Remembrance of things Pabst

So we finished work late last Friday and we decided to go out for dinner. We wanted to try something new and decided to walk up Court St instead of down towards our house. You see we normally walk down Court towards 3^rd Place to go home and hit all of the places in that direction. We go to the Wine and Cheese and Casa Rosa and Nine D Thai and the Mexican Joint. That’s one of the reasons we never go to Sam’s because it is out of the way. But we decided to try a place that has been around a long while but we have never tried. ‘Mama Maria’s.”

Now this is the little restaurant that they opened next to Sal’s pizzeria on Court St. Now I ate my first piece of pizza in that shop when it was still Tom’s pizzeria in 1963. I was just a kid and my dad brought me in after I got my first big boy hair cut. Eventually the guy who owns it now bought it in the early 1970’s I think.

I have told you that Carroll Gardens is all about beef’s. You have a beef with the owner of a store and you don’t go in there for the next thirty years or so. That’s sorta what happened with Sam’s even though it wasn’t my beef but my best friends. Well he has a beef with the owner of this joint too. In fact his wife was gonna rent the store across the street that they guy owns until my friend got involved. The landlord is getting ready to do the lease and looks at my friend and goes “Do I know you.” And he goes “Yeah you wouldn’t put any ham in my calzone.” “I remember you….I no a renta to you…you crazy bastard.” His wife was distraught. She asked when did this argument happen. It was relatively recently. 1975. So they lost the space.

Anyway I don’t have a beef with the owners as I wasn’t there at the time. Also I sort of became friends with the owner’s son who is running the joint now. We were allied in fighting the Merchants Association when they tried to do a “Business Improvement District.” He was there with a bunch of the Italians from Carroll Gardens who were screaming along with a bunch of Arabs from Cobble Hill that owned all the stuff up there. They were wailing and carrying on. I just waited patiently. When the City’s representative came to the meeting I started asking questions. You see I had done my homework. Questions like “Are we liable if the BID get’s sued.” “They never got sued.” “Yes they did here is the article from the Times where the Grand Central BID was sued and had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.” I had a bunch of questions like that for which this poor sucker had no answers. All the crazies quieted down and watched while I sorta destroyed the guy. It was in the winter in the Bank with the heat way up and the guy got so uncomfortable that he fainted dead away on the floor. I said “O shit. We are gonna look bad.” I told the pizza store guy “fall on the floor and pretend you having a stroke to even up the odds.”

I didn’t want the yuppie girls who owned boutiques to vote for the BID because we were mean to the douchenozzle from the city.

Anyway after that a bunch of guys asked me to do their taxes including the guys who owned the Pizza store. But I had to decline as I was getting out of the business. But I made a lot of friends like the owners of this joint.

We went in to eat at the small adjoining restaurant called Mama Maria’s that is next to the pizza store. It was terrific. He has a pasta machine from Italy that makes this unbelievable fresh pasta. I had gnocchi in pesto that was off the hook. The wife had tortellini in a veal ragu that was superb. It was one of the best Italian meals I had in a long time. For desert he has a range of homemade gelato that is like heaven. I had the zuppa d’ ingles gelato that was one of the best I have ever had. Who knew that this hidden treasure was just a couple of blocks in the other direction? It is our new go-to place. In fact I think I am taking everyone there tonight after we finish fixing up the store for the filming of “What Not to Wear.”

Tonight they have a steak special.