Entries tagged with 'Bensonhurst'
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 5, 2008 at 11:45 PM

I love it when a plan comes together. For years, I've been wanting to get a clip of the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever, the bit where John Travolta's Tony Manero orders two slices of pizza from Lenny's, double-decks them and struts down 86th Street in Bensonhurst. After mentioning the film earlier tonight, I dug around on YouTube, found the opener, and trimmed the vid down to just the relevant pizza-related footage. Enjoy ...
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Famous for its Sicilian slices, the Bensonhurst mainstay has jacked its rates. From amNY: "L&B gave in on Monday, upping the price for both [its regular and square slices] to $2.25 — just in time for the spring when things start heating up at the popular pizzeria, which is also a hangout for the young and old when it becomes warm thanks to its ample outdoor seating." Related: L&B Spumoni coverage on Slice »
A tipster reports:
I recommend that you try a slice at Valentino's in Bensonhurst (corner 17th Ave. and 86th Street). Really good thin crust.
Can anyone second that?
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 28, 2007 at 10:00 PM

After starting a six-pizzeria pizza crawl at Franny's, travelers board the" Pizza Express."
This afternoon I had the pleasure of riding aboard what I'll call the Scott Wiener Pizza Express.
Scott Wiener is a true pizza lover, one who keeps a pizza journal that's legendary among those who know him, and his love and enthusiasm for the pie is truly infectious. So much so that a little more than 20 people showed up for a tour that would take us from Prospect Heights to deep Brooklyn, up to East Harlem, and back again to Brooklyn (see map, after the jump).
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 13, 2006 at 2:04 PM
Ciccio's Pizza
Address: 207 Avenue U, Brooklyn NY 11223 [map]
Phone: 718-372-9695
Hours: M-Sat., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Sundays
Oven: Gas-fired, steel-deck
Words by Luke Weiss, Special to Slice | The first time I went to Ciccio's was about seven years ago. My father had told me about a place he had been to in the '80s that served only slicesno calzones, no heroes, nothing but slices. I took the F down to Avenue U hoping to discover this gem. I walked up and down Avenue U, marking each pizza place I passed. I couldn't find the joint he had mentioned, and, realizing I had to choose, settled on the diminutive storefront of Ciccio's Pizza for my lunch needs.
Bensonhurst is a sparkling neighborhood, the lights from the nail salons glow up and down avenue U, and there always seems to be some sort of street decorations stretching between the light fixtures. It smells incredible as you pass the Italian delis and sausage markets, but it is the pizza places of the neighborhood that have a truly special feeling. You are likely to see grandma (she makes the sauce) sitting in a corner huddled over a cane, occasionally spitting some rebuke in Italian at her misbegotten nephews who run the counter.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, December 19, 2005 at 11:54 AM
The following cluster of photos will no doubt be bewildering. But bear with me. Today's theme is "lights." And lots of them. It's a theme that strings together the over-the-top Christmas decorations of Dyker Heights and the below-the-ankle action of Saturday Night Fever.
That, and the fact that both spectacles take place in roughly the same area of Brooklyn. After that, the association kinda falls apart.


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Posted by Adam Kuban, September 4, 2004 at 12:36 PM
... Or, 'You Eat the Nicest Pizza on a Honda'*


The Garden of Eatin': L&B Spumoni Gardens, family-owned for more than 60 years (top left), is known for its out-of-this-world Sicilian slices. More a comestible complex than just a single restaurant, L&B boasts a pizzeria (whose pass-through window can be seen at top right), a spumoni stand, and a sit-down Italian eateryall in a sprawling compound on 86th Street between West 10th and West 11th streets in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood. Just as Batman has the Batmobile, Slice has "The Slicecycle" (below right), its front wheel a compass pointing to truly great pizza.
Not to be upstaged by Frank Bruni's adventures in pizza, the intrepid editor and publisher of this pizza website participated in his own pizza exploits yesterday. While Mr. Bruni's quest was by sea, however, mine was decidedly by land, as yesterday marked the maiden run of "The Slicecycle."
After several summer weeks filled with rider-safety courses, DMV visits, and eBay parts searches, my recently purchased 1974 Honda CB360 was ready to be pressed into the service of seeking out superb slices. More pressing, however, was that the thing needed to pass inspection in order to comply with New York state law. The nearest inspection station? The one that's a short five blocks from home? Out of inspection stickers, of course. Forced to go to the next closest, all the way out in Bensonhurst, I thought, "HmmWhy not kill two birds and hit up L&B Spumoni Gardens after inspection?" It was, as they say, a "no-brainer."
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 2, 2004 at 10:25 AM

Seems like every-so-many news cycles there's a story in one of the New York dailies in which Sopranos cast members opine on their favorite New York City restaurants. The Daily News just let loose the latest.
In this one, Steven R. Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri), Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti), and Vincent Curatola (Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni) give much respect to Bensonhurst's L&B Spumoni Gardensand give the gasface to Rocco:
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