maortega15

So I've been wanting to try these places for a while now. My question is are these places worth trying or not? If so, I'm curious to know hows the area they are in. Whenever I think of Brooklyn = high crime. So thought my life despite being born and raised in NYC, I've never been to Brooklyn on my own.

Also, if I make the trek, anything I should get in particular?

Thanks

physioprof

First, that part of Brooklyn is totally safe. Second, Frank Grimaldi's sister, Juliana, opened her own pizzeria just down the block from Grimaldi's (which is no longer owned by the Grimaldi family), and it's even better than Grimaldi's (and no waiting in line forever).

http://www.julianaspizza.com/index.php?action=mobile_index

My favorite is the Margherita pie.

Universal

Grimaldi's is pretty good but mainly just a tourist trap. There are better choices.

Finkface

I loved Grimaldis. I thought it was truly awesome and well worth the (fairly short) wait. I would say definitely go for it. And we walked home over the Brooklyn Bridge afterwards.

SJC AA

Grimaldi's is just bad. Juliana's, which took over the old Grimaldi's space, is a better bet. Di Fara is amazing but a huge pain.

Equating Brooklyn with crime hasn't been true for decades. (Actually, Grimaldi's hasn't been any good for a decade or so either.)

Blumie

There may be much better options than Grimaldi's nowadays (if touring Brooklyn pizzerias, I highly recommend adding Roberta's and Paulie Gee's to your list), but to declare Grimaldi's as "just bad" is extremely hyperbolic.

SJC AA

Would be "mediocre" on pizza quality alone, if it didn't require waiting on line and wading through tourists. Those factors tip it to just plain bad.

Also add L&B Spumoni -- no wait, amazing pizza (not NY Style, of course).

But I'll take Pepe's in New Haven over any of the above (except perhaps a mythical no-wait slice at Di Fara).

RPantoja

I'm from New York and I live for pizza. Di Fara might be the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life. It is 100% worth the trek! Take a cab if you're concerned with safety but you should't worry.. Get their original traditional pie. You order at a counter, they can do slices or a whole pie. There is always a line and only a few places to sit. The man making the pizza is the owner. It's such a great experience! Authentic Brooklyn I also prefer Lucali's in Brooklyn over Grimaldi's. Grimaldi's is touristy and truthfully I don't think the pizza is anything special. But the neighborhood Grimaldi's is in is walkable and fun.

nerd

Welcome to FlyerTalk, RPantoja!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"I'm from New York and I live for pizza. Di Fara might be the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life."

I think DiFara's Sicilian slice is extraordinarily good -- probably the best Sicilian slice I've ever had. But I was not that impressed with DiFara's Neapolitan slice.

For Neapolitan by the slice, my favorite NYC pizzeria is New York Pizza Suprema, on Manhattan's Eighth Avenue, between 30th and 31st streets (diagonally across from Penn Station). It's been operated by the same family since 1964.

BuildingMyBento

I waited for about forty minutes at Di Fara before getting a slice.

Two weeks ago, a friend in Philly had me wait three hours to try Pizzeria Beddia (they only have pies).

I was also dragged to wait for a while at Pepe's in New Haven.

Bottom line: they were all fine, but you're in NY. Why stand in line? (particularly when pizza options are a dime-a-dozen here)

On another note, have you been to Shanghai?

Hoyaheel

We ate at Grimaldis on Thursday (after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in the pouring rain) It was OK pizza. Over the weekend, I read the new pizza rankings (yeah yeah, I know) and saw that Julianas came in 1st and I was bummed we hadn't gone there.

On Sunday, we had pizza near our hotel, Garlic NYC, and we thought it was better than Grimaldis. We aren't sorry we tried Grimaldis, but one & done^

(FYI Pepes in New Haven was destination pizza for my family when I was growing up in CT^)

NYCRachel

Grimaldi's is great, but it's also the tourist destination with insane waits.

Might as well do Juliana's, which will have a shorter wait, as others have said.

Di Fara is fantastic, but is a shitshow. The elderly proprietor is the only one making the pizza with a nonexistent ordering system. Given this, you must be patient. I've waited 90 minutes before my pizza has been ready.

L&B is also great (as recommended upthread), but out of the way. If you were to go that route I would combine it with a trip to Totonno's (better than Grimaldi's/Juliana's) and Coney Island.

My #1 pick though would be Paulie Gee's. Fantastic pies and when you're quoted a wait time there are a lot of great neighboring bars (Ramona, Alameda, Brouwerij Lane) to kill time at. It's also next to Transmitter Park which has incredible skyline views.

Seriouseats.com acquired the Slice pizza blog a few years back and folded its content within the site. There's a lot of great pieces on there regarding NYC pizza. Search for Adam Kuban's stuff in the archives.

Also Brooklyn is incredibly safe.

Hoyaheel

Yeah, the main reason we walked the Bridge when we knew it was most likely going to rain before we finished is we wanted to get to Grimaldi's before wait times got bad. We arrived around 4:30 on Thursday, no wait for 2 people.

Blumie

Pizza might be a dime-a-dozen, but NYC has as much bad pizza as it has good pizza. You can't just walk into some random place.