Luigi's Pizza, Calzones New York
Classic Italian Takeout
Brooklyn—by itself—is around the fourth largest city in the USA, too large to explore as a tourist. But, because it contains what appears to be an endless number of pizza joints, it is tempting.
Among them is Di Fara—most famous, not cheap and always a long line.
Far away in Park Slope is Luigi’s. I went there. I will go back.
That neighborhood is innocuous from a tourist’s point of view, but it is what I think of as 'essential' Brooklyn. Many of those old 1960s rock and roll pioneers like Carole King, Neil Diamond, and their successors like The Notorious B.I.G. grew up in Brooklyn neighborhoods like this one.
If you believe 'you are what you eat’, and feel certain that in their youth those cultural pioneers ate pizza too, you can follow in their footsteps.
Luigi’s has everything going for it: 'rustic' architecture in 'rural' Brooklyn, not great subway access but easy CitiBike access and traditional pricing.
It is every thing one could want.
A regular slice is crisp, topped with tomato sauce that is both tangy AND sweet, swamped with real cheese whose long, melted strings remain attached to the slice after taking a bite.
60 year old Luigi mans the shop and willingly engages in conversation about his neighborhood and the shop founded by his father. I watched the guys behind the counter making calzones ($4.75) and without even having tried them will go back for two.
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