Something old, something new.
Lucky Charlie is one of Brooklyn’s buzziest recent pizzeria openings — with an ancient secret to its sudden success.
Abandoned, boarded up behind drywall in the basement for years and only recently rediscovered, the Bushwick restaurant’s massive coal oven dates all the way back to 1890 — even before near-ancient pizzerias like Lombardi’s, John’s of Bleecker and Grimaldi’s made their debuts.
Today, it’s firing up some of NYC’s best pies — and the neighborhood can’t get enough.
The sprawling, 18-foot by 15-foot space of sizzling real estate boasts 63 heat zones and can churn out the zestiest ‘za in just five minutes.
“[That’s] something you couldn’t do with any other oven,” Nino Coniglio, a co-owner of Lucky Charlie, told The Post. “It just gives [the pizza] this kind of char — kind of like all the best of everything put together.”
Dating back to the 19th century, when the building was a busy bakery for the immigrant neighborhood, the rare gem was essentially lost to history — that is, until the building’s landlord, Charlie Verde, made the surprising discovery in 2002 while having some work done on the property.
Once Verde found his hidden treasure, plans of selling the building went out the window.
Even though his expertise was in construction, not cooking, he knew he had to save the aging underground artifact and get it back into use — even as local laws surrounding the use of the increasingly rare heat sources have become notoriously tough.
Primarily used back in their heyday because burning coal was cheaper than wood, the outdated ovens went into decline nearly 100 years ago. First, gas became the norm in the 1930s — then came the stainless steel oven — and the rest was modern history.
According to pizza expert Scott Wiener, at that point coal ovens could no longer compete — and the city went nearly 30 years, from the late 1950s all the way until 1990, without a new coal-fired pizzeria.
“Most business owners don’t want to deal with the confusing regulations of the Department of Buildings and the fire commissioner,” according to Wiener, writing for Pizza Today. “They can make much more money by ripping out the old structures and enhancing their buildings’ living spaces.”
Once a coal-fired pizzeria shut up shop, he said, the oven’s fate was typically sealed.
Not this time.
“Bringing back a little bit of that flavor is a cool thing,” said Coniglio, who previously apprenticed with the legendary, late Dom DeMarco of NYC’s award-winning Di Fara Pizza.
And he’s bringing it back after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a controversial climate-change law targeting coal, oil and gas producers, and NYC approved a green edict that orders businesses like Coniglio’s to reduce coal emissions by 75%.
A one-time “Chopped” champ, Coniglio initially got involved with another restaurant project Verde had in mind for the space — which has now evolved to become Lucky Charlie.
These days, the proud pizzaiolo is putting blast-from-the-past, coal-fired goodness in front of a new generation of New Yorkers — from an extremely well-aged oven.
The menu at Lucky Charlie’s is fittingly classic — simple, but with top-tier ingredients. A $32 classic pizza, a cornerstone of the tightly-curated menu, is made with pie with fiori di latte, DOP San Marzano tomatoes, Sicilian oregano, and imported Italian sheep’s milk pecorino — with finishing flourishes of Sicilian extra virgin olive oil and grated parmigiano reggiano.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Congilio said of his chance to work magic with the antique oven.
“Everybody who’s tried [the pizza] has been like losing their minds in a way that I’ve never seen in my career.”
Read the full article here
