* Fornino
image c/o Flickr
CUISINE: Gourmet/Brick Oven Pizza
ADDRESS: 187 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211 (at N. 7th St.)
PHONE: 718.384.6004
HOURS: Sun-Thu, noon-11pm; Fri-Sat, noon-1am
CARDS: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
BOOZE: Beer and Wine Only
ENTREES: $10-$18
MENU: Click Here
SUBWAY: L Train to Bedford
MAP: Click Here
DELIVERY: Yes, Brooklyn-Queens Expwy. to East River, Broadway to McCarren Park
CITY SEARCH SAYS: "Pizza for the next generation: Fantastic Williamsburg pizzeria pays homage to the classics while adding a few twists of its own. The glow from the restaurant's wood-burning oven carries a warm welcome to the unpretentious neighborhood crowd. The narrow front room lined with wooden tables opens into an indoor/outdoor back dining room, overlooking potted herbs that top the pies. Unfortunately, the uninformed service doesn't honor the carefully selected ingredients (organic flour, artisanal cheese and local produce). Though pizza reigns supreme, the starter of clams baked in a tangy broth of capers, lemon, garlic and herbs is a lovely diversion. Generous toppings grace the more than 20 pies, organized by first, second and third generation. Even on the classic, normally spare, margherita, the rich mozzarella nearly overpowers the sweet tomato sauce; yet the richness is addicting. The thin crust, charred black around the edges, adds a smokey dimension, which pulls together the oddball Salsiccia Di Agnello, with lamb sausage, two cheeses and pistachios. Save room for the light tiramisu."
From New York Magazine "Michael Ayoub's newest joint opens with a wood-burning oven and pizza toppings (garlic, arugula) plucked from the chef's own garden and greenhouse."
from tienmao:
Last night was the opening night of Fornino, the new pizza place on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. Dutifully, Adam and I went to try it out and it was excellent. We had three small pies, sampling as much as we could without getting too full. Michael Ayoub, the chef/owner, has three "generations" of pizza on his menu and we sampled piesfrom two - the first and third.Our first pie was a margherita classica, which had tomato, mozzarella, basil and two parmesan cheeses. Next, we had the patate e salciccia, a fennel sausage, potatoes, fontina and cherry tomato concoction. Finally, we had the vongole, which was clams, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic and oregano. All the pies were smalls, which were $8 for the first generation and $10 for the third (the second was also $10). Large pies run $14 and $16.
The consensus favorite was the margherita, which was super light with a perfect crust. Our second pie was rather eh, with the potatoes "not adding anything" and the sausage lacking spice. The clam pizza was very good, but overladen with oregano. In a twist from a more traditional clam pie that you might see in New England, the clams were served on the shell. If there were less oregano, I think this would have been my favorite pie.
As it's first night open, the pizza was very good and it will probably only improve from here out. Fornino's has a greenhouse out back where they want to grow some of their own ingredients. The oven at Fornino is wood burning, which is evident when you walk by it. Fornino has been dubbed a "artisinal pizza" place, which seems to be the trend these days.
For some reason, we decided to get desert after the meal (damn persuasive waitress). While I had the spumoni, Adam had the ice cream cookies, which had pumpkin, mint chocolate chip, and vanilla cookies. Turns out that after desert, we were stuffed anyway.
A great pizza place and Tasti D-Lite on the same block in Williamsburg? There goes the neighborhood.
Comments
I decided to go back again after being disappointed the first time due to the worst service I've ever had in a restaurant. I couldn't get my order through, yet half the staff was playing with a kitten that was all over the table next to me. Pizza was just ok.
Second time, the host couldn't talk at first because she was on the phone with a personal conversation, and the pizza, the spinach pie, was nasty, nevermind overpriced. For traditional pizza try bacci and abracci, or my favorite, acqua santa.
Posted by: jameskain | December 23, 2007 11:26 PM
ALL of NYC is infested with rats! It is not exclusive to Fornino
Posted by: nyc | August 8, 2007 01:12 AM
RATS!!!! Do not sit outside, it's infested with RATS.
Posted by: C | July 2, 2007 04:34 PM
The cool part was when they accidentally gave us a large pie when we ordered a small, the shitty part was when they douched the salad in so much truffle oil it became nearly inedible.
Posted by: maria | April 4, 2007 06:46 PM
Ignore that previous comment. All is well. They held that amount but the charge was what I had thought.
All is good. Oh, and I love their pizza.
Posted by: mihow | October 27, 2006 08:19 PM
I picked up two pizzas from there recently. It ran me 21 bucks and change. Thing is, when I checked my bank statement they charged me 26.06.
I think they added a tip to a bill I didn't agree to. I'm still working it out. But it's a little weird and a little disconcerting.
Not sure I want to throw a fit over 4 bucks but out of principal, I feel like I should.
Posted by: mihow | October 27, 2006 05:12 PM
Pizza is disappointing, service is off some how, as though they're indifferent... Give it a skip in the future.
Brick Oven remains a favorite!
Posted by: CDesign | October 21, 2006 06:44 AM
Delivery is fast, reliable, and very friendly - usually within 20-30 minutes. I still love Brick Oven Gallery, but think Fornino's is the same quality with more variety in toppings and salad options.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 14, 2006 08:07 PM
Yuck. This place isn't even in the same league as Brick Oven. And- no pepperoni at all - or even gourmet version of pepperoni - what kind of pretentious crap is that? They even have it in ITALY now everywhere because virtually all americans like it..... SUPPORT LOCAL! Trek on down to Brick Oven!
Posted by: Tristin | June 29, 2006 11:32 PM
Just remember to bring lots of cash....its overpriced...
Posted by: James | June 20, 2006 10:43 PM
Overpriced for meager toppings. Left feeling very hungry afterwards and my roommate threw out the take out menu because she felt it was a huge rip off, never again I guess. 8 bucks for a wilted salad that barely weighed an ounce.
Posted by: 2B | June 19, 2006 06:14 AM
Dry, overpriced and where the hell is the cheese? I won't pay twenty dollars for a "large" pie at Fornino again.
Posted by: Kevin | June 11, 2006 05:02 AM
Delicious but it feels all wrong somehow. Very oily pizza - although again, it's delicious.
Posted by: JK | June 10, 2006 04:22 AM
Really good pizza, but jaw-droppingly overpriced. We order in every once in a while and nearly die of aneurisms when we see the bill. I mean, for the love of GOD, it's just a pizza...not goddamn ambrosia pouring out of Buddha's ass.
Posted by: Jaile | June 8, 2006 03:55 AM
pretty good pizza. way too expensive, very small portions
Posted by: eater | June 4, 2006 01:27 AM
music is wayyyyyyy too loud, pizza is great!
Posted by: Zilla | May 28, 2006 12:54 AM
great pizza but the music is way, way too loud. we had planned on eating in but the music was so loud and so awful we told them we would have our order to go. thank god they deliver.
Posted by: snc | April 15, 2006 12:45 AM
the truffle spinach pizza is ridiculous. DO IT!
Posted by: behsil | April 8, 2006 10:17 PM
best pizza in wburg, but WORST MUSIC EVER!!!!! take my advice, order delivery. right now they are playing that disco version of beethovens 5th, EXTRA LOUD.
Posted by: miss E | March 26, 2006 12:06 AM
Pizza a WONDERFUL, service need to upgrade, dessert OK, except the Tiramisu: The worst in NYC
Posted by: Robert | February 13, 2006 01:07 AM
While it is nice to finally find a restaurant of any kind that serves decent vegan and non-vegan meals off of the same menu, their pies just don't seem like pizza.
Pizza is a cheap way to feed a large group and it grows from a tradition that prides itself on making great meals from poor materials.
I am a big fan of small portions and fine indgredients but what this place needs is one extra-large, double-meat, double-cheese option to anchor their list.
Posted by: AEG | January 15, 2006 11:59 PM
delicious bourgeois pizza!! but the sangria pitcher is way too pricey for the amount--about 2 large glasses worth :(
Posted by: km | October 11, 2005 05:18 PM
Yummy pizza, but the baby lettuce salad is truly amazing. The cheese and the dressing are so damn good! I only wish they had a few more vegetarian specialty pies.
Posted by: nj | July 28, 2005 08:36 PM
when they first opened, the crust left something to be desired. in the past few months, though, i have had a bunch of really great pizzas. very thin crust (cooked correctly, in my experience), very good sweet-ish sauce (not too much of it though), and excellent topping choices. the spinach is a favorite. anything with guanciale is good too.
Posted by: BHK | July 18, 2005 10:25 PM
I like that they support the local organic farmer and they try to use organic food. But I don't like that they overcook the pizza. Me and my husband's pizzas were over-cooked and tasted bitter over all.....
Posted by: Ann | July 3, 2005 01:40 AM
this pizza is great although sometimes a bit overpriced and dry. but overall, the best pizza i've had in the area. of course it compared to city greats like lombardi's it's nothing. but it's damn good and quick.
Posted by: ed | April 30, 2005 09:55 PM