Friday, February 15, 2008

Bada-bing...from a can?

Let me preface this blog entry by saying that the best pizza I've ever eaten, is usually the one I'm eating at the time I'm being asked, "what is the best pizza you've ever eaten."

I've walked the streets of NYC while chowing down on a locally bought folded quarter-slice wedge of cheese.

I've loosened my belt a notch after snarfing an entire deep dish masterpiece at Pizzeria Uno's in Chicago.

I've had crust so thin and crispy, a Ritz cracker would have felt overweight and dough so puffy and light that the air escaping from the crust as I bit into it sighed with pleasure.

I served pizza at my wedding, and eat pizza with my Wife for every nuptial anniversary in whatever state we happen to be in.

I'm not a pizza expert. Like any red-blooded American, I just appreciate a slice of the good stuff.

So imagine my reserved joy when I heard the radio ads for a joint in the city called Falcone's.

Encouraging signs that built my hopes up...
  • Online reviews were generally positive...# 9 on about.com guys list.
  • A craigslist posting by the restaurant is looking for experience pizza throwers, not just generic pizza cooks.
  • Radio ad pitchman claimed to be the owner and even though he sounded a little too authentic New York Italian to be an actor and may have been pouring on the accent to get his point across, I gave him points for pitching his own joint to the masses...with attitude.
  • Even liked his cojones when dealing with the Edmond Planning Commission and City Council that tried to stifle his authentic use of his ancestral flags colors when detailing the exterior of his restaurant.
  • Finally, I heard the owner state in a local radio interview that he "...can't actually make New York style pizza crust here or anywhere's but New York, since he'd need New York water to do it."
  • It's true, look it up.

    I was starting to get hungry and readying a plan to take my family on a little trip to New York City via Bricktown OKC.

    But then there were these...
    Warning signs not to get my hopes up...
  • No website. What is up with that? Every business should have a website, period.
  • Use of the slang phrase "bada-bing" in their marketing strategy.
  • The take-out menu seemed to go out of its way to display more attitude than substance and did it's best to capitalize on the popularity of a certain HBO Italian crime family series that recently finished it's run. Okay, the Top 10 reasons to get Whacked kinda cracked me up.


  • I finally did get to sample the famous Falcone's pizza pie a few weeks back and I only have one question.

    Do canned mushrooms (like pineapple and canadian bacon) have any place on an authentic pizza made and sold by a second generation Italian American, born and raised in New York who still makes his meatballs by hand?

    Other than that, the pie was most definitely, "the best pizza I've ever eaten."

    Hey, you asked.

    4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    One question. Do you always get the pesto, anchovy, some-kind-of-ground-meat pizza everywhere you go? Or was that just your usual at the place we always went for lunch?

    OKDad said...

    Oh man, you just made me hungry for Dominico's...and their killer garlic/butter/olive oil 'shrooms and obscenely large red plastic drink cups...but not on Monday.

    Were that I were going o' solo mio, my favorite pizza is a pesto sauced (or very light on the marinara) anchovy, garlic and onion pie.

    But when family is around, I tame my wild beast and usually opt for a deluxe veggie pizza.

    Next time I'm in town, forget the compost heap, Korean 1/2 price sushi joint and kabab place with the green awning...we're going to Dominico's!

    Mark Bledsoe said...

    Next time your in the City, go to Sophabella's on North May, around Grand. Chicago style, deep dish. Very much like Geno's East.
    Nomads II on North May is also pretty good, we like the Fleetwood. Also, Hideaway's is good.

    Anonymous said...

    too bad the guy doesn't pay his staff jack shit. six dollars an hour for experienced pizza makers. so they'd have to work about four hours to afford the stuff they make all day