Five Borough Challenge - Stop #5: Fornino in Brooklyn

Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, is known for its legendary steakhouse, its large Hasidic Jewish population and most recently, for having the world's highest number of hipsters per square foot.

How do you afford your rock n' roll lifestyle?

Since October 2004, Billyburg has also been known as a destination for some mighty fine pizza.  Fornino owner and chef Michael Ayoub is obsessive about his pies.  He is able to control his ingredients personally by growing fresh herbs and tomatoes in a nearby greenhouse.  In addition, Mr. Ayoub makes his own mozzarella each and every morning.

When his painstaking efforts to source perfect ingredients ends, the pizza making begins.  Fornino employs a gas-assisted wood burning oven to heat its pies and give them the slightly earthy flavor that only wood can bring.  

Fornino has three sections of its menu, Naples - First Generation, Italy - Second Generation, and Fornino - Third Generation.  

The first section's pizzas consist of the most basic ingredients: crust, cheese, tomato sauce and herbs.  The second brings classic Italian iterations including Quattro Stagoni, Quattro Formagi and Calabrese.  Finally, the Fornino section showcases pies of Ayoub's creation with toppings ranging from broccoli rabe to rock shrimp to mixed wild mushrooms to fingerling potatoes.

For a report on the taste of the classic pie, here's an excerpt from Sliceny.com's review (a website that we basically owe our entire pizza tour to):

"Rare are the pizzas that have no flaws, but this may be one of them. The light buffalo mozzarella on our Margherita was dreamy, and the standard mozzarella wasn’t far behind. The sauce was bright and tasty with a perfect balance: not too spicy, not too tangy. Even the crust, the most difficult part to master, was superb: very thin, with no sag. The gas-assisted wood-fired oven produced a surprisingly respectable char on the crust, cooked evenly across both pies we ordered."

The Fornino Margherita

That's a pretty strong rave from a group of reviewers who really know their stuff.

And so you have it.  

The five destinations for the Five Borough Challenge.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know by posting in the comments so that we can know to expect you at the Staten Island Ferry this Sunday morning.

Oh, and pray for good weather...