SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

After many a fakeout, Totonno’s is finally reopening on February 10th, according to Slice pizza blog. Totonno’s, which many pizza aficionados agree is one of the best slices in New York (and thus, the world) closed down after a fire devastated the storefront back in March. In September, Slice reported that the famed Coney Island pizzeria would begin welcoming customers again in late-September or early-October. Then it became November. Then December. You can guess where we’re going with this.

Slice wrote the following quick post on their site yesterday:

Our man Ed Levine just got off the phone with Totonno’s owner Lawrence Ciminieri, who tells us that Totonno’s is reopening next Wednesday, February 10 at noon.

Ciminieri says he himself will be making the pies that day.

We’re confident that this is the real deal this time. Ciminieri says he’s got all the permits now and the pizzeria is ready to go.

We hope it’s for real this time. I had planned to go for my first visit right before it burned down, and all this waiting has got me seriously hungry!

Is it possible for a reviewer to declare a restaurant a success after eating one slice of pizza?

Well, when the restaurant is mainly a pizzeria, the answer is, “maybe”. And when the pizzeria is Sofia, the ‘”maybe” becomes a definite “yes”.

Sofia Pizza Restaurant, with its clean dining area and lovely food display case, welcomes visitors who have a healthy appetite. Being the relatively new kid in Sheepshead Bay, the restaurant is competing with Del Mar Pizzeria, Bay Pizzeria and numerous other old-timers. And compete they will.

The Sofia pizza slice is excellent. I got the first slice from the still-whole pie. The counter clerk heated it up to right temperature and I poured on all the spices. First bite. Cheese did not burn the roof of my mouth. Crust is crispy with no dark, overcooked spots on the bottom. Dough is cooked thoroughly and, yet, is not too chewy.

Tomato sauce is sweet, not syrupy; tangy, but not annoying. Slice holds up and doesn’t sag under the weight of the cheese. Taste is delicious, right down to the last bite of the unadorned crust area. Verdict: Sofia’s pizza is a major competitor to all others. Price competes, as well, at $2.25 a slice.

A steady stream of customers came in and were ordering from the numerous foods on display: Sicilian slice; garlic knots (ever so cute, smaller than others); pasta in various forms; rolls; calzones; and, get this: pan pizza!

The sign says that the place is  a pizzeria and pasteria. Having never heard that word before, I figured pasteria meant that Sofia would be the place to stop for some Italian pastry to go with my pizza. But with no pastry in sight, and with a wide array of food on display and in their glossy menu — I’m thinking the word pasteria refers to “pasta”. If you have any insight into this word usage, please let us know.

With its convenient location near a bus stop and great food, we expect this place to do well. So, I get to my pet peeve: why do they need to put those flags out front? To the owners of Sofia, we welcome the pizza but not the holes  you had to drill in the sidewalk in order to hold the flags in place. We can forgive you for February’s inspection — knowing that all is now well — but passengers trying to get out of a car parked near those flags will not be too happy.

Sofia Pizza Restaurant
2822 Coney Island Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(Between Avenue Y and Avenue Z)

(718) 513-6300
(718) 513-6301

Credit cards accepted: Discover, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, &  Diner’s Club International

Hours: Monday through Sunday 11 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Free Delivery

Slice, the pizza blogger over at Serious Eats, has been doing a heck of a job keeping track of Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano since a fire destroyed the legendary pie-tosser in March. After initial updates saying the pizzeria would be open in June, then July, then August, the site is now reporting that it will reopen in late-September or early-October.

Why the delay? After the fire, [Owner Lawrence] Ciminieri said, his family had two choices: rebuild from scratch or salvage what was there. The initial reports from the architect Ciminieri consulted with indicated that the building was sound enough to salvage, but once crews started renovation, city inspectors found more damage than expected. It turns out that the building needs to be shored up to support the weight of the oven and the coal used to fire it.

“It would have been easier to just knock the place down and start over,” Ciminieri said, “but we’re already in the middle of this [renovation] and just have to finish now.”

This time, he said, it’ll definitely be no later than October.

I can’t wait to have a slice of Totonno’s. Despite being so close to home, I’ve never made the trip there and had planned one right before it burned down. Come on, Totonno’s, we’re all rooting for you!

For those of you living in a pasta-poor home — like the one our reader, Jim, grew up in — here’s an all-you-can-eat pasta night.

And if these are not the prices you would normally expect to pay for pasta, just remember that Benny’s Gourmet Pizza serves up Kosher food and you won’t have to travel to Midwood.

Your choice is to stay home and follow the recipe for Rich Pasta for the Poor Kitchen. But if you’re a “rotten cook” — also like Jim’s mom who had some difficulties in the kitchen — you can make your way over with an empty stomach to Benny’s, singing, “Pizza, Pasta, Salads & Wraps, Hoorah!”

Benny’s Gourmet
1730 Jerome Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(corner of East 18th Street; between Ave Z & Voorhies Ave)
Tel: (347) 673-7340