Dumbo NYC

Notes from the DUMBO, Brooklyn NY neighborhood


April Dumbo Food Tidbits

April 1st, 2009

Ignazio's Pizza

  • Ignazio’s Pizza (IgnaziosPizza.com) – Ignazio’s is officially open today, and early reports from emailers give it a thumbs up on the pizza. Steven posted his review on nubloom and says, “The pizza was absolutely awesome. Thicker crust than Grimaldi’s but just slightly, giving a great crunch that I look for in pizza. The slices are not sloppy or overly loaded with sauce or cheese.” There will be delivery service starting mid-April to Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, and Vinegar Hill. Their menu items include baked anchovies, meatballs, and a regional Italian cheese plate for appetizers and salads. They also have an apple and ricotta ‘pizza’ dessert that has baked apples, chilled ricotta, honey and mint on a pizza and gelato from Il Laboratorio del Gelato.
  • Cafe Baco – This space formerly occupied by Baco Living at 71 Jay Street has soft launched this week as Cafe Baco. The space has been redesigned and reconfigured for a cafe, restaurant, entertainment, and vintage shop. Currently, they offer coffee and smoothies, but will offer a full lunch and dinner menu in the next week or so. Their plans for the restaurant include Mediterranean cuisine, with late night bar with live entertainment and DJ nights (the DJ booth sits above the kitchen.) Further information to come.
  • Choice Market Dumbo – As posted last July, Choice Market will open on the corner of York and Jay Street. Originally slated to open in April/May, but they’ve updated interior design elements to the location, which pushes back the opening to late June.
  • Hecho en Dumbo (hechoendumbo.com) – Not exactly new news, but for those familiar with Hecho, Sunday nights are Sunday Night Serenata, which is a perfect way to wind down after the weekend in a cozy and romantic night with acoustic performances by candlelight, while you enjoy the traditional Mexican cuisine, considered by many one of the most authentic Mexican food in the city.
Filed in Dumbo Food at 2:59 pm
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  • Crusty
    Firstly who over the age of 14 eats pizza for dinner?

    Before they officially opened, the minute I saw the piano in the corner (which screamed to me "lame jazz") and the aluminum pizza platters everywhere collecting dust, I nearly puked. I love Pizza, I eat it maybe twice a year - and when I do, I make it myself. I have no interest in eating there.

    It's basically a really bad restaurant with really beautiful views of a really great restaurant (River Cafe).

    Having said that, they will probably go under within the year. The same goes for Baco. What is it? It's a completely wrong business "formula", as someone else put it (uhh... what happened to the tile samples?). Maybe Pedro's food is crap, but at least Pedro's has customers. It's nice to see normal locals doing something that you see in normal neighborhoods - enjoying some fresh air with a beer and a snack in pleasant harmony.
  • Coffee Addict
    I mean Baco is one of the nicest establishments DUMBO Area has, Did you see that guy making yummy drinks? ive been there numerous times and the drinks just got better and better each time. For some reason the barman who has been there every morning for the past few weeks, Joseph? or something? was not there today, and my drink was disgusting. Okay i know they just opened but they need to get one way of making a drink and stick with it and thats it, i get "motito" everyday before work and today was so sweet i threw it away after 1/2 way drinking it. usually the drink is refreshing full of mint flavor and theres just something in it that i dont know what it is maybe orange juice? but its good and today it was bitter sweet its like the drink didnt know what to taste like. The food on the other hand is great the stuffed grape leaves are disgusting but the rest are great. you can tell though most things are pre cooked or canned because of the quality in it. Like the grape leaves are like rice pudding over cous cous. I'm at work right now and i just hope that Joseph guy who make my coffee every day after work is there now or the owners wife Miritica? her coffee is the only one that competes against his. he makes me a flower with heart he is so sweet. I could not believe it when i went and the owner told me his bartender was 19. They have a very bright future ahead of them with that team they put together. The new girl Gaby is THE BEST.
  • Bob
    It is REALLY annoying when owners allow their kids to run wild in their businesses. Definitely influences me not to return.
  • Steve
    Who wants to eat there when the owners kids afre running all over the place asking for ice cream.
    Weird vibe
  • Truthful
    About Baco Cafe...are you aware of how many health violations they break? Those sample cups I have seen them give out they barely wash behind the counter. They guy didn't even use soap! That disgusted me! They also allowed a woman to have a dog sit at the bar while she ate her food. I love dogs but they don't belong inside the restaurant.

    I also found Motti extremely annoying with how he tried to persuade us into ordering so much food and kind of giving us an attitude when we decided not to order those 7 dollar "Moteatos" that are filled with sugar (I've seen them make it, when they say its organic and no sugar just watch them dump all the bleached domino sugar in it)

    To be honest I love all the restaurants in the DUMBO area but this one seems like they haven't a clue as to what they or doing and seem more concerned about the high priced drinks then customer service.

    However, I was later served by this lovely short girl with glasses who seemed to be very overworked but very professional and friendly.
  • nick gerz
    white people love overpriced mint ice tea.
  • That's Ice Tea?
    The reason they charge so much is there are people stupid enough in the area to pay it. Just like the bagel store on front street with their ripoff prices. Why sell flavored coffee at a higher price than Peas and Pickle? Why pay outrages prices for a baker's dozen when Montague St will give better bagels and 15 of them at less of a price? Why pay $7.00 for mint tea when starbux has it cheaper? Why? because there are suckers born every minute, and many of them have moved to the area, that's why!
  • Ice Tea
    Regarding CAFE BACO, 71 JAY; the service was great, the place looks nice BUT a mint iced tea to go was $7.00! And of course – it wasn't that good. For that price, shouldn't there be some sort of alcohol in it.
    I’ve had better mint iced tea at Starbux... ok don’t want to talk about Starbux. The Flying Saucer on Atlantic Ave has way better mint iced tea and it's oh, $3.00.
    Sure, the service was prompt and pleasant; the young lady blended the tea with ice, but mint on top, sugar, made it look nice and neat...but NEVER again. I know this is a lot over iced tea - but really. Should have left it on the bar and walked away - with my $7.00!
  • page6
    Agreed. I tried real hard to like this place. went back twice. Unfortunately, they're doing about everything wrong. The staff is rude, it's too hot inside, the pizza is soggy, they are always out of something - ingredients, plates, silverware. If they wanted a place that sucks, and none of the locals go to, but the tourists go there by default, then I think they have a hit. Oh yeah, the owner and his daughters are f@*king nuts.
  • jasonm
    we tried it. we hated it. nothing else can be said that hasn't been said already. i guess there is always someone who thinks something crappy is good, to them. that's the only way i could explain it why anyone would go back.
  • SAHM
    We tried Ignazio's last night and I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised. Pizza was great, service was excellent. Even the music was quite nice. My husband and I both preferred it to Grimaldi's actually. We had the white pizza with lots of meat toppings.... crust was yummy, meat and cheese very fresh and of good quality. And you really can't beat the view. I've lived in Dumbo for a couple of years and I still got a thrill dining right under the bridge. I wasn't that keen on trying it after reading some of the comments here, but my husband insisted we go and I am so glad we did! I definitely encourage people to try it for themselves!
  • That's a Pizza?
    Marty, If you want real style New York Pizza, go to neighborhoods in Brooklyn like Williamsburg, Bensonhurst, and Middle Village, Queens. The mom and pop establishments have pizza that will make you faint on how good it is. This Eurotrash Yuppie crap isn't Pizza, it is bread with cheese. Even Fascati in the Heights and Front street pizza is good if you don't want to travel.
  • Marty
    If this is real NY Pizza than I am baffled as to what the decades of bragging has been about. NY vs Chicago, thin crust vs deep dish. Would a genuine New Yorker please comment once and for all. Otherwise, Ignazio's gets a huge thumbs down from this taste tester and Jesse receives a marvelous thumbs up for the yelp.com review. Jesse has hit every nail, squarely on the head. Bravo and thanks.
  • teresa
    Ignazio's looks more like a goomba funeral parlor than a pizzeria. But, after reading all the positive and negative comments, my curiosity got the best of me. I must say I was terribly excited and have only two words for the taste of the pizza and genre of the neighborhood's newest digs. NEVER AGAIN! I must also agree about the Health Department-beard comment. What the *&^@# is going on with that? The guy looks absolutely crazy and it lacks the cool factor. Blatantly unauthentic. Ignazio's is to pizza as the Olive Garden is to Italian food. Let's hope it takes less time to close than it did to open.
  • loose stool beard's lice
    Bravo Kate....you make a valid point. People are way too sensitive. This isn't grade school, this is raw, human opinion. If the owners of this blog want censorship, they can easily format this blog for membership only. Free speech is about offending. Many people don't get this. While they don't want their own opinions censored, they are more than happy to censor those they don't agree with in the name of 'civility'.

    If we began censoring reviews of restaurants, the World would have never learned of the rats who run KFC in the city ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGMEnP4iQh0 ). Perhaps those who are too sensitive for free speech would find a better home in a theocracy.

    As for the pizzeria, honestly, what does the dept of Health have to say? How can a person get a food permit without regard to his beard. Aren't hair nets required for long hair? If so, what about beards? If I found a hair in my Pizza, I would demand my money back, after throwing up, of course. But then again, I prefer a regular NYC slice of Pizza, like what you find on Front St.
  • kate
    You know, if something new sucks, and there's a blog about it - people are gonna post their opinions. What kind of world is it where we have to censor ourselves over a restaurant that we've tried that's horrid and with a miserable owner to boot. if you don't want honest feedback, then don't have a blog asking for peoples opinion.
  • loose stool beard's lice
    Freedom of speech is not about speech you like, it is about protecting speech you don't like.

    Face it, the internet is trash. Most people here probably say hello to one another in the street, completely clueless about their online persona.

    In other words, lighten up.
  • heavy flo
    Many commercial enterprises have come and go in the last ten years in the DUMBO/FFL area; wrong formula or insufficient traffic, I guess. FFL has two sites where bar/restaurants have repeatedly failed and that is one reason Ignazios's is under the glass - can an independent operator survive?

    Does anyone know how many/what percentage of the remaining shops and restaurants, like Peas and Pickle, are operating without a rent subsidy from the developers? Or how long such subsidies last?
  • nick gerz
    I myself am a dumbo gentrifier. To those pining for the old days, its either us or crackheads. pick your poison.
  • heavy flo
    I think that those who lived here 20 years ago will always miss the area's weekend desolation, the industrial/artist community, and my favorite - the rotting pier which is now the Main Street park. Isn't it odd that the rats never left the pier - they now have their own park! Not unlike the rest of us. We all knew then, that like SOHO, DUMBO was doomed to a similar fate. At least we don't have the shoe stores (yet). What did you expect? And most new residents love it. I'm staying. I even go to Starbucks.
  • anon
    Minty,
    Off topic: Most of my friends and neighbors in dumbo read this site at least once a week. All of them use it for the information being presented and find it very useful. As well, most of them do not post because of the garbarge that rolls out from the three or four posters who annoy everyone. I'm guessing here but I think its a safe bet to say that most people in dumbo love the neighborhood and are supportive of new ideas and business etc.. . I think that if dumbonyc were to curb some of the behavior here we'd all breath a sigh of relief. The negative comments are constant, not in any way amusing or creative, and for the most part meant to incite. They come consistantly from the same sources. On the other hand, some debates get heated and can get testy but if they are on topic and come from a genuine opinion they are great.

    On topic: I haven't tried Ignazio's but I will and I hope its good and I hope they do well. Same for the new design shop and the new cafe by Pedro's.
  • sorry my last comment is off-topic. Maybe I'll create a separate post if people want.
  • Hi Minty et al., Thank you all for your comments. I've met in person some really great neighbors and some who don't want to be bothered. It happens in a metro city and in a diverse neighborhood such as ours, and that's expected. But I don't understand a lot of the negativity in some of the comments here. I agree with some who say that free flowing dialogue is what blogs are all about, but with some of the hateful, useless, or snide comments, I'd consider some more aggressive filtering of comments. No one has time to monitor comments and I'm certainly not a moral police. I don't care about pageviews or stats; just hoping we can share some useful info about the neighborhood.

    I'm open to suggestions.
  • Minty
    I have to admit this blog is the worst. Every time I read it I am expecting to see some positive responses to new things happening in the hood. Honestly, who lives in my area? A bunch of self loathing and jaded locals that have nothing good to add to this blog?
  • loose stool beard's lice
    Hey beard.....


    You cannot possibly know what the neighborhood was like when the fulton ferry stopped running. You would have to be at least 90 years old, although It was a beautiful building.

    http://ephemeralnewyork.files.wordpress.com/200...
  • kate
    No, ehy, its actually really, really gross - the beard is just disgusting and you dont really want to eat anything made by someone with a billy gibbons style beard - not hygienic at all!! I give this restaurant 1 year tops.
  • ehy
    a fat guy in a kilt making pizza? really? i wasn't going to try Ignazio’s but i have to admit that now i'm intrigued.
  • z
    Ignazio's was terrible.

    I was amused at watching a fat guy in a kilt making pizza. They should at least invest in a partition to hide the fact that they pizza is not brick/coal oven.
  • loose stool's beard
    this blog is over run with putzes like loose stool. fulton ferry landing died when the actual ferry (not the taxi-craft) stopped bringing life here. wanna see some useful business here besides that tourist trap Grimaldi's here? look at who owns all these sinking old buildings - these are greedy inbreds (trying to keep the prop in family hands) who ruined "your" neighborhood. talk to those schmucks if you want to know why you will only ever see a tourist trap open here.
  • loose stool
    "Just bring back the Indian buffet spot on Jay". Especially if you like crapping gristle and cartilage for 24 hours! Enjoy!
  • captainamerica
    According to our waitress, their goal was to open a Jazz bar that serves pizza. There was no Jazz on Thursday instead they had Indian musicians. The pizza was boring and not worth a second visit. The sauce was bland, the crust mediocre. This was a total disappointment.
  • Just bring back the Indian buffet spot on Jay, Mike, and you can have all the lame-ass $27 pizzas you want. Have fun.
  • jamilah
    Ignazios opened a couple of days ago. Local guy is right - the food was not good, and expensive - plus the music was really, really cheesy and waaaaayyy too loud, couldn't hear my dinner companions conversation; and the decor is just horrendous!!! Will definitely not go there again. The Yelp reviews are all pretty much on target, too.
  • Mike
    Local Guy... considering your last rave review from the previous Ignazio's thread (see below) before the place even opened, I think I'll ignore any review you give:

    "Just what we need another tourist trap. Place looks like it was thrown together on the cheap which considering it took well over a year to open it is probably a sign of how good or rather crappy the place will be and how concerned they are, or not, with building a regular clientele. Clearly aimed at trying to steal some folks off the line at Grimaldi’s. Let’s hope the owner is not cooking the Pizza with that nasty long beard."

    Local Guy
  • Local Guy
    Tried Ignazio's last night. Wouldn't go again. Pizza was nothing to write home about and the place is way too expensive. Also hated the decor and atmosphere. Service was slow. Definitely a place to fleece unsuspecting tourists.
  • fafafooey
    wake up people. although tourists may be irritating, the day they stop coming, our neighborhood no longer becomes desirable, watch our property values drop.
  • Mike
    I'm sorry guys but do you realize where you live? You live on Fulton Ferry landing... it's a tourist zone. That's like buying a condo in Times Square and complaining about the lights. Did you expect a grocery store to buy milk in the Ignazio space? And even if a quaint little bistro were to open up on Fulton landing, would you expect the owner to post a "LOCALS ONLY" sign in the window? Obviously that couldn't be the case, so your next complaint would be that your beloved local eatery is being over run by tourists.

    Meanwhile in dumbo, that new little quaint cafe on Jay st opened up and I hardly see locals lining up to support the new business. Let alone chiming in on this blog to mention how grateful they are to have a nice addition to the nabe.

    So in fact, it seems to be the tourists that are keeping many of these businesses alive. If it were up to the locals, we'd have empty storefronts.
  • Jesse
    Mike, you're right, my review WAS pretty biased. I tend to become biased when I drop a lot of money on bad food at some place that the NYC food media are falling all over themselves to call part of this "NYC Pizza Renaissance" or whatever they're calling it. I also become biased when storefronts in my neighborhood get filled up with tourist-trap businesses while the closest places for locals to buy milk or do laundry are half a mile away.

    So you're right there. But suit yourself. Just don't say nobody warned you when you leave the place with underwhelmed tastebuds, ringing ears, and a significantly lighter wallet.
  • drb
    Mike--have you been to the Fulton Landing area lately? Toro's been dead for some time now.

    I don't think it's wrong for locals to wish for businesses that they feel are geared toward them rather than tourists. I also went to Ignazio's this week and found that while the staff were incredibly nice and concerned that we were enjoying our meal, everything else was disappointing, and much too expensive. A large pizza with 3 toppings was $27, not to mention completely bland (even with so many toppings).
  • Mike
    Jesse, your Yelp review sounds extremely biased and mal-motivated. Not sure what your deal is or why you want this business to fail so badly, but I think I'll take my chances and actually try the place out for myself. I hope others do too.

    Dreidel... I guess it's the locals that are keeping Grimaldi's, Toro, and Brooklyn Ice Cream factory alive right? I guess they should all be shut down or banished to times square. Ridiculous...
  • I'm wich u, Jesse. Ig's smells like a tourist trap clip joint to me.
  • Anon
    We had dinner there tonight. Not bad, not mind blowing but not bad. I'd go back. The staff is trying really hard, the timing of things was a bit off, but that doesn't suprise me given it is their 2nd night. Great gelato.
  • kenton
    And we hear that the owner is really ghastly to his neighbors, too. That's bad business.
  • Tim
    Jesse:

    By any chance is your last name Grimaldi?
  • Jesse
    No! Ignazio's is bad. And not just kind of bad, really bad, for reasons that opening-night foibles don't mitigate. The problems with food, decor, and ambiance are deep and pervasive. Extremely disappointing. See my Yelp review for the gory details:

    http://www.yelp.com/biz/ignazios-brooklyn#hrid:...
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