Frank Ciolli
The city is putting the heat on Brooklyn’s Grimaldi’s Pizzeria.
The Buildings Department yesterday put the kibosh on plans by the world-famous pizzeria to move into a larger space next door after learning that its operators quietly installed a coal-fired brick oven at the new site without approval.
Grimaldi’s wants to keep up with a new pizza joint heading to its current space at 19 Old Fulton Street in DUMBO, which will be run by pizza king Patsy Grimaldi.
As the Post reported Friday, the 80-year-old pizza legend is coming out of retirement to take over his old coal-fired cooker and the rest of the soon-to-be vacant Grimaldi’s space. The door was left open after landlord Mark Waxman opted to boot Frank Ciolli — who bought the tourist hotspot from Grimaldi in 1998 — once Ciolli’s lease expires at month’s end over a bitter rent dispute.
But while Ciolli is taking the Grimaldi name down the block, he must leave behind the oven that is his pizza’s claim to fame. Grimaldi, meanwhile, is naming his new joint Juliana’s, after his late mother, and opening in March.
Ciolli yesterday said the Buildings Department’s “stop-work order” has seriously jeopardized his anticipated Tuesday re- opening at the former bank space at the corner of Old Fulton and Front streets.
He blamed the problem on Robert Scarano, a controversial architect banned from doing city business following a long history of falsifying documents to avoid zoning regulations in construction projects.
Ciolli said he was “unaware of Scarano’s history” when he hired an architect with Scarano’s firm to apply for a city construction permit at the new storefront. The application — approved in October — called from installing a “pizza oven,” but never mentioned a coal-fired brick oven.
The city rarely issues new permits for coal-fired brick ovens because of environmental concerns. Existing ones like the one now at Grimaldi’s are grandfathered in — making them virtual gold mines. They can be approved on a case-by-case basis but it is very rare.
City officials said they have recommended Ciolli install a gas-powered oven that uses coal for flavor enhancement. However, pizza aficionados say the taste of pizzas made that way pales in comparison to those made with true coal-fired brick ovens.
Buildings Department spokeswoman Jennifer Gilbert said the order would remain in effect until Ciolli satisfies agency’s concerns.
Ciolli said he wasn’t giving up on trying to operate a coal oven at the new site.
Both Grimaldi and Ciolli say they don’t expect a pizza war, adding there is more than enough business for the two pizzerias to prosper.
“I have no animosity towards Patsy and his family. He gave me a wonderful opportunity selling me the place in 1998, and I wish him the best,” Ciolli said.
rich.calder@nypost.com