And, since we’re going down memory lane, Nino’s was (as you said) worth going to. He lost the place (restaurant, pizza place and catering biz) on a gambling debt (or so the story goes) but the family salvaged enough for his brother to open Vinny’s on Smith St, a steam table operation that I personally have high regard for but that Ginny doesn’t appreciate. Really good eggplant parm.
By the way, in thinking about it, Sam’s still has pretty stiff competition in the neighborhood. It’s not like Lucali, Frankie’s pizza, Table 87, Sotocasa or Luzzo’s are serving inferior product.
Nino’s on a friday, with the fried shrimp sandwiches/dishes, was incredible. I believe there was a video where Iacono said it was his favorite. Speaking of lucali, I’ve always thought his pizza had more in common with sam’s than dom’s, I forgot to ask last time I was there. I know we’ve talked about getting to vinny’s…hard to understand how your marriage has lasted all these years to someone who doesn’t appreciate a great eggplant parm
anyhow, at this point braving the line at lucali is probably just for tourists, but yeah, all those places are very good and better at attracting the current demographic than sam’s. Sotocasa was one of the places I’d have been leading pizza tours to, still some regret on not making that job work with our travel schedule.
I guess I never thought of queen or macro polo as direct competitors of sam’s, I’m afraid I have no memory of Helen’s or Carciofo but I completely forgot about eating at Cristardi’s, took some dates there, thanks for jogging my fading memory!
funnily, we have spent little time eating in Carroll Gardens in our almost 45 years of being in walking distance - it was only fairly recently that I realized how extremely shrunken the Italian presence is, but i guess I should have understood - since places like Cammereri , Latticini Barese (miss the still warm mozz) which were on my weekly Saturday shopping swing are very long gone . Most of the “red sauce” places did not attract me and I have loved the shopping and atmosphere, but it was always a bit of an insular community; while the folks who served me at the lovely stores above, and also Esposito, Ferdinando’s Foccaceria (still there, but havent been for a while) , the various produce markets etc usually were friendly, there were incidents (for example, being cheated, more than thumb on the scale) on a hunk of parmesan and on another occasion on coffee beans to remind me that I was an outsider. We had a couple of pies at Lucali, and tho it has a fresh style, have not been tempted back. Probably would like Sam better. Frankies 457 is great, tho we havent been for a while (not an oldtimer) - to me DaFontes is the shining relic of the old community feeling, but I get there too rarely since Fairway and Gowanus Nursery closed. Do my Italian run much farther out in Brooklyn these days, and with no kids to feed and reduced carbs, its a lot less frequent, but the whole Brooklyn itallian scene, with good pizzerie, bakeries, pasta and meat stores etc etc all over the place feels pretty much over.
They were/are. For Queen, many years ago when, as I said, they had a free standing pizza place next door that pretty much had the same menu as Sam’s. For Marco Polo, since they opened Enoteca next door with a pizza oven up front, an outdoor seating area in back and a full menu. We were very much regulars there (and not Sam’s, in answer to BkEats question), as Ginny’s Italian teacher was bartending most nights. We even went to her wedding in Florence. There was an older guy (when I say older, I mean older) who supplied homemade infused grappa that was held under the bar and served us well. This was before we moved on to Noodle Pudding.
I grew up in a red sauce house so that was all I knew when I moved to brooklyn. a friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn feels most of the surviving Italian places are in insular Brooklyn, meaning places that are hard to get to by train. i want to say he meant mill basin, parts of canarsie maybe parts of sheepshead bay but it was 10 years ago when we had the conversation.
I probably miss Cammereri the most of the stores you mentioned. Esposito’s got crazy expensive, pepperoni was $44/lb last time I was there. and of course there were all those middle eastern restaurants clustered around the corner of atlanitc and court.
I mentioned to steve and ginny last we saw them that I was lucky enough to work on a project at metrotech with about 15 people from Asia and they’d discovered 4-5 chinese-cuban places behind macy’s. we were there once or twice a week a week and wow, did they know what to order!
that must have been wonderful! the chinese cooks brought a great touch to that cuisine!
Its been lots of years since I shopped in CG regularly - when Barese and Cammerieri closed I only went over rarely so I guess I missed the escalation. Of course, we had our own little Italian Cluster in Park Slope, with A&S, a wonderful sicilian daily bakery, a small pork store, a couple of fruit stores etc but that mostly went away in the mid-80s maybe, A&S lasted longer. And of course there was Alleva, the Italian Food Center in Little Italy before that for our breads, cheeses etc. Now I go for italian bread (mainly the sesame semolina twist and focaccia) at Il Fornaretto in New Utrecht, 7616 17th Ave and cheeses and other italian stuff at D Colluccio and sons, on 60th Street. But I have to say that I had some sesame semolina from Union Market here in the nabe that was the real thing. I will look at who the vendr was the next time I go in there, maybe they sell to vendors on the UES too.
I can second this. Two summers ago, my wife and I were in the beginning days of a 30-day stay in Brooklyn. After visiting the Brooklyn Museum, we basically wandered into Leland without knowing much about it other than it was close and had decent Yelp reviews.
The most memorable dish was a spectacular lemony charred mussels dish, served in a deep pan with crusty bread.
The summer tomatoes and bread salad and the salt-brined half chicken were also really good, the server was friendly and knowledgeable, and the environment was quiet (we ate there early in the evening).
By the time we left, I was thinking, “Wow, if this is just a random restaurant meal in Brooklyn, we’re going to have a great 30 days here.” Which we did.
FWIW, my wife remembers that this meal at Leland was the last time a restaurant ever asked us for a Covid vaccination card.
