Brooklyn pie shop debuts Disneythemed
pizzas for ‘Friendsgiving’
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Disney is teaming up with
renowned chef Roy Choi to
celebrate “Friendsgiving” in
a special way, even amid the
ongoing pandemic.
The entertainment conglomerate
and Chef Choi
collaborated with fi ve pizzerias
in the United States
— including one in Brooklyn
— to launch Mickey &
Friends(giving), a promotion
during which each location
will offer up a specialty pie
based off of some of Disney’s
iconic characters that can
be picked up or delivered on
Nov. 21.
“I am so excited to host this
ultimate pizza party mash-up
for fans and friends to share
this Friendsgiving together,”
said Chef Choi of the holiday,
a traditional spin on Thanksgiving
COURIER L 26 IFE, NOV. 20-26, 2020
at which a meal is
shared with friends as opposed
to family. “I named one
of my restaurants Best Friend
because I live for that feeling
when you’re just hanging out
having fun with your friends
and nothing else in the world
matters. I was able to team up
with some of the best pizzerias
in the U.S. to make some
awesome recipes inspired by
Mickey and his Friends, and
now, fans too can experience
them with each other this
holiday.”
In Kings County, Roberta’s
Pizza is taking part in
the fun by offering a different
specialty pie at each of its
Brooklyn locations.
The pizzeria’s Bushwick
location will offer the Donald
Duck. With Roberta’s housemade
spicy nduja sausage
and bitter castelfranco radicchio
topped with smooth Taleggio
cheese and lemon zest,
the pie gives a nod to Donald
Duck’s feisty personality.
Meanwhile, at the Williamburg
outpost, Roberta’s
will offer a pizza inspired
by Donald Duck’s girlfriend,
Daisy. The Daisy Duck is
based off of Roberta’s white
pie and adds on the pizzeria’s
special salsa verde and thinly
slice potatoes, bringing some
of Daisy’s elegance and her
own spiciness to the table.
“Being a part of the
Friends(giving) campaign
was a great opportunity to
create a fun twist on one of
my favorite holidays,” said
Chef Carlo Mirarchi of Roberta’s
Pizza. “I loved channeling
my inner Donald Duck
by creating a pizza with a bit
of spice to embody his feisty
personality.”
Fans can now pre-order
their pizzas for local pickup
or delivery on Nov. 21 at disney.
com/mickeyfriendsstaytrue.
Each pizza will cost $36,
plus tax, and will include a
custom pizza box and Mickey
& Friends(giving) stickers for
those who pre-ordered. Quantities
are limited and will be
served on a fi rst-come, fi rstserved
basis, while supplies
last.
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The long-awaited new
Brooklyn Heights public library
branch at Cadman Plaza
W. won’t open until next summer,
a year later than originally
scheduled, due to delays
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,
according to the borough
lenders.
“The fi nalization of the design
and the complexity of the
project added some time to the
schedule as did delays due to the
pandemic,” said Brooklyn Public
Library spokeswoman Fritzi
Bodenheimer in a statement.
“This included the initial stoppage
of work along with delays
when the work resumed (for example
having fewer workers on
site due to social distancing or
waiting for manufacturers to
get back up to speed).”
The fresh set of stacks will
open at the lower three fl oors of
the new 38-story luxury condo
building at Clinton and Tillary
streets dubbed One Clinton after
BPL bigwigs sold the branch
there for $52 million in 2014.
At a recent presentation to
Community Board 2’s Youth,
Education, and Cultural Affairs
committee, library offi cials presented
a slate of new renderings
for the incoming 26,000 squarefoot
branch, which will be the
largest outpost in the system
outside of the Central Branch
in Prospect Heights.
The book haven will have a
main hall cutting through the
ground fl oor of the building
from Clinton Street to Cadman
Plaza W., along with a quiet
reading room, David Woloch,
executive vice president for
external affairs at the library,
told the civic panel on Oct. 28.
The mezzanine level above
will host a teen space and conference
rooms, and a new children’s
space will open in the
basement.
Two panels of the reliefs
that once adorned the old
branch entrance will go in
two conference rooms, while
the remaining four will move
to the Walt Whitman branch’s
new outdoor garden, which is
slated to open either in 2023 or
2024, according to Woloch.
The library will also include
a new lab run by the Department
of Education where
local students can perfect their
science, technology, engineering,
and math skills. CB2 committee
members asked for more
details on the STEM facility,
but Woloch punted to DOE,
saying he couldn’t say what
the space would actually entail
or whether it would open at the
same time as the library.
“The STEM space is not
our space so it’s great that it’s
going to be there, we’re happy
that it’s going to be there,” he
said. “I think the decision on
how that space gets used is going
to be up to the DOE.”
A spokeswoman for DOE
did not immediately return a
request for comment.
BPL sold the space despite
local resistance to developers
Hudson Companies six years
ago to fund the new branch
along with sorely-needed repairs
around the borough.
The temporary library
branch on Remsen Street has
closed because it was not suitable
to operate BPL’s graband
go lobby service within
COVID-19 restrictions, according
to Woloch. Still, Brooklyn
Heights bookworms will be
able to pick up and drop off
books at the former Brooklyn
Historical Society on Pierrepont
Street come early December,
after BHS and BPL merged
in February to form the Center
for Brooklyn History.
BPL also plans to open its
fi rst branch in the Dumbo-Vinegar
Hill area on Adams Street,
between John and Plymouth
streets next summer, replacing
its current temporary pintssized
outpost dubbed the “Annex”
on John Street.
Over in Fort Greene, the library
will open a 2,700 squarefoot
branch at the base of the
developer Two Trees’s 300
Ashland tower some time in
2022, housing a modest revolving
collection of books geared
toward the Brooklyn Academy
of Music Cultural District, according
to Woloch.
“It’s really going to be a
special place geared towards
its location with a focus on the
arts and the cultural happenings
in the neighborhood and
around the borough,” he said.
American pies
Brooklyn Heights library delayed until
summer ’21 and other library updates
BROOKLYN
The next chapter
PIZZA THE ACTION: Roberta’s Pizza will offer up “The Donald Duck” at its Bushwick location and “The Daisy
Duck” at its Williamsburg outpost in honor of Friendsgiving. KCD Worldwide
The reading room on the ground fl oor of the new Brooklyn Heights public
library branch. Gensler