Grandma's Baseball

Visited Grandma's Original Pizza today.

They're crazy baseball fans there. There's a tv across from the marble pizza counter, and if there is a ballgame being aired, it is on that tv. And being commented on, with passion and with knowledge, by the pizzeria's Italian and Mexican crew.

Had a regular slice and a " grandma's" square slice. They were impeccable. At a little pizzeria that always bats 1.000.

Bay Ridge Pizza Hall of Fame

New York has the best pizza in America and Brooklyn has some of the best pizza in New York. And some of the best pizza in Brooklyn is in Bay Ridge.

Here, as a result of extensive testing over decades, is a list of my top five pizzerias in Bay Ridge:

1. Grandma's Original Pizza, 6918 Third Avenue, 718-833-4646. Everything here is of championship caliber, but my favorites are a) Grandmama's Pizza, a crispy thin crust square, with mozzarella, marinara sauce, fresh basil, olive oil, topped off with sharp romano cheese, and b) margherita pizza ( similar to grandmama's but a from a large round pie that isn't crisp.) Fabulous.
2. Pizza Wagon, Fifth Avenue, off 86th Street. Great round pie. Good square.
3. Rocco's, 79th Street and Fifth Avenue. Great round pie. Good square.
4. Lento's. Ovington and Third Avenues. Serving very good thin crust pizza on ancient wood tables since the 1930s.
5. Elegante, Fifth Avenue, between 69th and Ovington. Bare-bones, but a good salty slice essentially unchanged since the mid 1960s.

Brooklyn Cyclones' Player Needs Help - Spread the Word

Jon Malo is a 21 year old kid from suburban Montreal who is living his dream playing shortstop for the Brooklyn Cyclones.

But he bears a heavy burden because his Mom is dying of colon cancer and related illnesses. This story broke in a Jon Heyman column in Newsday.

The doctors in Canada completely missed the diagnosis four years ago. Now, an operation that could save her life is not available in Quebec. It is available in the US--but would cost $250,000--money Linda Ferland and her minor leauger son do not have.

That's where you might come in. Jon Malo is raising money, the Cyclones are helping, and so can we. There's a fundraising website up in Quebec, and this is it, translated from the French

This is the place where you can make a donation. Spread the word.

Apple Express Mess

Business must be bad at Apple Express car service. They've been parking their cars overnight on Senator Street and 68th Street over the past weeks. Its illegal for a livery car company to park on the streets overnight, but Apple Express does it anyway. Bad thing is that Apple Express takes parking spots away from a neighborhood with too few of them.

Maybe we will post license plates of these illegally parked cars as a public service. Apple Express, start respecting the neighborhood.

Word has it that Mrs. Zafiroulos has shown some progress. Still in critical condition, but there's some reason to be hopeful.Hang in there.

And Marty, you hang in there too.

State Senator Golden in Auto Accident

State Senator Golden was involved in an auto accidentyesterday on Third Avenue and 84th Street. The victim, Harkli Zafiroulos, 74 is in Lutheran Hospital in critical condition. The article in the NY Post says that she was crossing against the light.

Hope she makes it. Say a prayer, and spare one for Mr. Golden, too.

He's a good man. Have met him several times over the years and have great respect for him.

Alpine Theater

Alpine Theater