We spoke to Mimmo, the owner of Sal’s Pizzeria on the corner of DeVoe and Lorimer Streets in Brooklyn, and decided he’d be the perfect New Yorker of the Month.
Ask a New Yorker: What kind of a name is Mimmo?
Mimmo: Mimmo is Dominick in Italian. That’s what my mother named me, what can I tell you?
Ask a New Yorker: So, if you’re the owner of this place, why’s it called Sal’s?
Mimmo: Sal is the guy I bought the place from.
Ask a New Yorker: Well, that’s pretty simple. Tell us about the pizza world.
Mimmo: Well, I like it. You get to communicate with a lot of people and the days pass by fast. I like my business and I like Brooklyn.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s your secret sauce? Will you share it with us?
Mimmo: It’s my own recipe and I’m keeping it secret.
Ask a New Yorker: What do you do for relaxation, when you’re not here at Sal’s?
Mimmo: To relax, after 12-13 hour days here, I like to take my boat to Montauk and catch some striped bass, then bring them back and cook them.
Ask a New Yorker: How does San Marco’s slice (a pizzeria a couple blocks down the street) stack up against yours? I know my wife prefers yours.
Mimmo: Eh, they’re nice people. It’s a little competition. A little competition is good, keeps you alive. And that’s it. Everybody in the neighborhood gets along, everybody’s neutral, you know. Everybody’s got to make a living.
Ask a New Yorker: So what are you making right now?
Mimmo: I’m making garlic knots, and my assistant is making chicken rolls, sausage rolls, spinach rolls…that’s Big Ray.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s for dessert?
Mimmo: We make Italian ices…Lemon, cherry, chocolate or pineapple. And the chocolate is blue ribbon for sure, nobody makes chocolate like us. Homemade, no preservatives, real homemade. It’s my father’s recipe.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s this pizza dish called (see picture at left)?
Mimmo: It’s marinara pizza, fresh tomato and fresh marinara sauce with no cheese. There’s a lot of people who don’t eat cheese nowadays…the lactose and all that….so we make pizza for them, too. We don’t want to lose their business. And this other pizza is for the vegetable lovers. It’s got spinach, ricotta, broccoli with a little garlic. And these babies (see picture of sausage) are homemade sausages from Astoria, Queens. I’ve been dealing with Alt’s Provisions. I buy fresh sausages from them every morning.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s up with the pizza-toss-in-the-air thing?
Mimmo: That’s just what pizza guys do to show off a little bit because he never gets any credit, so he throws it up in the air to be an artist.
Ask a New Yorker: Last question…where’s the best place to watch the 4th of July fireworks?
Mimmo: Definately on Kent between North 8th-North 11th St. in Brooklyn.
