Totonno’s — arguably the best pizza in the city — will reopen in the same Neptune Avenue location that was badly damaged by a fire on Saturday night, its owner told The Brooklyn Paper.
And her 85-year-old Coney Island institution will be better than ever when it reopens in “about two months,” Louise “Cookie” Ciminieri added.
“After the insurance people look at the damage, then we can go in and start rebuilding,” Ciminieri said. “We’ll keep everything the same as before. The oven will be the same, and the pizza will be the same.”
The oven — ah, the famed coal-burning oven whose 900-degree fire birthed such wondrous pies — was severely damaged by the torrents of water needed to squelch the blaze, which broke out at 8:44 am on Saturday and was declared under control at 10:35.
But Ciminieri said she would replace each brick.
Her customers, of course, are salivating over the possibilities.
“Totonno’s is what makes Brooklyn pizza famous,” said John Giannotta, who wanted to be downing an ethereal fresh mozzarella pie instead of watching some friends repairing a motorcycle across the street. “Everybody knows it and everybody went there. My son is a third-generation customer.
“Thank God, it will be back,” he added.
