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The celebrated and beloved Totonno’s Pizzeria (1524 Neptune Avenue) has had a rough couple years in keeping its doors open. First they were hit by a fire in 2009, and more recently they were knocked out of commission by Superstorm Sandy. Still closed months after the storm struck, owners Cookie Cimineri and Antoinette Balzano have struggled to acquire the loans needed to reopen, according to a report by Serious Eats.

(UPDATE [January 17, 2013]: Totonno’s told New York Daily News that they vow to reopen, no matter what the odds.)

Apparently, Totonno’s is the victim of bad timing when it came to the loan application process. Totonno’s is still paying off the $200,000 in loans they took on from their 2009 fire, and because of this, the NYC Business Development Corporation’s denied the pizzeria’s $25,ooo loan request.

“They have to go by the last year,” Antoinette explained to Serious Eats, speaking of financial records and the loan application process. “For the last 2 years, we’ve been paying off the $200,000 loan from the fire.”

Totonno’s also applied for a $150,000 loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA), but have yet to hear back from them.

All hope for Totonno’s hasn’t been lost yet, as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz took it upon himself to get the pizzeria’s NYCBDC loan request re-reviewed.

Still, the path to reopening Totonno’s again is not easy. Antoinette lamented to Serious Eats about her dealings with unreliable mold inspectors and contractors who are draining her money but not her will.

“The last [contractor], he was a con artist. My sister didn’t get 3 cents for 11 months. How do you live when you have bills to pay? A family to feed?Totonno’s doesn’t make a lot of money. It’s about passion.”

Here’s hoping the pizza gods do all they can to keeping the city’s best pizza coming out of the oven.

Arbuz on Sheepshead Bay Road

The past week or so has seen a couple of major New York City papers snooping around Sheepshead Bay’s restaurants, including a pretty hefty score for a newly-opened Manhattan location of a Sheepshead Bay original.

That’d be the New York Times talking about Treat Petite, the Greenwich Village spinoff of Arbuz (1706 Sheepshead Bay Road). A while back we broke the story of Arbuz’s expansion. Treat Petite (61 Grove Street) is now open, specializing in frozen kefir, and appear to have impressed the Times.

“Their soft serve, called Treat Petite, is refreshing and not as sweet as many brands of frozen yogurt. The store offers six varieties: plain, and five others subtly flavored with fruit purées, including pomegranate and caramelized pineapple. There are also smoothies and concoctions with various toppings, as well as coffee, crepes, waffles and some pastries.”

It seems to me that the wider world is finally waking up to the wealth of tastes and flavors our corner of the city has to offer, and what’s even better is that those business pioneers that took risks to start here in Sheepshead are finding success and expanding outward.

In addition to the New York Times story, local restaurants are also getting a huge shoutout in the Daily News. The paper launched a series – which we’ll say is inspired by The Bite, since they’re all in our coverage area anyway – showing off great restaurants along the Q line. So far they’ve covered:

• Tatiana’s in Brighton Beach
• Varenichnaya in Brighton Beach
• Coney Island Taste Peruvian Restaurant in Sheepshead Bay
• Randazzo’s Clam Bar in Sheepshead Bay
• Totonno’s Pizzeria in Coney Island

Sorry Local Broker. Sorry BrooklynQ. Sorry Arthur. I cheated on all of you.

Without a peep to any of you, I slunk off to Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano (1524 Neptune Avenue) Friday afternoon – Totonno’s first day open since their fire last March. I went with my brother. Neither of us had been there before.

It. Was. Delish.

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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!

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!

(NBC News Coverage from Saturday, March 14, 2009)

A Saturday morning fire rushed through the legendary Totonno’s Pizzeria. The restaurant was a mainstay in the Coney Island community and people traveled from far and wide to get a taste of the Napolitano style pizza with ingredients imported from Italy. For 85 years, the pizzeria had been serving the pizza by the pie in its old-style dining room located at 1524 Neptune Ave near West 14 St.

Members of the community spoke to NBC news reporters on the scene and expressed the devastation they feel at the loss of Totonno’s. Based on the damage, there is no talk at the moment of rebuilding the famed establishment.

This is a very sad day for original Brooklyn-pizza lovers and we offer our sympathy to the owners and workers of Totonno’s, because while no one was hurt in the blaze, watching the building go down with all of the memorabilia and original decor must have been heartbreaking.