http://asliceofbrooklyn.com/
Check out the above link for more details on this tour and others run by the family!
The wingman and I went this past weekend on Saturday Jan 30 to the Pizza tour. The slice of brooklyn tour is a family owned business. The members alternate between giving all these different tours - their most famous being the pizza tour we went on.
We made sure to end our Friday night early (1am - which believe me is super early for the duo LOL) so we could wake up ready, refreshed and still have time for breakfast before our 4.5 hour long slice of Brooklyn. Yes, the tour is named as such purposely to indicate the two VERY SPECIAL stops (and the fatty that I am reluctantly admits maybe the ONLY reason I wanted to go) - world famous pizza places: Grimaldi's and L&B Spumoni Gardens.
Views of the Brooklyn Bridge
The additional bonus (aside from the delicious pizza) was the actual tour itself. They took us around all different parts of Brooklyn (some new spots I've especially noted to revisit when the weather gets better) - and it was cute because they also played clips from all different movies and timed it to play right as we passed that spot on the tour. It was like that Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu (and that's all I'll say in case whoever's reading this didn't see it, I don't want to spoil it)... Since I wasn't documenting everything as we traveled my recollection of the details from a few days ago are fuzzy already so you can read the synopsis from the link at the bottom of the blog for specific places we visited (but really, you'd have to check out the tour or the go to the places yourself to really appreciate anything I'm saying in this blog).
What I
do remember most vividly, however, is THE PIZZA!!!!!!
Grimaldi's I've had before - but I was just as excited to go have some again especially since this family had the hook up and we didn't have to wait in line or anything! We even got to cut the line that was already there (a few dozen people freezing outside waiting for the restaurant to open, and we just walked right passed! - they were pissed LOL)
What I never did, however, during the other two times I'd been to Grimaldi's was check out the brick oven. Grimaldi's is famous because it is one of the last brick oven pizza spots that is still allowed to cook the pizza using coal (most places use wood - and it just doesn't taste the same). Keep in mind, they have only ONE oven (one bathroom - womp womp) and yet they service close to a hundred people an hour, I'd say. The oven gets to be as hot as 900 degrees F and the pizzas cook in 3minutes flat (or, according to the boys that work there - 2 minutes and 43 seconds flat lol). I actually watched the process from start to finish for the first time this day - from the flipping of the dough, the sprinkling of the super fresh mozzarella, basil and miscellaneous toppings, to the tossing (literally tossing) into this massive and extremely hot oven. I was so fascinated I forgot I had to pee and even almost missed my turn at the bathroom I was staring so hard.
I'd definitely go there a 4th, 5th and 6th time :)
L&B Spumoni Gardens, on the other hand, I had NEVER been to for a couple of reasons:
1) I'd never heard of it
2) It's wayyy deep in Bensonhurst, and let's be real, I'm only in Brooklyn for my sister, my neph and Wen
But let me tell you.... THIS PIZZA WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It is hands down THE BEST sicilian pizza you will ever, ever, EVER taste!!!!!! I will MOST DEFINITELY be going back there. Apparently, in this yearly poll they have of the best pizza spots, this place won SO many years in a row that they're not even included in the poll anymore! There's just an asterisk on the bottom saying "L&B Spumoni Gardens is not included in these results". And according to the tour guide, allegedly a man that just got out of prison made sure he got a sicilian slice before even going to see his mom... I mean, I dunno about all that, I'd definitely go see my mom first, but wingman & I had to RESIST the urge to pick up the pans and plates and lick the sauce right off of them.
Admittedly, I was reluctant at first. I took the first bite, paused and shook my head saying "umm... yea it's pretty good..." - but after taking more and more bites and realizing that I simply could NOT stop and wanted to swipe my hand across everyone's plates and lick my fingers.... I officially announced.... "My life is changed. I will never be able to eat a sicilian slice from anywhere else for as long as I live."
Keep in mind, we had only visited this spot less than 2 hours after stuffing our faces at Grimaldi's so we were all PRETTY full... and even that didn't stop me from having two slices and staring hungrily at the leftover slices on the other trays. We decided we'd ask if we could take the slices home but were devastated when the bus boys took the trays away before we could ask.
We settled for sharing a cup of rainbow spumoni (for those of you that don't know, spumoni is basically a cross between italian ices and ice cream - supposedly the best of both worlds). Rainbow, is not like the rainbow ices they sell on the corner of Roosevelt Ave and Junction Blvd (LOL - my Queens heads!) - but it IS a mixture of the 3 flavors of spumoni they sell: Vanilla (with almond bits), Chocolate and Pistachio (with pistachio bits)..... DELICIOUS! Even though my stomach was officially filled to the brim with cheese, tomato sauce and bread, I still had room for the slurpalicious spumoni!
We get back on the bus and head towards Coney Island - I'd been there a million times and I'm sure you have too so I'll skip all that boringness.... besides by that time, everyone had the itis so bad we were all sitting there with our eyes half closed and consequently half listening to our tour guide, Paula, at this point.
I fell asleep on the way back to Union Square (which is where the tour started - I believe all their tours start at some place in Manhattan) while they were playing a video montage of all the famous actors, actresses, musicians and comedians from Brooklyn.
Anddd... the best part and cherry on top of our very wonderful Saturdae (not Sundae get it har har).... As we were pulling into the city, Paula holds up two plastic bags filled with styrofoam boxes and says "I have tons of leftovers, who wants???"
.002 seconds pass and she barely gets the word "leftovers" out of her mouth and wingman and my hands FLY up and we're like "MEEE!!!"....
How embarrassing because no one remotely showed any interest for those leftovers let alone with the same gusto. We didn't care though - that made our DAY.... Our previous disappointment when the bus boys took away the trays was reversed at the realization that we would, after all, be taking home DELICIOUS LEFTOVERS from that life changing pizza place that is L&B Spumoni Gardens - clearly that's what I had for dinner that night.
Thank you, Ludovico Barbati for your entrepreneurial spirit and bringing to me the BEST pizza I've ever had. :)
Check out this link for more detailed info on the tour -> http://asliceofbrooklyn.com/pizza.html
Stay tuned for the next adventure...
Leonardo Da Vinci's Workshop!
