Brooklyn’s Grandma Pizza Does it Right
Before it gets too hot and humid, I wanted to check out the pizza truck that seems relatively new to the scene. When I walked up, there was a girl giving away samples of the regular slices, so there was a slight crowd around the truck – but it didn’t seem to be getting them any paying customers. As I watched, one man in a suit grabbed three samples, turned and walked away, saying loudly, “I’m good with samples, I don’t need to buy anything.” Umm…
The menu is pretty straight forward, so I walked up to order a slice.
But when I got to the window, I noticed these two signs: one with the special pies of the day, and one with a lunch special. The lunch special clocks in at exactly Midtown Lunch’s limit – $10 – and offers three regular slices along with a beverage (water, soda). The guy taking my order was quick to bring it to my attention, too, which I appreciated – 3 regular slices alone would run $10.50, so it’s a good “deal” insomuch as how much those items cost regularly – but that’s way too much food for me. I turned my attention to the special pies, and decided to order a slice of the Usual Suspects as well (I initially was going to order just one slice total; I ate double for research purposes, you understand – for science!).
Slices are displayed prominently in the window for you to drool over while you wait.
It didn’t take too long before my slices were ready, plated and shoved into a paper bag a la every NYC pizzeria since ever.
I was actually kind of happy that the slices weren’t huge, but for $8 for the two slices I felt a little ripped off. $3.50 for the plain, $4.50 for the Usual Suspects.
Really nice upskirt, good crust.
I only took a photo of the side of the plain slice, which was pretty thin and crisp, but the Usual Suspects boasted a slightly thicker crust – better for holding up the toppings, I suppose. The crust was slightly sweet, though the sauce itself wasn’t particularly sweet. I actually really enjoyed my plain slice – it was crisp, slightly chewy, and carried with it a lot of cheese flavor; in fact, it tasted like a cheesy flat bread of sorts. But the uneven scattering of sauce left it tasting very little like pizza… and $3.50 for that didn’t sit well with my stomach or wallet.
The other slice suffered from similar issues; though this piece was thicker and had more of that pizza-innard softness, the toppings were scattered unevenly and skimpily over the slice and didn’t really warrant the $4.50 price tag.
I’m actually a fan of Grandma slices in general (square slices which have the cheese laid down first, then the sauce; it’s hard to find a place that does them properly, a lot of places just reverse the order from Sicilian slices but Grandma slices aren’t quite as thick as Sicilian), and this place comes close. But a little more sauce would go a long way – and a little more toppings would go even farther to justify that exorbitant price tag.
Based on their Twitter and my experience, they also frequently give away samples of various items, so if you’re like that guy, you can swing by to try… before you buy, unlike that guy.
THE + (what people who like this will say)
- Grandma slices FTW
- I like cheesy breads
- I have lots of pizza money
- I like samples
- That lunch deal is awesome, it takes at least 3 slices to fill me up
THE – (what people who don’t like this place will say)
- $3.50 for a plain slice? Seriously?
- This menu’s got a lot going on
- I like my pizza with lots of sauce
- I want toppings to be more evenly spread
- These slices should be bigger
Brooklyns Grandma Pizza, Today they’re parked on 50th btw. 5+6th but you’ll want to check their Twitter. They move around quite frequently though it looks like they stick to the Midtown area. They also appear to have two websites – the one on their Twitter is listed http://m.mainstreethub.com/bksgrandmapizza, while the one on their truck is http://www.brooklynsgrandmapizza.com/home.html.
Posted by Yvo at 11:00 am, June 17th, 2014 under Brooklyns Grandma Pizza.
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