Farina

Under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is about the last place we ever imagined eating pizza topped with pork belly and bottarga. But then, everything about Farina, a Southern Italian restaurant on the edge of Red Hook, is a little unexpected.

This place makes pizza “irregolare”, baked in an Irish oven from the mid-1800s. And even though New York City has a surplus of restaurants that put cheese on bread, somehow, when Farina does it, cheese on bread feels extraordinary, like being suddenly transported to a small, warm kitchen in 19th-century Naples, to bear witness to the marriage of dairy and carbohydrates. 

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

The irregularities start with the dough, which incorporates seven types of flour, and gets topped with apricot jam, or mashed potatoes, or tuna in olive oil. Then, there's the oven, which is built right into the back wall of the kitchen, where it's been responsible for baking a wealth of different bread products since before you were even a twinkle in someone’s eye. A server will mention this as if the oven is a human being—a wise one that has life advice to give, as well as a knack for pizza cooking. 

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

The pizzas are slightly heftier than a classic Neapolitan, and smaller than a regular pie. Funkily shaped and perfectly charred, they come with a chewy, blistered crust. And if you sit at the large communal table in the center of the dining room, you can take note of everybody else’s order—essential research for your next visit.  

But there’s more to this cozy restaurant than the pizza. On any given evening, you might encounter roasted chestnuts, or an off-menu calzone, overflowing with cheese. And if, blinded by the mystifying mash-up of seven grains, you fail to notice the chalkboard with a handful of specials written in nearly illegible cursive, you might miss out on the frutti di mare, or a candele with deeply savory meat sauce.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

You never know what, or who (Doja Cat, apparently), you might encounter here. There will be at least one Carroll Gardens-born baby who is saved from a tantrum by a slice of pizza, and at least one person who asks for a side of marinara sauce. But everyone who comes to Farina ends up lingering in the presence of that age-old oven, as if they've just rediscovered what it feels like to relax around a fire. 

Come here with a group and drink carafes of montepulciano way past your normal weeknight bedtime. Or stop by on the weekend, after a full-day Red Hook excursion, when sitting for a while sounds like a novel concept. Through the haze of a bread-and-cheese-and-wine-induced glow, even the illuminated gas station across the way looks strangely beautiful, framed by Farina’s large front windows.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Fritto Mare

Name a restaurant with good calamari in this city. It’s harder than you might think. But good news, calamari-deprived New Yorkers: Farina’s fritto mare is crisp, and salty, and perfectly chewy, and it comes with a few slices of fried zucchini, on a very pretty plate. Pair your first carafe with this, while engaging in a which-pizzas-do-we-order debate.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Montanara Di Mortadella

This will be the best thing you eat all week. It might even be the best thing you eat all year. It’s fried pizza dough topped with layers of mortadella, stracciatella, crumbled pistachios, and a slightly sweet orange marmalade, and we would bet you a lifetime supply of mortadella that you’ve never tasted anything like it. Sort of like an Italian sandwich, sort of like a zeppole, and sort of like a pistachio croissant.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Calore

Two of the three salads at Farina have tinned fish in them. We’re not complaining, and we’re slightly partial to the Calore, which comes with salty smoked rainbow trout and sweet oranges. This isn’t a must-order, but in a sea of seven grains, any sort of greens are a nice addition.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

The Pizzas

There are 14, and a meal here isn’t complete without an in-depth discussion of which to get. The crusts are so chewy and slicked in olive oil, that you may feel compelled to ask for a plain pizza—like, with nothing on it, not even sauce. We’re sure they’d accommodate that request, but also try the Sardegna, with pork belly and bottarga, the Abruzzo, with mashed potatoes and sausage, and the Campania, with mushrooms and a not-too-heavy cream sauce.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

The Daily Pastas

Sometimes, there’s one daily pasta. Sometimes, there are three. They are always excellent. You probably came here for a pizza dinner, but if you know what’s good for you (more carbohydrates, more sauce), order one of the specials. We especially like the candele with a bolognese-like meat sauce, layered with sweet caramelized onions. It tastes like something your grandmother would make, if she lived in the Italian countryside, and not a suburban town on the East Coast.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Tiramisud

This isn’t a typo, it’s just a cheeky reference to the South (sud) of Italy. Otherwise it's just a regular tiramisu, and while you don't need one (another slice of pizza can be dessert), by all means go for it if you'd like to end on a sweet note. It comes in a small jar with a lid, and it almost feels like you should take it home like a souvenir, but you probably shouldn't.