Photos by Daniel S. Burnstein
Donning a kilt for comfort as he cooks, Bensonhurst native Louis Termini is happy to be preparing pizzas at Ignazio’s, his brand new brick oven-style pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge. After years spent managing his chain of seven pizza shops in Hartford, he’s made his way back into the kitchen to practice the trade his Sicilian grandmother first taught him.
But why has he opened around the corner from New York’s thin-crust benchmark, the legendary Grimaldi’s? “Well,” Termini explains, “for the view , the rent’s not bad.” But forget the rent, how’s the pizza?
| Pizzeria | Ignazio’s 4 Water St. (betw. Old Fulton & New Dock Sts.), Brooklyn, 718-522-2100 |
Grimaldi’s 19 Old Fulton St. (betw. Front & Water Sts.), Brooklyn; 718-858-4300 |
| The Pizza | The crunchy crust is thicker and blander than I would have expected, a holdover from Termini’s Connecticut days where customer demands for toppings required rigid support. Fresh mozzarella—culled from a local cheese maker—mingles with pecorino Romano, homemade tomato sauce and fragrant basil on The Pizza ($14 for medium, $18 for large). If you’re patient, try the Opus Rex ($24), a Sicilian version that takes 20 minutes to cook. |
A charred crust acts as a protective encasing for the soft, doughy core—if they’d serve this plain, I’d eat it as is. Concentric circles of buffalo mozzarella slices and just a few flicks of sauce cook together to become liquid heaven on the steaming hot pie ($12 for a small, $14 for a large). Eat quickly, lest the melty pools cool and soften the character of the crust. (White pizza fans—$14 for a small, $16 for a large—can sidestep this hazard.) |
| The Toppings | Staples like prosciutto and artichokes are offered alongside more unorthodox options like seaweed. It also happens to go well with the lobster pie, one of four specialty house pies ($21) that lean heavily on seafood. |
Nothing but the basics (sausage, mushrooms, anchovies, etc.), which run $2 each for whole or half pie coverage. Well, there are two “specialties”—red sweet roasted peppers and sun-dried tomatoes—for which you’ll have to pony up a full $4. |
| The Oven | Because of zoning regulations resulting from top-floor condos, a wood-fired oven isn’t an option. Instead, a three-tiered, custom stainless-steel Italian Verofona oven mimics the old-world method by heating the pies at 600 degrees from the top, bottom and sides, but fails to impart the smokiness of Grimaldi’s pies. | One of a handful of remaining coal-fired brick ovens in the city, their oven was built before EPA regulations forbade their existence. It’s cavernous inside and provides enough depth (about 12 feet) to keep the pizzas at a safe distance from the pile of embers that burn to nearly 1,000 degrees and help churn out crispy contents at an amazing clip. |
| The Line | Non-existent when I went, Saturday afternoon lines are sure to start soon, especially considering the place is closed on Sundays. (For those in the neighborhood, delivery is free, but be ready for cold disappointment; this pizza is meant to be served straight from the oven.) |
Almost as famous as the pizza itself, the line to eat here is always present and usually long. On a weekend, expect a 40-minute wait on the sidewalk, where even those looking for takeout start at the back. |
| Beyond the Pizza | With the help of a friend who authors macrobiotic cookbooks and supplied Termini with his recipe for barley-miso dressing, Ignazio’s offers its Three Apple Miso salad ($9), which fuses Japan (the dressing) with Sicily (caciocavallo cheese) and apple juice on top of arugula, raspberry preserves and seeded mustard. For an Italian finale that will be a welcome treat come summertime, have a cold glass of Latte di Mandorla ($3), almond milk that tastes like liquid marzipan | The $10 antipasto plate is a good place to start as long as you’ve got at least one partner in consumption. Green olives here are so meaty they can be attacked with knife and fork and flank big slices of mozzarella, salami and roasted red peppers. |
| The Verdict | Meticulous craftsmanship and an eagerness to take customers beyond the pale of sauce and cheese (say, with delightfully fatty slices of avocado and organic Niman Ranch bacon for $18) will give this place staying power, even in the face of legendary competition. | Nothing could derail the popularity—or diminish the superior quality—of this Brooklyn institution, but with the arrival Ignazio’s, the Dumbo pizza heavyweight is no longer the only game in town. |
