After much delay, Greenpoint’s wildly popular pizza purveyor Paulie Gee’s is finally gearing up to open the more casual slice joint in the neighborhood, Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop.
Owner Paulie Giannone, who announced the project back in April 2016, has posted an end of August opening date to Instagram, but chances are, the old-school New York slice joint will quietly open its doors a bit earlier, he says, though doesn’t know when. At the very least, gas has already been turned on at 110 Franklin St., at Noble Street.
For months now, Giannone has been posting pizza thirst traps to Instagram, teasing the new restaurant that will feature slices and Sicilian pies. Experiments have included a four-cheese square with caramelized onions and a garlic-sesame seed crust, a simple cheese slice, vegan pies with pickled jalapeños, and a slice with Mike’s Hot Honey, mozzarella, lemon-whipped ricotta, garlic, roasted onion, and basil.
Though it’s been a while since he thought up the restaurant, Giannone says the core of it remains the same: a ’60s-style joint that can also do take-out pizza. (His flagship restaurant famously doesn’t allow take-out because he doesn’t think the wood-fired pies hold up well in a box.) Expect elements like bright orange booths that Giannone bought from an old pizzeria in New Jersey, as well as vintage Coca-Cola decor. Andrew Brown, a longtime Paulie Gee’s staffer, will still be running things day-to-day here.
Paulie Gee’s has been open in Greenpoint since 2010, one of the star players in a wave of wood-fired pizza restaurants that treated it as a gourmet enterprise. Giannone became known for pies with creative toppings, and the no-reservations restaurants is still popular and has long waits.
Now, Giannone has an entire empire of Paulie Gee’s. Besides the original in Greenpoint, he has locations in Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, and Columbus, Ohio. The slice joint, though, will be the first one to focus on a different kind of pizza.