Brooklyn Pizza

This can be called my trip to Brooklyn, New York.  Or it could also be called "That one time I drove 104 miles (one way) to get some amazing pizza".  I had to drop Thatcher off at JFK to catch his flight back to Salt Lake City.  And if I was driving the 2 hours from Connecticut to New York City, I was not going at rush hour, and I was going to make it into a fun trip to the city.

 I had been to New York many a times, and have fallen in love with that New York/New Haven style of pizza you can find in New York and Connecticut.  And while I have been to Manhattan a bunch of times, to walk the city or to see the rockettes, I had never been over to the other side, to Brooklyn.  And if I was going to kill a few hours in Brooklyn, I was going to eat some amazing East Coast pizza I had been dreaming of. 

After doing my research, I came upon Grimaldis, home of the famous best New York Pizza, with its coal-brick oven and amazing pies.  They are well known for their pizza, and the original location under the Brooklyn Bridge was the perfect way to start the day off in Brooklyn.

Let me start by saying Utah is many wonderful things, but they have no idea how to make a good East Coast pizza.  You know, the thin crust fresh out of the pizza oven, with fresh ingredients, perfect cheese, and just a touch of grease.  And then the way the dough makes that perfect fold when you go to each eat slice.  

I had read there is usually a line out the door, but I was still surprised to see a line out the door an around the corner on a rainy Tuesday at 3pm.  Line or not, I had driven over 100 miles, I was hungry, and the smells wafting out of that door were absolutely amazing. 

This place is very laid back, NO frills, with plastic plates, a simple menu, and some very basic service.  There is also no reservations, on credit cards, no slices, and no delivery.  You wait outside, in line, order your pie, scarf it down, and go about your merry way in NYC. We went with the large red pie for 18$, and added on pepperoni and olives for an additional 5$.  The pizza was amazing, the peporoni perfect, but we thought the whole olives could have benefited from being slices on the pizza. 

It was a large pie, that was supposed to serve 3-4 people, but I am going to be honest and admit that Thatcher and I polished off this pie.  Two people, one sitting.  Eight slices of cheesy saucey perfect crust heaven.  We loved this pizza, and agreed this was the definition of a perfect crust.  Coal-fired oven.... who knew.

After the pizza, we went for a walk around Brooklyn.  I loved this city so much more than I thought I would.  I have never been a big city person, and always considered New York City to be a big place full of mean people, dirty homeless, and the absolute worst place on garbage day.