Baby Luc's
Pizza restaurant · Carroll Gardens ·
Pizza slices, negronis, and beers in a casual atmosphere
Pizza slices, negronis, and beers in a casual atmosphere
"On Friday, July 16th, Mark Iacono and the team behind Lucali opened a slice shop in Carroll Gardens called Baby Luc’s. According to their Instagram account, they began service with a 100-order limit of square slices and pies at 6pm, and, in turn, hour-plus wait times. Baby Luc’s reopened again this week on Tuesday, July 20th at 5pm for a third night of service. Our unsurprising advice? Show up early. We’ve got more details here." - hannah albertine
"As incredible as Lucali is, it’s not the kind of place where you can stay and hang out for a while. That’s the beauty of Baby Luc’s, the new slice shop from Lucali’s Mark Iacono and his team of pizza professionals. This Carroll Gardens spot is open every weekday except Monday from 2pm until whenever they sell out of pizza—which means you can head over on your lunch break to pick up Sicilian-style slices without much of a wait. (Baby Luc’s also opens at noon on weekends, but if that’s when you decide to stop by then, you might wind up standing in line for 30 minutes.) The best thing here is the margherita pie. It has a creamy, dense layer of mozzarella and some sweet tomato sauce on a thick focaccia-style crust that makes a crackling sound with every bite. Pair a slice with one of the housemade bottled negronis, and lounge on the sidewalk patio like the host of a grown-up pizza party. Food Rundown Pepperoni Pie It’s hard not to like baked bread topped with roni cups. So it’s no major surprise that we enjoy this pepperoni pie. The crust is dark, blistered, and chewy, and if you’re lucky enough to get a few basil leaves on top of your slice, you’ll get a nice herbaceous kick. If we could change one thing, we’d ask the chef to add a bit more tomato sauce. Margherita Pie It might not sound like much, but this classic margherita pie is exactly what we imagine when we’re daydreaming about pizza on gloomy afternoons. The mozzarella is salty, the sauce is sweet and acidic, and the basil keeps the whole thing feeling fresh. Ricotta and Broccoli Rabe Pie By doubling up on cheeses, this white pizza successfully balances the bitterness of the broccoli rabe. Each glob of fresh ricotta tastes like a sweet blessing from the gods of dairy. Just be aware that this pie is extremely rich. Negroni Remember what we said about Baby Luc’s feeling like an adult pizza party? That’s mostly because of the $13 batched negronis. These are absolutely delicious, and if we lived nearby, we’d pick them up on a weekly basis." - Nikko Duren
"On a recent night at Baby Luc’s, an accessible Brooklyn slice shop from the team behind the more exclusive Lucali, a staffer noticed I’d been caught cycling in a rainshower and invited me to sit inside — and to bring in my dripping wet road bike. Minutes later I was sipping a mezcal negroni ($13) and filling up on square slices piled with gobs of creamy ricotta and bitter broccoli rabe; of the four slices on offer (margherita, pepperoni, sausage, and broccoli rabe, priced $4–$4.50), the broccoli rabe is the only one I can recommend. The kitchen, however, often sent out denser, underbaked pies: the gas-fired pizzas lack the expected bubbly air pockets, the crust expands in your stomach, and the overall doughiness ranks among the heaviest I’ve sampled outside of Sbarro. The San Marzano tomato blend is only vaguely superior to supermarket sauce, the mozzarella stretches nicely but lacks memorable dairy flavor, and giant basil leaves create a jarring contrast; skip the margherita, and do marginally better with pepperoni or sausage where the meats mask what’s underneath. Still, the white broccoli rabe slice — where straightforward, creamy ricotta meets oven-burnished, sometimes crisp broccoli rabe — can be sublime, and the shop’s hospitality reminded me how vital slice joints are as neighborhood gathering spots and shelters from the elements." - Ryan Sutton
"Opened by Mark Iacano of Lucali, I sampled square slices at this neighborhood slice shop; while not an exact substitute for Lucali’s wood-fired pies, the slices here are considerably easier to get ahold of." - Luke Fortney
"Located at 387 Court Street on the corner of First Place, Baby Luc's is a casual Carroll Gardens slice shop Iacano opened with chef Aminu Tedla and restaurateur Cobi Levy; it draws block-long lines like Lucali but with fewer rules. He launched with four square pizzas—Plain, pepperoni, sausage and pepper, and ricotta with broccoli rabe—priced about $3.50 to $4 each, meant to crisp in a gas oven and inspired by the Sicilian pizzas of baker Adam Leonti. The shop aims for a classic slice-shop feel with tile floors, a few high-top standing tables, and a signed 1974 Sports Illustrated featuring Julius Erving; unlike Lucali it accepts credit cards, secured a liquor license, and offers a short drinks list with pre-batched negroni cocktails (mezcal or gin) and draft beer from Other Half while a wine list is on the way. Opened earlier this month and often selling out after only a couple of hours (doors have been opening at 5 p.m.), the team plans to expand hours (roughly 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.) and add items like chicken parm sandwiches, meatball heroes, and baseball-sized arancini." - Luke Fortney