of toppings to choose from, and after asking a server for advice, we went with one large with ground sausage, mushroom and garlic ($20).

And one large with pepperoni, dried tomatoes and onion ($22). Most toppings are $2 extra, although the red-sweet peppers and sun-dried tomatoes are $4.

The pizza does live up to all the hype. Size-wise, one large pizza can feed 3-4 people. The base has a thin, crusty texture and smoky flavor. The toppings are all very fresh, and the tomato-based sauce is light and traditional, making the whole thing look and taste very home-made. 

SHORT: It’s a long way from Pizza Hut or the frozen things you buy in a supermarket.

BALD: The thin base and the light, fresh toppings mean you can gorge yourself on several slices without feeling full. There was a LOT of garlic on this one.

SHORT: And the sausage was moist and tasty.

The pepperoni was spicy and, as you can see, not at all dried out as it can sometimes be.

BALD: The sun-dried tomatoes were tangy and chewy, making for a nice change from the mushier mushroom on the other pizza.

SHORT: Can I at least have ONE slice? Just this piece, maybe? 

BALD: Put the pizza down, madam. Drop the slice and step away from the pizza, or I shall be forced to sob uncontrollably.

Here you see part of Bald’s foot, sprawled out on the grass, as he uses his other foot to shovel more pizza into his mouth.

BALD: It’s an old trick I learned from a double-jointed Buddhist acrobat I once studied with.

SHORT: Just one slice? Please?

OUR OVERALL OPINION OF GRIMALDI’S PIZZERIA

1. The pizza is fantastic!

2. The pizza is huge!

3. The pizza base is thin, crusty, smoky and delicious, and can be ordered with a wide variety of fresh, tasty toppings.

4. The wait to eat in or take out is l-o-n-g. And you can’t make reservations…

5. The atmosphere inside is old-time pizzeria with basic seating, shared tables and old, black and white photos of Italian royalty, (e.g. Sinatra, Sinatra and Sinatra) adorning the walls. It’s loud and busy – everything a good pizzeria should be!

6. It’s a little bit expensive, but as the pizzas are so huge, when you share the cost between three or four, it actually works out to be very reasonable.

7. If you don’t want to eat in, it’s a great neighborhood to take out and eat in the park by the river.

8. N.B. You can’t buy an individual slice, you have to buy a whole pizza.

What an afternoon! Like fat, pizza-filled fools, we lay on the grass wondering if we had the stamina to walk back to the park entrance for ice-cream…

Luckily, we were able to muster up the strength to crawl over to the ice-cream vendor before the movie started. On the way, we were able to snap a few shots of this most beautiful park. It really is one of the best-kept secrets in New York.

SHORT: If you’re visiting and want to see a stunning New York sunset, you really can’t do better than this spot. You see kids skimming stones on the water, and people of all ages enjoying a moment of relative peace and quiet by the water.

BALD: The river is actually a lot cleaner that it used to be, too. We haven’t seen any bodies floating by for weeks!

This little rise with the willow tree is one of our favorite spots to spread out a blanket and “read a book”. (“Read a Book” is a copyrighted Short & Bald expression. It means to place a book on your chest and fall asleep.) You can see the movie screen through the trees.

There’s a lively, party-like atmosphere in the park before the movie starts. You can buy popcorn, ice-cream, soft-drinks and other snacks inside the park, though alcohol is not allowed.

BALD: We really didn’t bring any. Though it was pretty obvious some recalcitrant law-breakers were imbibing.

SHORT: Why didn’t we think to bring any?

BALD: It’s illegal! Okay, I forgot. Okay!

It’s a real kick watching the restaurant boats plying the East River at eye level, just outside the park.

As the sun starts to set, the park really fills up. They’ve had several thousand in here on some nights apparently. Tonight, we’re watching “The Maltese Falcon”, a black and white film noir, detective classic from the 1940’s, which attracts a good crowd.

The next series of photos are our attempt to mimic Monet’s series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral when he showed the effect of changing light on a subject throughout the day.

Instead of the Rouen Cathedral as our subject, we’re using the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline. Instead of a box of oil paints and a master’s lifetime of learning and dedication, we’re using an Olympus digital camera and a healthy dose of beginner’s luck (topped up with two enormous pizzas!) So here, ahem, with minimal comment, is nightfall on the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline.

SHORT: Shhh… The movie’s starting.

BALD: Can you move over?

SHORT: Shhh..!

BALD: It’s just an ad.

SHORT: Pretty…

BALD: Thanks.

BALD: This is a clip from Onion News. They were co-sponsors for the evening.

SHORT: Funny.

BALD: Thanks.

SHORT: The clip! My god! Is anything, ever, not about you?

BALD: Let me think… Wanna think with me? About me?

Bogey!

Bogey on the phone. He can do it all.

BALD: Seriously. He’s bloody brilliant. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

SHORT: I’m tired. That was a great movie, though.

BALD: Yeah. All that effort and no Maltese Falcon.

SHORT: You just gave away the end of the movie.

BALD: Oh. Except for that surprising twist AFTER they think they haven’t found the Maltese Falcon.

SHORT: You mean the credits?

BALD: Yeah, that surprising twist in the credits. Where’s my other leg?

SHORT: I ate it. I wouldn’t have had to if you’d let me eat some of that second pizza.

BALD: I love living in Brooklyn Heights. What a view we have on our commute back from the cinema.

SHORT: Love you, Bald.

BALD: Love you too, Short.

SHORT: Hungry?

BALD: Not yet. But I will be tomorrow!

Got your metrocard-passport in your pocket? Let’s go! There’s a big world of food out there still to explore in the 5 Boroughs!