Aaron Landry

Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella and Basil Pizza at Franny’s, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

I’ve been meaning to catch up with my cousin Bridget and her husband Travis while I’m in New York so I invited them to the Cupcakes Take the Cake Picnic in Central Park last weekend. Unfortunately due to my lack of water and hiking a few too many miles through Manhattan on a hot and steamy day, I became ill from heat exhaustion and wasn’t very fun. Right after they arrived, I left in a taxi to cool off and get better. Sorry.

Anyway, I made up for it today by taking them out to Franny’s which is just north of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Franny’s pride themselves on their environmentally conscious business and they generally source locally grown and organic ingredients.

We were seated in the back patio where you are teased by their wood fire oven on the way through. I was told that their pizzas were small but in my opinion, they are not. They are served Neapolitan style and uncut but they’re larger than most of this style that I’ve had. I ordered their tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil pizza, which is their take on the Margherita. Bridget and Travis ordered a couple other pizzas and the first thing I noticed, other than the size was how difficult the crust was to cut! I had a fun time trying to use my knife without shaking the table and Bridget joked about how she felt if she slipped the wrong way the pizza would fly off the plate. It wouldn’t be hard being the plates were smaller than the pizza itself. None of this got in the way with enjoying the very fresh cheese, mildly sweet sauce and basil. The crust, on the edges was chewy and even just smelling the pizza was satisfying. Heck, just looking at it was satisfying. Very balanced overall and a pizza I’d strongly recommend.

It’s a good and very tasty take on Neapolitan style and just as important, it’s supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. I wish there were a lot more places that ran like this around here (such as Habana Outpost which I visited later in the day).

We took our time eating and chatting and by the end, this pizza eater couldn’t even finish it. Bridget and Travis were able to take a half pizza home too. Go, and bring an appetite.

Franny’s
295 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-230-0221