Focaccino

Focaccino's one of the myriad of new delivery places that are springing up around here, seemingly overnight. They're not technically located in Clinton Hill, but they deliver here, so I think they count. They're a self-described "Pizzeria and Espresso Bar," which to me sounds like someone wanted to open a nuevo-Italian restaurant and threw some darts at a wall full of Italian culinary terms. Whatever.

We got a menu in our mailroom a few months back, and were simultaneously impressed by its professionalism and wary of a restaurant that might be trying a bit too hard. Most of the best delivery places I've ever had never put half as much effort in to their menus. It was a bit of a red flag, but since my menu drawer can always use a bit of color and energy, I didn't complain. Not that I'm really sure who I would have complained to, mind you.

Anyway, we'd ordered a pizza from them once before, and while we liked it well enough, we'd never gone back for seconds. The other night, we decided to do just that.

Mick really wanted pizza, but I wasn't in the mood for it. They offer reasonably-sized perosnal pizzas, so she got one with pepperoni and mushrooms - both of our favorite toppings if we're going to get any. Focaccino offers a choice of dough on your pizza, which is actually kind of cool. She got the "special home dough," although we didn't ask what made it special or how it was different fromt he "regular" dough. In any event, it was pretty good. The most important factors in a pizza are the quality of the dough, sauce, and cheese, and Focaccino's strength is definitely the dough. Thankfully they don't screw it up by having bad sauce or cheese, although neither is really off the charts.

I felt like trying something a little more interesting than pizza, however, so I went with a sandwich. Much like the pizza, you have your choice of a variety of breads, and in my case I went with whole grain cibatta, which sounded to me like the kind of healthy/non-healthy oxymoron that I tend to enjoy. I enjoy goat cheese, so I went with, surprisingly enough, the Goat Cheese Sandwich, which has lettuce, tomatoes, grilled eggplant, goat cheese, and a "touch" of cream cheese. Why only a touch? Who knows, in these crazy times? I added some turkey for an extra $1.50, because hey, why not?

One quick note - Mick placed the order, and commented that the man who took it was really friendly and well-spoken, which is a nice change of pace around here. The delivery guy was the same, and whole thing felt very professional, much like the menu.

So, how was the food? Pretty good, as it turned out. Mick loved her pizza, and I was pretty happy with the sandwich. It was much bigger than I was expecting, and I could only finish a little over half of it. The goat cheese was very prevalent, and it wasn't too greasy, which is soemthing I feared. I think there might be a danger of over-greasiness if you were to choose a non-whole grain bread and throw pepperoni instead of turkey on it.

Has anyone else ordered from these guys? What did you think?

Information:

Focaccino
1069 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11216
718.622.2228
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