The wait is finally over. Starting at the end of this month, you can get Paulie Gee’s famous ‘za by the slice at his new Slice Shop on Franklin (110 Franklin Street). Paulie formally announced the August 29th opening on Instagram this weekend, to thousands of thrilled fans, with many offering to taste test before the official opening.
Despite the hoards of psyched-as-hell foodies, the pizza shop originally faced neighborhood opposition from Noble Street neighbors when the plans for the shop began a few years back. Almost 300 residents signed a petition in an attempt to prevent the shop getting a liquor license, out of concerns about late night crowds and excessive noise.
Greenpoint and North Brooklyn’s thriving restaurant scene has been turning (professional critic) heads for a while now, especially when it comes to the esteemed Michelin guide. Every year, their incognito inspectors scrutinize all the restaurants who’ve previously won either stars or bibs, plus all the newcomers. The bigger acclaim is when a restaurant wins coveted Michelin stars, from one to three and seemingly always the usual Manhattan high-end spots (those are announced next week). But the restaurants frequented by the hoi polloi aren’t left out. That’s where the Bib Gourmand comes in. This is where you can potentially get two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less, before tax and gratuity.And this is where our local spots shine.
The Big News: Brooklyn Label is open again! Brooklyn Label 3.0, now under the same management as Le Gamin, reopened in the past couple of weeks. The space at 180 Franklin Street has been given a little bit of a renovation in the past few months prior to the reopening. But most importantly, Le Gamin owner, Robert Arbor, wants to return Brooklyn Label to all its former glory. The menu is classic American: eggs Benedict, French toast, pancakes, burgers, and salads. They’re currently open for breakfast and lunch with dinner service coming soon.
For the past year, Mister Dips has been our answer to Shake Shack, but at some point next year, we will have an actual Shake Shack. Seems the chain will be coming to the space that formerly housed Blue Bottle at 160 Berry Street. They even threw a “surprise party” complete with free burgers and pumpkin frozen custards at North Brooklyn Farms last Wednesday. Word is doors open in the spring. Continue reading →
Franklin St & Greenpoint Ave sunset. Photo: Megan Penmann
According to police, a man was slashed and robbed in McGolrick Park Saturday night around 9:30pm. He had seen someone in a group of people drop a pack of cigarettes and went to return them—only to get his head smashed on a metal bar, slashed on his cheek with a knife and robbed of his iPhone, $250 in cash and a bracelet.
A Paulie Gee’s server was seriously injured after a cyclist struck her on the corner of Manhattan and India. Without insurance, she’s now facing $10k in medical bills and $25k of bills and lost wages combined while she recovers. You can donate to her crowdfunding campaign to help her recover physically and financially. Continue reading →
As the temperature drops and it officially becomes winter, we turn our palate to this comforting and convenient genre. Soup’s been trending of late on a national scale, perhaps fueled by the increase in popularity for pho and ramen or simply because chefs are now integrating more interesting ingredients and combinations—making soup a farm-to-ladle experience.
We surveyed some local restaurants to get the scoop on soup. Overall, and it comes as no surprise, folks found that as it gets colder, soup gets more popular—especially the heartier/creamier ones. However, there’s definitely a healthy overtone as well, with non-dairy or vegetarian options and even substituting yogurt for cream. Many restaurants are also regularly changing up the menu based on what’s at the market/in-season and to continually keep customers surprised. See a sampling after the jump of what’s on offer around town and get souper excited. Continue reading →
There are exactly 10 cool things happening and around Greenpoint this weekend. Eleven if you count Bill Murray bartending at 21 Greenpoint, but that doesn’t count, does it? There are at least 10 cool things happening this weekend.
I double dog dare you to get to more than three of these events. Choose wisely!
“If you talk to a lawyer,” Paulie informs me, “and you talk to the F.T.C., they’ll tell ya that they’re franchises… but my intention is to build a brotherhood of pizza entrepreneurs, ok? I told the lawyers what I wanted to do. They told me I had to form a franchise company. They told me what it would cost to do that. So I decided to ask another lawyer. I told em what I wanted to do, they told me that I had to form a franchise company. So I asked a third lawyer. Third lawyer? Franchise company. So, I bit the bullet and I did that. But really I build personal relationships with these people. They come in, ya know, when they can, they work with me… Derrick, who is gonna open up with me in Chicago, he contacted me for advice and I was itching to do something in Chicago, I had read about Wicker Park which is a great neighborhood… and when I talked with him, I said, where ya thinking about opening and he said ya know, Naperville, or something… he had a mobile business already making pizza out that way, Za Pie… he thinks it was a nice name. Hopefully he’s not reading this. In any case, I said, that’s too bad because I was hoping to maybe do something with somebody in Wicker Park. And about five minutes later we were on our way.”
Besides the potential for press coverage if Paulie Gee opened his pizzeria in New York City, another benefit was the cost of a liquor license: $140,000 for a license in New Jersey versus $505/year for a beer and wine license in New York City. But of course, Paulie would still need investors. “I own 80% of this place,” says Paulie. “But I do have investors. And a friend of mine, one of my oldest friends really, helped me, and he didn’t even know it at the time. He said, ‘Those investors, they’re gonna wanna know that you’re spending 100% of your time thinking about your restaurant and not your day job. But they wouldn’t mind if you took extra salary to make up for that.’ And that kinda opened up my mind on that. I said, ‘I’m gonna do this, this is great.’ And I started looking in Manhattan a little bit… but Brooklyn was calling me home.”
After working toward a BFA in Photography from SVA, Paulie Gee moved to Miami but missed New York and came back after just a short stint. “It must have been fate because that’s when I met my wife,” Paulie says. Having seen her on the train a couple of times, he saw her at a bar in Bay Ridge one night. “She was with friends and I said, ‘I know you.’ ‘No you don’t.’ ‘Yes, I do. You take the R train.’”
Proceeding to flirt with all her friends throughout the night, ignoring his future wife, Mary Ann. “Maybe I danced with her once,” Paulie says. “And at the end of the night, her girlfriend shoved her telephone number in my hand. That was basically it. In case she’s reading this, it was November 12th 1976.”
As the temperature drops and it officially becomes winter, we turn our palate to this comforting and convenient genre. Soup’s been trending of late on a national scale, perhaps fueled by the increase in popularity for pho and ramen or simply because chefs are now integrating more interesting ingredients and combinations—making soup a farm-to-ladle experience.
