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.
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.
