 Sunday, June 5, 1994 Goodfella's: Good Success Story The hugely popular Staten Island pizzeria Goodfella's is coming to Bay Ridge this summer. Brooklyn-born brothers Scot and Marc Cosentino and their brother-in-law E. Jay Myers opened Goodfella's on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island last year. Business boomed, Brooklyn beckoned and a second Goodfella's is due to bow on Third Avenue and 96th Street in July. "It's amazing how far we've come in just a couple of years," E. Jay Myers enthused the other day. "Marc and Scot and I used to sit around talking about how we wished we could go into business together. Marc was a cop. Scot had a carpet-cleaning business and I was selling cosmetics. We were all in our late twenties. We wanted to be entrepreneurs, but we didn't know what we wanted to do. "One day in 1992, Scot said, 'How about a brick-oven pizzeria on Staten Island?' I told him he was crazy, there was a pizzeria on every corner of Staten Island. But Scot said he'd given it a lot of thought and was sure that if we did pizza with homemade mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and the finest ingredients, and served it in an upbeat, casual atmosphere, we could succeed. He had it worked out in his head -- oak wood floors, checkered tablecloths, original paintings on the walls, a warm and cozy place where a guy coming in after work in a suit, or a couple in jeans and shorts on a date, or parents out with their kids, could feel comfortable. "Marc and Scot are the creative guys. I'm into numbers and accounting. They designed the store and put the menu together. We opened Goodfella's on Hylan Boulevard in January of '93. We threw ourselves into it. Marc quit the police department after eight years on the job. He'd just made sergeant in his precinct in Brooklyn. Scot and I gave up our jobs to devote full time to the pizzeria. Business built so fast that we had to expand to 70 seats from the original 35 and add a second wood-burning brick oven. We won a contest for best pizza sponsored by Pizza and Pasta Magazine, the industry's trade publication. More than 5,000 recipes were entered. We made the final five and went to a cook-off at a restaurant show at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan last November. We took first prize with our specialty, Pizza a la Vodka, made with vodka cream sauce, fresh mushrooms, and prosciutto. "We make our own dough and sauce. We learned how to do it. None of us had any cooking experience, except my wife, Leslie, who spent six months in the culinary school. When we started, we tried different recipes, read food books, gave away pizza to friends to see what they liked. We work well together, although we're very different. I'm a sports fan. I love basketball. Marc wants to be an actor. Our store gives him flexibility to audition. Recently he got a part in a soap opera. Marc's hobby is classic cars. Scot loves fishing and long walks. "We all have one thing in common, though: We're good fellows. Besides putting out good pizza, the three of us are committed to making Staten Island and Brooklyn better for our presence. We want to cheer people up when they come into our place. We emphasize friendly, attentive service; there's too much misery in the world. Money in our pocket is important, but nothing is more gratifying than when customers tell us our place is nice and we're nice. "There are always long lines for tables on weekends. By early this year we knew we had to open a second store. At first we thought about a place on the other side of Staten Island. Then Marc and Scot's father, Louis, a detective sergeant with the transit police, came in one day and told us the old Beefsteak Charlie's in Bay Ridge was vacant. "We took a look at it and loved the big space -- 3,600 square feet. We put together a budget, raised some financing from family and friends and signed a lease. We're building the place now. The kitchen and plumbing and tile work can stay. We're re-doing the booths, ripping out the carpet and putting in an oak wood floor. We're building a 12-foot by 8-foot, wood-burning brick oven as the centerpiece. We'll seat 120. The menu will be the same as Staten Island -- a great appetizer, fried calamari, which we're famous for, half a dozen pasta dishes, pizza pies with 24 toppings and some great desserts including homemade tiramisu -- that's ladyfinger cookies dipped in espresso and kahlua and topped with whipped marscapone cheese. "Bay Ridge is known for excellent food at many fantastic restaurants. A lot of them are on Third Avenue. We feel it will give us a lot of credibility if we can compete at that level of quality and service -- but with reasonable prices. At Goodfella's, a couple can have an appetizer, pizza, dessert and cappuccino for $30.00. Mom and dad and a couple of kids can have pizza and soda and get out for $20.00. "We expect to hire 30 people for Brooklyn. Our grand opening should be in six to eight weeks. We hope Congresswoman Susan Molinari and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, loyal customers at Goodfella's in Staten Island, can make it. "We love Brooklyn. Shopkeepers on the block seem happy we're there. If the Bay Ridge store does as well as Staten Island, it won't be long before we're looking to expand again, probably at another location in Brooklyn, maybe in Sheepshead Bay. We hope to franchise Goodfella's eventually." I ate at Goodfella's the other night. Everything E. Jay said was so. The pie was delicious, the waiters amiable, the décor bright and inviting. Even the men's room was clean. Three decades after the Verrazzano Bridge opened, it looks as though Brooklyn finally will get something good from Staten Island. |
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