I miss New Haven pizza. I spent the majority of the last five years in New Haven, and moved to New York City only a few months ago. As a craving for the Elm City’s famous “apizza” hit me this week, it dawned on me that I hadn’t appreciated it enough when it was stone’s throw away from me at all times.
So when I read that renowned Brooklyn brewery Grimm’s Artisanal Ales recently opened a New Haven-style pizza joint, Lala’s Brooklyn Apizza, on their roof, I immediately made plans to go. My mouth watered at the thought of a fresh pie with a crispy thin crust that doesn’t drown in or buckle under its own sauce, cheese, and toppings. How wonderful would it be to satisfy my craving without having to take a two-hour ride on the Metro North.
Located at 990 Metropolitan Ave., Lala’s Brooklyn Apizza is a short walk from the Graham Avenue L‑train stop in East Williamsburg. On Saturdays, they’re open from 5 – 10 p.m.
After climbing a few flights of stairs to the roof, I arrived with my friend Simon around 5:45. It was already packed; we managed to find seating at one of the many community mess hall-style long tables set up.
The seating arrangement definitely encourages folks to get to know their neighbors, and we had a nice chat with the couple next to us. The rooftop was open on three sides, and we enjoyed a view of the Brooklyn skyline.
If we weren’t already aware that Lala’s was a pizza joint operated by a brewery, the menus would’ve been a dead giveaway. The food menu featured six pizzas, two appetizers, and two desserts printed on a half-sheet of paper. The drink menu, by contrast, was a bifold containing multiple pages worth of beers, sours, wines, ciders, and spirits. After Simon and I deliberated on drinks longer than pizza, I headed to the bar to place our order.
The rooftop bar area was similarly packed, and stylishly decorated. The bartenders, while swarmed with customers, were swift, friendly, and efficient.
I returned from the bar with our first two drinks, and an important question for Simon.
“Hey, how much time do you have?”
“I’m free all night I guess, why?”
“Guess how long the wait for the pizza is.”
“It can’t be more than an hour, right?”
“Higher.”
“Two hours?”
I solemnly nodded my head. According to the bartender, two hours stood between us and the pizza we came here for. I could see why this might be the case; there were at least 75 people there, and from what I could tell, a single beehive oven serving the entire establishment. To put it in perspective, I live in Harlem, so it actually took longer for me to take the train to Brooklyn and wait two hours for pizza at Lala’s than it would’ve taken me to catch the Metro North from 125th Street and grab a pie at Sally’s.
Thankfully, Simon is the best conversationalist I know, and we hadn’t seen each other in nearly two months. We had a lot of catching up to do over our first round of drinks, the “Tesseract” Double IPA ($7 for 8oz.) and the “Miami Pop!” Sour ($10 for can pour).
The “Tesseract” is a beer that Grimm had just released on the day we went (Aug. 12), “brewed with Mosaic, Falconer’s Flight, and Citra hops.” It was refreshingly light for a double IPA, with subtle tropical fruit notes, including guava and passionfruit.
The sweetness of the “Miami Pop!,” on the other hand, was certainly not subtle. The “Florida-fied” sour was a dazzling reddish-pink and brewed with dragonfruit, mango, milk sugar, and vanilla. According to Simon, it’s like “if a Fruity Pebbles milkshake were a beer.” I love sours and have a stronger sweet tooth than most, so I didn’t mind.
As the first hour elapsed, I returned to the bar to order a second round of drinks. This time we got the “Grimm Weisse” hefeweissbier ($8 for can pour) and the “Both Sides Now” sour ($10 for 8oz.). This time around, we also noticed the cute “Grimm” designs on the glasses.
The “Both Sides Now” was a delightfully tangy sour blending raspberry, peach, and apricot, but it had a strong apricot finish that was perhaps too strong for me, lingering longer than I would’ve liked.
On the menu, the “Grimm Weisse” had a medal next to it, signifying that it took home the gold at the 2021 New York State Craft Beer Competition. (It was one of eight awards Grimm Artisanal Ales took home that year, including Brewery of the Year.) We could see why; The smooth, flavorful beer had an appealing combination of clove, lemon, and banana notes, and was our winning drink of the night.
As we continued talking, Simon pointed out that the wait would be easier if we had a heartier selection of appetizers to sate ourselves with. At present, Lala’s offers only two: A “pickle plate” of fermented seasonal vegetable sticks, and a “little gem salad” that is tossed with shallots and watermelon radishes. We ordered neither, and lamented the lack of fried mozzarella or wings to munch on.
Just as the sun was beginning to set on Brooklyn, our patience was rewarded. A server swung by and placed two metal sheet pans in front of us, each containing one of our much-anticipated pizzas.
The first was the “Hot Pepperoni Pie” ($24) with tomato sauce, pepperoni, serrano chilis, honey, and mozzarella ($4 extra).
The second was the “Cozy Pie” ($24) with mashed potatoes, fermented cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and Benton’s Heritage Bacon ($6 extra).
I checked my timer: one hour and forty-five minutes. Fifteen minutes early!
We were so eager to dig in that a slice of the Cozy Pie was already gone before I remembered to snap a photo (whoops!).
I promise I’m not just saying this because we were hungry: these pies are the real deal. From the thin, airy crust that goes from chewy at the center to beautifully coal-charred and crunchy near the edges, to the refined balance of sauce, cheese, and toppings, Lala’s Brooklyn Apizza is on par with my beloved pies from right within the Elm City.
The Hot Pepperoni was my favorite, serving a perfect balance of savory, sweet, and spicy, with superb pepperoni and a delicious sauce.
The Cozy Pie was Simon’s winner, and he noted that the bacon is an essential addition to the creamy mashed potatoes and flavorful cherry tomatoes.
One thing that endears me to New Haven-style pizza over New York-style pizza is the fact that New Haven apizza is never excessively greasy, and that was true for Lala’s pies too. In fact, their Cozy Pie left behind almost nothing at all on the parchment paper it was served on.
As we closed out our tab and prepared to leave, a wave of cheers erupted from a table behind us. I turned around and smiled knowingly at the group, who were celebrating the long-awaited arrival of their own pizza. They were in for a treat.
Indeed, good things come to those who wait.
Up Next for Me: What Else Is True? from the Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective.
