If you’ve been on our Pizza Tour then you know that L&B Spumoni Gardens is one of the best pizzerias in the country…and that’s saying a lot! But there’s a lot more about the Brooklyn establishment that opened in 1939 that you might not know.
L&B serves Sicilian-style pizza which originated in, you guessed it, in Sicily, Italy. The crust is generally thicker and the pies are square or rectangular with the sauced placed on top of the cheese.
But that’s not all that they’re known for! In 1938, founder Ludovico Barbati rode up and down the streets of Gravesend and Bensonhurst selling spumoni from a horse drawn wagon pulled by Babe the horse.
Are you familiar with spumoni? It’s a classic Italian dessert made with three ice cream flavors: pistachio, almond and chocolate. Technically it’s known as a milk sherbert.
In 1939 he gave up the horse and carriage and opened up a little luncheonette on 86th Street, on a dirt road going to Coney Island, in order to sell spumoni, ices and other food items.
In 1942, his eldest son came back from the war so Ludovico opened a pizzeria adjacent to the luncheonette in order to put him in business. They made pizza the way their Sicilian Grandmother taught them how to make it and the classic L&B “squares” were born! It continues to be a family run establishment, now on its fourth generation.
L&B is world famous and loved by everyone. Just ask Brooklynite Joey Fatone!
Did we mention that it’s one of the locations on our Pizza Tour? Here’s one of our groups having a great time at L&B during one of tours.
Haven’t been to L&B yet? What are you waiting for? Let us take you there on the original Pizza Tour of Brooklyn!
