Red Hook Pizza Places Everyone Should Try
Nothing says New York like a giant foldable slice of pizza. Eating pizza in New York is a quintessential New York experience and a daily routine in the lives of locals. Slice shops are a dime a dozen, and no matter which borough you find yourself wandering through, a pizza shop is bound to be close by.
That said, New York is known to have some of the best food in the world, so you know that some pizzerias stand out. While most tourists flock to Manhattan, the trendy, low-key, and family-friendly borough of Brooklyn has just as much to offer both in the way of cultural attractions and famously delicious pizza haunts.
I recently toured Red Hook, Brooklyn’s picturesque urban fishing village of a neighborhood with a large indie scene for breweries, galleries, distilleries, and restaurants. Red Hook’s pizza restaurants are likewise independent and creative neighborhood eateries that local Brooklynites cherish.
I have compiled an excellent list of restaurants, eateries, and slice shops that have the best pizza in Red Hook for you to try on your next trip to this charming coastal corner of Brooklyn.
Best Pizza in Red Hook
- Pizza Moto
- Defonte’s Sandwich Shop
- The Longshoreman
- Mark’s Red Hook Pizza
- Hoek Pizza
- The House of Pizza & Calzone
- Lucali
- F&F Pizzeria
- Brothers Pizza
Pizza Moto
338 Hamilton Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-834-6686
Visit Website
Located right off interstate 278, a few blocks from the giant Red Hook Park and recreation center, Pizza Moto is an authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizza restaurant that started as a wildly popular food truck.
Co-owners and Chef and manager duo Dave Scarlow and Anna Viertel use their brick-and-mortar restaurant to expand the menu to include small plates and Italian entrees cooked to perfection with their signature wood-fired brick oven.
True to their mobile food roots, Pizza Moto does an excellent mobile catering and pop-up business, so even if you aren’t in Red Hook, you can still enjoy their delicious Neapolitan Pizza. I tried their delicious ricotta and beef meatballs to start, followed by my favorite specialty pizza, Eggs in Hell, with bacon, chili oil, soft-cooked egg, and mozzarella.
Defonte’s Sandwich Shop
379 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-625-8052
Visit Website
Defonte’s Sandwich Shop is a Stapleton Heights institution owned and operated by two generations of the Defonte family. Nick Defonte is an Italian immigrant who caught a break and bought a local storefront for 100$ to start a modest sandwich business that soon blossomed into a neighborhood favorite.
The menu at Defonte’s features a slew of hot and cold hero sandwiches that may be the biggest in New York. I loved the Italian Stallion cold hero with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, fried eggplant, and roasted peppers. It tasted like a pizza in a sandwich.
If you want an authentic pizza, Defonte’s has an entrée personal pan steak pizza that is as hefty and delicious as their sandwiches.
The Longshoreman
215 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 929-295-0285
Visit Website
Located in Carroll Gardens, a block from the East River and Pier 98, The Longshoreman is a cozy, neighborhood Italian kitchen in a historic space.
Originally a 1940’s bar called The Longshoreman, Chef, and owner Michelle Ewan and co-owner Lisa Detwiler kept the name and updated the space to assume a welcoming Brooklyn eatery and wine bar.
The menu is a modern take on a traditional Italian Trattoria with shareable small plates, house-made pasta, wood-fired pizza, and entrees. Pizzas are light, crispy, and bubbly, the way a Neapolitan pizza should be. I loved the Pulpo with grilled octopus, Calabrian chili, mozzarella, and arugula.
Mark’s Red Hook Pizza
326 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-624-0690
Visit Website
Mark’s Red Hook Pizza is a locally owned slice shop serving the best New York-style pizza in Red Hook at affordable prices.
Located a block from Pier 12 at the Atlantic Basin, Mark’s Red Hook Pizza has a typical glass pizza counter displaying the day’s slice offerings, but it also has an ample casual dining room for families to enjoy a whole pie fresh out of the oven.
Along with delicious thin-crust New York-style and deep-dish pizza and slices, Mark’s has a wide variety of salads, pasta, sandwiches, burgers, pizza rolls, and wings. I loved their white spinach pie with ricotta, sauteed spinach, fresh lemon, and mozzarella, which you can get on thin-crust or Sicilian-style deep-dish.
Hoek Pizza
117 Ferris St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-855-8111
Visit Website
Located directly in front of the park at Valentino Pier, Hoek Pizza is a trendy yet casual bar and Italian restaurant in a unique and artsy old warehouse space, specializing in wood-fired Roman-style pizzas.
Its awesome dining space is gritty and industrial-chic with exposed wooden-slatted ceilings, old hanging light fixtures, old-school leather couches in the bar area, and a great outdoor patio. The outside of Hoek is covered in impressive murals and graffiti, not to mention the incredible views of Manhattan.
I loved their inventive salads, using bright seasonal ingredients. I started with a colorful salad of radicchio, endive, citrus, avocado, and pistachio. Their pizzas are the height of gourmet authenticity. I ordered a wonderful red pizza with arugula, prosciutto, bufala mozzarella, parmigiano, and pomodorini.
The House of Pizza & Calzone
132 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-624-9107
Visit Website
The House of Pizza and Calzone is a family-friendly old-school Italian restaurant and New York-style pizzeria in the Columbia Street District separating Red Hook from Carroll Gardens.
They serve inexpensive wine, authentic Italian specialties like risotto balls and fresh pasta, and New York-style specialties like calzones, strombolis, heroes, thin-crust, and Sicilian square pies.
Their signature calzone is a pocket-shaped, deep-fried calzone stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and ham. Their giant New York-style rounds are delicious, but my favorite pizza at The House of Pizza is the Grandma or Sicilian-style square pie. Their Sicilian is a thin-crust pan pizza with whole peeled tomato sauce, seasoned with garlic and basil, and topped with fresh slices of mozzarella cheese.
Lucali
575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-858-4086
Visit Website
If you’re looking for the best pizza in the Big Apple, Lucali was voted best pizza in NYC and the best pizza in the nation.
The New York Times deemed Lucali’s calzone one of the best dishes of 2021. Located in Carroll Gardens, Lucali is Pizzaiolo and Brooklyn native Marc Iocono’s dream of converting his favorite childhood candy store into an equally unique local favorite. I’d say he succeeded.
The menu at Lucali is a simple build-your-own of either pizza or calzone from a shortlist of toppings including onion, shallot, pepperoni, hot pepper, and sweet pepper. Lucali is a BYOB establishment, so bring your brew or wine of choice to enjoy with New York’s unanimously voted best pizza.
F&F Pizzeria
459 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718-407-6575
Visit Website
F&F Pizzeria is a casual slice shop and pizzeria sandwiched between its respective parent restaurants, Franks Wine Bar and Frankies 457 Spuntino, in an industrial-chic space that was once an old garage in Carroll Gardens. F&F is a refined New York slice that award-winning chef and bakers Chris Bianco and Chad Roberston created using the freshest, most high-quality ingredients.
You can get giant New York-style thin crust, Sicilian thick-crust squares, or loaded focaccia bread. I loved the Sicilian and Focaccia options, which were perfectly executed, displaying the perfect balance between dense and fluffy.
Go Friday or Saturday so you can try the signature house-made focaccia with Sicilian Castelvetrano Olives, red onions, celery, pepperoncini, caper, oregano, fennel pollen, and extra virgin olive oil.
Brothers Pizza
647 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Phone: 718-768-1700
Visit Website
Located in Sunset Park, Brothers Pizza is a family-owned slice shop and pizza counter, serving New York-style pizza, pasta, calzones, salads, sandwiches, and wings in a family-friendly yet modest dining space.
They’re a predominantly take-out and delivery establishment, with fast and reliable service to the surrounding neighborhood.
Their selection of pasta is even more extensive than their pizza selection. I loved their baked spinach ravioli parmigiana. That said, they have thick Sicilian, thin-crust round, and Grandma-style pies sold whole or by the slice. They even make a Chicago-style stuffed pizza, layering generous portions of cheese, sausage, meatballs, mushrooms, pepperoni, onions, and peppers.
Final Thoughts
Red Hook’s eclectic pizza restaurants have a variety of dining experiences and pizza styles. Whether you’re looking for classic New York-style thin-crust slices you can grab, fold, and eat on the go or gourmet wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza to savor with a nice glass of wine, the best pizza in Red Hook is in one of the above neighborhood slice shops and restaurants.
Now that you’re covered for lunch or dinner, you might want to check out my list of Red Hook brunch spots to hit for a nice midday meal.
Did we leave out your favorite Red Hook pizzeria? Let us know down below in the comments and we’ll take a look!
The post Red Hook Pizza Places Everyone Should Try appeared first on Restaurant Clicks.
https://restaurantclicks.com/best-pizza-red-hook/
Comments
Post a Comment