Author: fish1964

My wife has always purchased little gifts for our daughters on Valentine’s Day. That’s a nice thing, but the end result is that they feel that Valentine’s Day is a family event. So Valentine’s dinner has to please everyone.

Obviously pizza meet that criteria.

To truly understand the history of New York pizza, this article about Patsy Grimaldi is a good start. Patsy has the unique honor of not being able to use either his first or last name for his restaurant due to legal issues (sold his last name, first name already in use). He opened the original Patsy’s in Brooklyn:

Aficionados soon began to make pilgrimages to Old Fulton Street. Next came the celebrities: Bill Cosby, Bob Costas, and John Turturro were regulars. Warren Beatty called to sweet-talk Carol into saving a table for him and Annette Bening, whom Patsy asked, “So, are you in the movies, too?” In 1995, Patsy and Carol were sued by Frank Brija, who had bought the East Harlem Patsy’s. Much legal wrangling ensued, the result of which was that the Brooklyn Patsy’s became Grimaldi’s.

Getting older, they sold the Grimaldi’s name. If you are eating Grimaldi’s anywhere in the country, know that it is no longer authentic. It’s good, it’s just not Patsy Grimaldi.

He recently opened a new place in Brooklyn called Julianna’s (his mother’s name) which may serve the best pizza on the planet.

We did not go there for Valentine’s dinner.

But we did go to Patsy’s. This is a place in the same NYC pizza lineage  but it’s not the same Patsy. This place (well, not the Brooklyn location) came first and it’s the reason Patsy Grimaldi can’t use his first name.

Is it as good as Julianna’s? No. Is the pizza awesome? Yes. Can you get in with two kids and not wait forever, and is it walking distance from our place? It was a school night, we didn’t have much time and the pizza was fantastic.

Was it romantic? Great pizza with your wife is always romantic.