Alright, based upon the new info from Kelly and John, we need to rethink Friday a bit.
Unless we can work around JohnC's schedule, half of us will be in my car and half will be taking mass transit, so that nixes starting off in Staten Island.
I've been thinking about this quite a bit, and, while tasting lots of pizza from lots of places IS important, one of my favorite segments of all these tours has been the discussion we had at Sycamore. The beauty of Sycamore was the ample seating and quiet atmosphere (and the adult beverages didn't hurt
). I've talked about this a little bit before, but I'd really like to find places that are conducive to discussion. That's what appealed to me most about Staten Island. Staten Island gives us a few legendary pizzerias, that, during that time of the day, shouldn't be too crowded or noisy. If the weather is half decent, we might be able to eat outside at L&B, so that could be discussion friendly. I'm also hoping that, as we push later into the night (in Manhattan or anywhere else we end up), things might quiet down- maybe. Between around 4 and 10, though... I don't know.
If anyone who's been to these places and could chime in with which one(s) they feel would be most discussion friendly on a Friday night, I'd appreciate it. Even if it's out of the way, I still think it's worth considering.
On another note, I was looking over Franny's website and noticed this:
Franny's cannot accommodate parties larger than 6 and does not take reservations. We are a first come, first serve restaurant and parties are seated when completed.
This does not bode too terribly well. Maybe we can try to play the VIP card and see if they'll bend the rules for us, but, that's probably a long shot.
And, of course we're going to Paulie's
When I drew up the previous plan, the logistics only worked out to hit two Brooklyn sit down places, and, based on feedback, Franny's and Barboncino had the two top spots, but I've always had Paulies in the back of my mind as a third option. I would still really like to head into Manhattan later in the night, so that means that we either go to Paulies after Franny's (8:30 or 9:00) or, if Franny's tells us to go suck an egg, then we go to Paulie's at 7:00 (if he can take us).
Paulie, I know these times all pretty much suck for you, with the later slot being especially difficult, but Barboncino opens at 5:00, so it only makes sense that we go there first, and I'd catch hell if I didn't at least try to score everyone a taste of Franny's clam pie (double entendre not intended
), so that leaves us with a pretty small window.
What do you say, Paulie? Ten people at 7:00 or 9:00 on a Friday night? And, no, I'm not smoking crack
