Carol Grimaldi, co-founder of Brooklyn's famed Grimaldi's Pizzeria, has died from cancer at the age of 75.
Grimaldi's, easily identifiable by the long lines that consistently wrap down the block from its Front Street home, was opened in 1990 by Grimaldi and her husband, Patsy. It boasted the city's first coal-fired oven to operate in more than 50 years, and has served everyone from guide book-clutching tourists to the Obama family. (Michelle Obama sparked controversy in 2010 when she declared Grimaldi's "better than Chicago pizza." A correction was later issued, but the truth was already decreed.)
The Grimaldis sold the restaurant in 1999, but returned in 2012 to open Juliana's—named for Patsy's late mother and situated directly next door to their own eponymous former eatery. In a highly fraught office-wide debate held in September, Gothamist declared Juliana's the superior pizzeria. If you choose to honor Carol Grimaldi today, remember to defy your instincts and patronize Juliana's, not the couple's now-competitors.
The restaurant sent out a press release alerting fans to Carol's passing, calling her a "fixture near and dear to the many neighbors, frequent customers and vendors of Grimaldi's" and a "driving force behind the creation of Juliana's."
