Day 14, Pizza Month 2011 - Grimaldi's (Chelsea, NYC)

DAY 14: OCTOBER 14th, 2011

LOCATION: Grimaldi's (656 Ave of the Americas, NYC)

ORDER: 2 slices of pepperoni

GUEST: Barbie Molnar Williams, Kitzi Taylor





MISCELLANEOUS:
1. There's a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge as an homage to the original Grimaldi's beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. So, if you want to eat at "Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge" you can technically do that at this location in the Limelight Marketplace.
2. The building now called the Limelight Marketplace has had many different incarnations. It was originally a church, then a night club, then a different night club, and now a fancy mall. I once went to the Limelight when it was still a night club for a New Year's Eve party. People said there was so much drug use occurring there if you licked the floor you would get high. While I'm sure drug use was commonplace, I think they say just to see if who will actually lick the floor. I didn't. Of course, now that it's a Grimaldi's, I'm much more likely to.

PHOTOS:

Video Log: Day 20, Grimaldi's

DAY 20: OCTOBER 20th, 2010
Grimaldi's on Washington St. (Hoboken, NJ) - full review


(Click here for video)

Day 20, Pizza Month 2010 - Grimaldi's (Hoboken, NJ)

DAY 20: OCTOBER 20th, 2010

LOCATION: Grimaldi's (Hoboken, NJ)

ORDER: 2 slices of Cheese, 2 slices of Pepperoni

GUEST: Scott Wiener, Victoria MacKenzie-Childs

REVIEW:
Lucky Hoboken!

Patsy Grimaldi has opened another coal-fired pizzeria in Hoboken, New Jersey. This means Hoboken has not one but two. It's not fair. Two copies of the world-renowned original Grimaldi's Patsy opened at the base of the Brooklyn bridge in 1990.

The nephew of Pasquale "Patsy's" Lanceri, Grimaldi learned how to make pizza as a kid helping his uncle run the original Patsy's that opened in 1933. Almost 50 years later, Grimaldi had mastered the trade enough to open his own pizzeria. Twenty years after that, he opened his second Hoboken pizzeria giving my pizza guests and I the pleasure of dining in this evening.

Packed with the perfect amount of rich tomato sauce, punctuated with melted fresh mozzarella cheese, speckled with basil, and drizzled with olive oil, each pizza is expertly prepared. All this delivered to your table atop a thin, crisp coal-fired brick oven crust.

Grimaldi's pizza proves that the right ingredients in the right amounts can guarantee a delicious pie. I felt like our pie was slightly underdone (one of the symptoms of eating at offpeak times with a brand new coal-fired oven) yet still ate half of a large pizza by myself.

This location is new but Grimaldi's is not. If you happen to live in Hoboken, you have no excuse not to visit one of two Grimaldi's locations. The original location under the Brooklyn Bridge is infamous for long lines and gruff service. Such is not the case in Hoboken. Spacious seating area and a well-mannered staff await you...and so does some amazing pizza.

VIDEO CLIP:

RATING:
4.52 out of 5

• VALUE:
  4.5/5


• AMBIENCE:
  3/3


• TASTE:
  8.5/10


• SERVICE:
  3/3

19/21 = .905 x 5 = 4.52

MISCELLANEOUS:
1. Scott Wiener runs walking and bus pizza tours in and around New York City. Check him out at http://www.scottspizzatours.com
2. I met the man who built the oven. His name is Sean McHugh. It's nice to meet other pizza related Seans.