Well Fed On the Town

The Italian Wine Guy has been a little nuts lately. So he chases a storm to NY, where he can relax and hang with some Italian buddies. Yes, just in time for a snowstorm, ice and St. Patrick’s Day.

An Irish Buddy, from the clan McClung, texts,”Let’s eat pizza”, and off to Franny’s we go. Seems the Irishman is a closet-Italian, and it’s a good thing.

Another friend, a real-Italian, scoffed at my choice. “Luzzo’s, in the east Village, that’s real Napolitano pizza.”

Next week we’ll run over the bridge. Hey, there can be more than one great pizza place in the world, we can all live with that.

Franny’s on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, was a good choice for St. Patrick’s Day dinner. A fresh menu relying on locally available ingredients with a nod to sustainable agriculture. The restaurant’s philosophy is stated on their website:

“The two owners of franny’s, Franny Stephens and Andrew Feinberg, have a strong commitment to sustainable agriculture. In the restaurant business, we define sustainable agriculture as purchasing locally grown foods and serving them in the seasons during which they are grown. Andrew’s love of Italian cuisine is at the heart of franny’s menu. franny’s uses the highest quality ingredients and prepares them simply, to allow the beautiful flavors of the food to come through. Whenever possible, we purchase our vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy, and fish from local sustainable sources, assuring the freshest and highest quality possible. All the meats at franny’s are from sustainable sources, containing no hormones or antibiotics, allowing for the most delicious meat from healthy animals raised in harmony with the environment. All meats are cured in house.”

I’m just glad to be away for a few days. Sitting at the table nearest the pizza oven when its 24°F outside (after the windchill), less than a week before spring. Bring on the appetizers: testa with salsa verde, roasted baby leeks with pistachios, roasted turnips with honey butter, a bowl of heirloom beans with Katz Rock Hill Ranch olive oil and some blood oranges with horseradish and Castelvetrano olives.

Starting with a bottle of Sparkling Bonarda from Bruno Verdi. Irishman-turned-Italian Antonio McClung (looking very happy with his fiancee Lisa) is the national sales director for Neil Rosenthal wines, and Verdi is from his stable of artisanal producers from France and Italy. Frothy, like a bowl of cherries that have been tossed in just fermented wine, great with the starters.

A couple of pies arrived, the tomato olive oil and sea salt pizza followed by the clams, chilies and parsley pie. A nice bottle of Bio-Dy rosso from Umbria almost made me forget why I came to NY. It doesn’t matter now, red wine and pizza in Brooklyn, there is nothing to complain about.

This is some Ottimo Pizza.

Franny’s
295 Flatbush Avenue
(between St. Marks and Prospect Blace)
Brooklyn, NY
718-230-0221

Hours
Tuesday-Friday 5:30-11:00 PM
Friday 5:30-11:30 PM
Open for Lunch
Saturday 12:00 PM-11:30 PM
Sunday 12:00 PM-10:00 PM

Closed Monday

The Kitchen Maestros

Alfonso Cevola wrote this from the safety of a basement bunker in Brooklyn. His blog, On the Wine Trail in Italy, manages to save him tons of money, otherwise spent on therapy.