Nino Coniglio has definitely been around the pizzaiola block and back a few times. He got his first job at a slice shop in Jersey when he was 12—he split his time between Gravesend in South Brooklyn and Raritan in North Jersey as a kid—and opened his first pizza place, Del Courso, in Marine Park on Avenue U, when he was 23.
At one time, he was on the World Champion US Pizza Team, back when the international competition “was mostly about pizza acrobatics,” he told Brooklyn Magazine, “with choreography, a routine, and songs.” He won the “pizza episode” on Chopped. He co-founded and still co-owns the Williamsburg Pizza mini-empire.
And, most immediately relevant to our story today, about 16 years ago he worked for Charlie Verde at Verde Coal Oven pizza on Irving Avenue in Bushwick, which closed down in 2015, was replaced by the silly, nostalgia-themed Pizza Party, and has now been transformed once again into an old-fashioned neighborhood spot—a pizza tavern, if you will—Coniglio’s newest venture, Lucky Charlie.
Photo by Scott Lynch
“I’m a guy who’s obsessed with pizza,” said Coniglio. “So being the steward of a coal oven from 1890, in a neighborhood that used to be the largest Sicilian enclave in the world, it’s a pretty special feeling.” Adding to the homey vibes: Coniglio’s 16-year-old son Dino has been on pizza-making duties since day one. And they basically never leave! “Me and Dino sleep in the back apartment like a couple of fucking gavones,” he said.
The place itself looks and feels like it’s been around much longer than its actual six-week-or-so life. Gone is all of Pizza Party’s kitsch, replaced with dark wood and banquettes, old-fashioned sconces and ceiling fans, and a million framed photos and prints on the walls, of both Coniglio’s actual family—his Nana is frequently featured—as well as random NYC sports and entertainment icons. The lawn chairs out front, with handy cup holders, are a nice touch.
Nino Coniglio and Brooklyn’s oldest coal oven at Lucky Charlie (Photo by Scott Lynch)
The real star of the Lucky Charlie show, though, is that enormous oven in the basement, built by German bakers in the late 1800s—just layers and layers of bricks piled on top of each other, trapping so much heat that a modest pile of burning coal can fire up pizzas all night long.
Classic pizza with pepperoni, $36 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
Red pizza with Sicilian anchovies, $28 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
And those pizzas are delicious. Lucky Charlie serves hefty, eight-slice pies, well charred, with a thickness and pliability that allows for easy folding when your crew attacks these beasts. You can order your pies three different ways: “classic,” with gooey fior di latte and a remarkably perky and bright San Marzano tomato sauce; “red,” with just that sauce, plus garlic and pecorino; and “white,” with stracciatella and asiago.
Toppings are up to you. We played it pretty baseline, with pepperoni cups (nice and funky) on a classic pie, and Sicilian anchovy (even funkier) on a red pie, but you can also stack on things like sausage, black olives, mushrooms, and spinach.
Bread service, complete with spreads and dips, $23 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
Coniglio’s “From the Sea” appetizer, $39 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
There are a handful of other good dishes here too, like the terrific bread service that’s basically an overflowing basket of focaccia with lots of fun spreads and dips (the cured tomato and cannellini spread went particularly fast at our table). For something beyond “dough with stuff on top,” get Coniglio’s baked seafood appetizer, a mixed platter that comes with oysters rockefeller, clams casino, shrimp oreganata, and some beautifully burnt octopus.
Sicilian anelletti, $31 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
True carb heads, though, order pasta with their pizza, and Lucky Charlie has a doozy—the traditional Sicillian anelletti, rarely seen in Brooklyn anymore, a ceramic pot filled with ring pasta (the OG SpaghettiOs), beef ragu, eggplant, peas, bechamel, and some bouncy caciocavallo, all covered with lid of bread that you tear apart and use to scoop up the stew at will.
Coniglio likes to party, and he makes it easy for guests to do the same. You can get a beer and shot for under ten bucks, cocktails hover around $15, and most of the wine costs about $50 a bottle. Plus, the place is open late, often until 4:00 a.m., a time when you might catch your host hanging with old friends and singing along to what he calls “the songs of our forgotten youth.”
Lucky Charlie is located at 254 Irving Place, between Bleecker and Menahan Streets, and is currently open on Wednesday through Sunday from 5:00 pm. to 4:00 a.m.
The post Lucky Charlie is Firing Up Some Excellent Pizza in Brooklyn’s Oldest Coal Oven appeared first on BKMAG.
