Fornino

image stolen from some Yelp review

Dinner with Gideon last night at Fornino. Technically it was my second time there but I'd never had the pizza before...What?! I know.


image stolen from NYMag

I had pretty high expectations because they have won some Best of Citysearch award which is a big time big deal I guess, and it's posted right out front. Anyway, it's a cute little place that doesn't take itself too seriously. No tablecloths (yes, that's an indicator). So yeah, nice casual brick oven pizza. Love it. The waitress was very nice - Hi, and it wasn't too crowded, but it wasn't empty either. The atmosphere is cozy and it didn't take too long to get our pizzas.



I got the Ortolana ($11) since I had gone through the menu earlier in the day and couldn't stop thinking about it. Also, my new rule for eating whole pizzas is that it has to have a lot of veggies on it to make me feel less guilty about it. This one has zucchini, eggplant, broccoli rabe, and roasted peppers. This pizza is definitely smaller than the one from Gnocco, but seems to be the right amount of food for someone like me. Absolutely nothing was wrong with this pizza, but it didn't blow me away. I don't know if Gnocco has ruined me for all other pizzas or what (hope not), I just didn't feel the same way about it as I thought I would. The crust was perfect: thin and a little charred - the way it should be, fresh ingredients, the eggplant was delicious like butter and I don't even like eggplant. I can't put my finger on it, I just didn't fall in love with this pizza and want to marry it. There was no oomph to it, I guess. I still ate the whole thing though. Please.



Gideon got the Siciliana ($11) which has cherry tomato, anchovies, onion, eggplant, capers, and olives. He added the Mozzarella as an extra. He's so excited to eat that shit. Wouldn't you be?

I was jealous of his olives. I didn't try it so I can't say anything about it. 

Pros: Fresh ingredients, tons of pizzas to choose from - actually 30, Olive oil on the table, Backyard seating in the warmer months, Right off the Bedford stop of the L

Cons: Missing the "it" factor?, Would prefer more attentiveness to refilling the water glasses

For the record: I'm totally willing to go back and give it another shot when I'm done making the rounds.



Gideon's review...

Being a New Yorker, I'm a sucker for Neapolitan. Places like Grimaldi's, John's and Arturo's have been doing thin crust, wood oven pies since long before I was born. And I hold them to the gold standard: smoky, crispy-chewy crust, fresh sauce and high quality cheese. Plus whatever fresh toppings get pulled out of the fridge. Mmmmm yeah. But with new comers like Lil Frankies and Nick's giving the old guys a run for their money, I figured Fornino in Brooklyn would have on it's A game as a contender. Brooklyn represent, right? Or Williamsburg. Or whatever. But like a lot of Billsburg, Fornino tries really, really hard only to miss the mark compared to the real thing. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a Fornino pie over some store bought bullshit any day of the week. But the sauce was tepid, the toppings on mine felt out of a can, and when the crust is the best part of your slice, you know you're in for trouble. I give it a proverbial 5 out of 8 slices. I'd go back. But given that Grimaldi's is less than a mile away, and Fornino only has pizza on the menu, somebody in that kitchen gotta step it up. Best part of my meal was shooting the shit with Joanna.

Fornino

182 Bedford Ave (btwn N. 6th and N. 7th)

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Schmook's

These people are famous now!

Christine and I went to Schmook's yesterday for stop #2 on the Greenpoint Pizza Crawl (GPC).
Plain slice $2.25



Again we got slices from a pie that wasn't fresh. This pizza looks better than it tastes. It's pretty heavy - there is a lot of cheese. No complaints there. My main issue with this slice is that the crust was too thin for the amount of cheese it had on it. The crust was crispy but undercooked and didn't have enough salt. The sauce was good and the cheese was good, I just don't like it when you fold the slice and it breaks in half. I'm gonna have to take points off for that. I mean, it was good but nothing special.



Christine liked it better than I did.

There are ten seats, so I guess the seating situation is good enough. One thing that really bothered me was the horrible screeching sound of the bottom of the chair scraping against the tile floor whenever someone stood up or sat down. It's really hard not to be distracted by and totally takes away from the ambience.



This guy was really nice. And you see that pie? $12

Pizza porn:




...They also have beef patties? $1.75

Pros: Huge slice, Cans of Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Convenient to Nassau stop, Good topping selection, Good slogan "Schmook's - It's a Pizza Place"
Cons: Annoying sound from chairs that I can't get over, Lame crust




Schmook's Review By Christine

I think that Schmook's is probably the 3rd or 4th by-the-slice pizza place that I have tried in Greenpoint. I've always been intrigued by its circus-lights exterior, but it's a little out of the way for me, so I was glad to finally have an excuse to try it.

I hear all of Joanna's points, but for me, the way the crust cracked when folded was hardly an issue. This could be a question of style -- I don't really like to fold my slice in half because eating it that way makes me feel like I'm eating half as much. For this reason, I like a slice with a relatively crispy crust, and this one didn't sag or get sloppy.

I thought the interior of the place was pretty nice. It looked like they had put a little money into new tables, chairs, and a paint job relatively recently, and to me that made the place seem clean. However, the entire back of the restaurant was taken up by stacks of empty pizza boxes. I don't know what's going on storage-wise in other parts of the building, but I have to believe that there is a better place to keep all those boxes, especially given the seating crunch that was going on while we were there. There's nothing I hate more than feeling like I have to race to vacate my seat because someone else is standing and waiting -- in this case it was a woman who eventually wound up grabbing an empty chair and lifting it over our table to a corner. If that had been me, I would just have gotten my slice to go rather than do that, but I guess that's neither here nor there, and certainly it isn't Schmook's fault.

Overall, I agree with Joanna that the crust, especially the thick edge, could have used a lot more salt. There was a lot of cheese, which I liked, and it stayed in place even though my slice wasn't folded. I also liked the size of the slice -- huge.

Finally, I think this is a great place to order delivery from. Delivery is free with a minimum order of $10, and as you can see in the picture, $12 gets you an absolutely gigantic pie.

Schmook's, if you are reading this, your pizza makers are very friendly, and I like that you have a bar along the front window for casual people-watching. Get some new felt on the legs of your chairs to cut down on that awful screeching, and maybe consider storing your ready-to-go pizza boxes someplace else. B+!



Schmook's
86 Nassau Ave (btwn Manhattan and Leonard)
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Check it

Hot pizzaman from Italy Pizza!!!


Covert spy pic. Afterwards we ran away giggling like schoolgirls.

Gnocco

image stolen from NYMag

Holy crap.
First of all, don't get too used to me reviewing places like this. Second of all, holy crap. Again. So I went here on Monday for my dad's birthday. Lovely atmosphere, really nice/helpful/non-overbearing waitress. It seemed there were a lot of birthdays happening there.

image stolen from NYmag

Yadda yadda yadda ... this is the pizza I got


I know, right?!!!!!!!!
it's called the Vegetariana ($13.50) and I'm not positive but I think it had olives (kalamata?), artichoke, eggplant, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. It blew my mind.

Bro homes loved it too

I recommended this place the next day to some friends who went there that night and I got this email the next day:
Subject: Why
Body: Didn't you mention that HOT HOT bartender who works at Gnocco? Even though I suspect he moves his wedding band to his pinky finger to throw potential big spenders and tippers off the track. Additionally - the food was amazing. Thx.

Needless to say I'll be going back on not a Monday to assess this situation for myself. 

Pros: Unreal bartender, backyard seating
Cons: Bartender wasn't working when I went there



Gnocco
337 E. 10th Street (btwn A and B but closer to B)
New York, NY 10009

Italy Pizza

On Saturday afternoon I went to Italy Pizza. I chose it as the first stop on my official Greenpoint Pizza Crawl (GPC) because based on what I already know I think it's my favorite.



I got a plain slice - $2




The slice i got had been sitting around for awhile so the cheese had congealed. I could have waited for a fresh pie, but didn't feel like it. It had a nice crispy crust (I personally don't have a preference for chewy or crispy but this was nice). It's got a thick crust, so it's pretty heavy. I like that the sauce isn't sweet. I don't like sweet sauce, ugh. I don't know if it's because I was hungover, or what, but I felt pretty gross about halfway through my slice. I had to take a breather. It was pretty greasy but in a good way.

My friend Chris got a white slice that also was pretty heavy and made him feel gross. But look at that bubble!




He liked it. The crust on his slice was much thicker and chewier. I like that there's an inconsistency there.


yummmm

So when you walk in the pizza counter is right there and you might not know there's seating in the back if it's crowded. I would order from this place, but I don't think I'd wanna walk the 4 blocks to my apartment from here with my slice, so the seating situation is good. I like the back area for privacy as well. I don't like people on the street watching me eat my pizza, okay?

Also this was on the wall and I feel like I need it for my apartment.


Pros: Good selection of slice toppings, Hot Italian guy making the pizza, really good fountain soda
Cons: I heard they put the pepperoni on the slice after it's already cooked, I was too embarrassed to take a picture of the Pizza Man.



Italy Pizza
788 Manhattan Avenue (btwn Calyer and Meserole)
Brooklyn, NY 11222

This is Pizza Forever