Mekelburg's, the Clinton Hill grocer & craft beer bar (est. 2014) that expanded to Williamsburg across from Domino Park in 2018, is known for packed shelves and heralded sandwiches.

Grub Street named it among New York City's "Absolute Best Italian Heroes" and its "Most Exciting New Sandwiches." Bon App called their meatloaf one of the "Best New Sandwiches in America," and The New York Times named its porchetta among "The Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2015."

There's also pizza on the menu. Well, French bread pizza.

French bread pizza is kind of the Rubicon of the frozen pizza genre. On one side tears, on the other edibility. It's typically inoffensive if not particularly good. Homemade French bread pizza is another Rubicon of sorts. For kids with toasters, it's one of the first things they learn to "cook." And while nobody's going to mistake it for a slice, when done by someone who actually cares, it can, at the least, redeem a bowl of canned soup on a winter day.

That's the case with Nana's Pizza Bread ($10).

For the record, the inventor of French bread pizza was the Cornell University-dwelling Hot Truck in Ithaca, New York run by Bob Petrillose, who didn’t like selling slices (the stories go). In 1960, he began making French bread pizzas and calling them PMP (Poor Man’s Pizza).

Mekelburg's husband-and-wife owners, Daniel and Alicia Mekelburg make a deeply satisfying version. It's a torridly hot torpedo of sauce and cheese. The crust is extremely crisp and crunchy without being dry, the interior of the boat almost creamy from a liberal, tangy saucing.

There's a complete coating of fresh Lioni Latticini mozzarella, a cheese dusting, and basil flourish. If you opt for spicy soppressata you get two large rounds. The only critique is because they're so wide, the soppressata slices slide off when bitten. So too the basil, which could benefit from a to-order chiffonade. Hard life, right?

This one’s worth a walk from the Bedford L even with Joe’s right there and is a definite go-get-one if you’re snacky from walking along the East River in the nearby Domino Park.

As with all French bread pizza: beware getting roof scald! Blow! — pizzacowboy🍕🤠

Mekelburg’s — mekelburgs.com

319 Kent Ave, Williamsburg

(718) 399-2337 x3

Subway: L