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Totonno's Fire: They Will Rebuild

Posted by Ed Levine, March 15, 2009 at 2:00 PM

Lawrence Ciminieri, in front of the Totonno's oven we hope to be eating pizzas from again soon.

I called Totonno's owner Lawrence Ciminieri to find out more about the fire damage horrified Slice reader Rob S. discovered when he went to the original Coney Island location yesterday.

Ciminieri says, "Everything is going to be fine. The fire broke out in the coal storage area when we were closed. It must have been ignited by something backed up in the oven. The back two rooms are gone. The dining room is fine. The oven will have to be re-bricked, but that is something we do every few years anyway. I think we'll be back open in a month. Tell everybody thanks for me, Ed. Everyone's been so supportive."

Everyone who loves good pizza knows how important the original Totonno's is. It is our church of pizza. We need it restored to its former glory, and, from what Ciminieri says, it sounds like we are going to get what we need. [After the jump, a slide show of Totonno's as it was.]

Totonno's, Before the Fire

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Tags: Brooklyn, coal-oven, Coney Island, NYC, Totonno's, Totonno's fire