PrintGrimaldi's on 'Law & Order'
One of last night's reruns of Law & Order on TNT contained a Grimaldi's reference. In the episode "Tabula Rasa," detectives Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) are investigating a suspect who claims he's never been to New York before. After obtaining his credit-card receipts, they find he has visited Grimaldi's—alone, no less.
Lieutenant Van Buren: [reading list of card charges] United Airlines, TKTS, Museum of Modern Art Bookstore, Barneys, Grimaldi's Italian Restaurant.
Briscoe: Grimaldi's in Brooklyn?
Van Buren: You know another one? Charge was for twelve bucks and some change.
Briscoe: [with the wisecrack] You can't feed a family of four mice on that.
Van Buren: So he was by himself.
Curtis: Guy's never been to New York before and he manages to find the best pizza in the five boroughs?
Van Buren: Right. Check it out.
The scene then cuts to Grimaldi's, where Briscoe and Curtis grill someone at the pizzeria. (It's not Patsy, that's for sure. He might be the guy who bought the place from Mr. Grimaldi, but I don't know what he looks like.)
The guy is of marginal help to the detectives, and they leave the store—each munching on a slice.
Briscoe: So fifteen, twenty years ago, Mr. Fallon hung out at Grimaldi's.
Curtis: The guy was at UCLA. Long way to come even for a pie from Grimaldi's.
Ha. Always with the wisecracks, those L&O guys.
Thing is, Grimaldi's doesn't sell slices. Whole pies only. So either Curtis and Briscoe ate most of their pizza inside and then finished their last slice on the street, or the owner made an exception for New York's finest and gave them each a slice to go, or, oh yeah, it's TV.
Another thing: They actually used the real name of the pizzeria, as opposed to a name just barely changed from the original, à la "Hudson University" or, in this episode, "New York City University." Columbia and NYU must not want to be associated with dead vics and shady perps, whereas Grimaldi's was most likely pleased with the plug they got.
Regardless of Curtis's assessment, we don't think Grimaldi's is the best in the five boroughs. (That would be http://slice.seriouseats.com/tags/Di Fara">Di Fara.) Grimaldi's is good, but it's too inconsistent and often lacks the crisp crust that a coal-fired oven should impart on the pies baked within it.
Grimaldi's
Address: 19 Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn. (Under the Brooklyn Bridge)
Phone: 718-858-4300
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-10:45 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m.-11:45 p.m.; Saturday Noon-11:45p.m.
Payment: Cash only
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14 Comments:
Speaking of Law & Order, I just saw Richard Belzer in the lobby of my office building. Tall. Thinner than he looks on TV. And better posture than you think he'd have from watching him as Det. Munch on SVU.
Slice hatchback at 12:46AM on 12/10/03
Augh! This is amazing!
Slice Jen at 3:27PM on 12/12/03
Ha. Thanks, Jen. That's what happens when you get the Time Warner DVR and set it to record every instance of L&O.
Slice hatchback at 3:54PM on 12/12/03
working in DUMBO, we order a lot of grimaldi's at the office. it's good, but you're spot on about the consistency and the crust. i'm up for difara when you are... you've got my celly.
Slice janelle at 3:54PM on 12/12/03
Also note that they saw the name on a credit card receipt - yet grimaldi's only takes cash.
Slice david at 6:57PM on 12/12/03
Holy moly! Nice catch, David! I even have "cash only" at the end of this entry. Still, these little slip-ups on L&O's part won't keep me from watching.
Slice hatchback at 7:08PM on 12/12/03
Don't get it about Grimaldi's.. I live nearby and end up eating there more often than I want to. It's seems to me to be consistenly lousy. At the moment I like li'l Frankies (haven't been to Franks) for much better pies. Where did Grimaldi's get so much undeserved buzz?
Must try this difara you speak of.
of course no one will read this since I am commenting on something that is far far too old :)
Slice aron at 12:52PM on 12/15/03
I agree with you, Aron, about Grimaldi's. Though I have had some great pies there. When they're on, they're on. But more often than not, I've gotten underdone pies with soggy crusts. Bleh. By all means, and I can't stress this enough: Try DiFara. You won't be disappointed.
Slice hatchback at 1:28PM on 12/15/03
ok, I'll check out DiFara if you tell me what you think of Lil' Franikie's. Good or bad :) My fave is the prosciutto and arugula (can I spell?) pie. I am a sucker for anything with proscuitto on it though... to be completely honest :)
Slice aron at 1:11AM on 12/17/03
Grimaldi's is the best of the best like we say here in Florida "There is no better place to dine".
Joe G.
************
Slice Joe Grimaldi at 10:54PM on 02/28/04
Just found your site as I was searching for information on Di Fara's. Your catch of the Grimaldi's comment was nice but I think you missed the something bigger. I believe the suspect is played by Frank Pellegrino, part time actor and fulltime owner/ proprietor of Rao's in Harlem. One of the best Italian restaurants in the city! He currently plays the head of the FBI unit on the Soprano's.
Slice Steve Zeitman at 10:59PM on 04/10/04
Grimaldi's used to be my favorite, and now I can't even say top five; they always had a hard time wih drippy center and being pleasant. If you are going to give up completely because you have a line of tourist by 4 PM, at least try and be unique somewhere...
Slice Skank at 6:59PM on 05/03/06
Does Grimaldi's take credit cards?
Slice Anonymous at 5:46AM on 10/07/06
Grimaldi's is notorious for their cash only policy, so funny how the perp was tracked down by his credit card trai there. I guess the writers of L&O went to UCLA. And not New York City University.
Slice mom101 at 6:38PM on 12/05/06