A very belated “Thank You” to our Brooklyn friends — Josh, Laura, Lenny, and Danny. We visited them in late April and had dinner plans on a Thursday night. They told us to meet at Josh’s apartment at 5 pm for dinner at a place that was as famous for the long waits as they were for their pizza pies. It’s in Carroll Gardens and is called Lucali.

Lucali is BYOB so we picked up a large bottle of red wine at a nearby bodega. Inside, there were only about ten small tables and we took the largest table in the center of the narrow room. The ambiance was fabulous and lit only with candles. In the back, the owner and his assistant rolled out pizza dough with dark green wine bottles.

Ordering is very simple at Lucali — they offer pizza and calzone. We ordered two pizzas and a calzone. I honestly don’t remember the toppings but I think one pizza was a margarita with mixed cheeses and the freshest basil. The other pizza had artichokes imported from Italy — that topping alone was $8 but it was worth it to taste the best artichokes I have ever had.

I enjoyed every aspect of the experience — the bread, the sauce, the cheeses, the toppings. However, the candlelit atmosphere with cheesy love ballads in the background, flowing wine, and calm pie making of the owner made it perfect.

Lucali doesn’t have a web site. It opens every day except Tuesday at 6 p.m. until they run out of product. According to online reviews and background information from friends, the waits are crazy-long unless you are Beyonce and Jay-Z, who reportedly live in the neighborhood and eat at Lucali from time to time.

While the meals can get expensive – pizzas often cost over $30 (compared with our $12 large pizza in Austin at Giovanni’s plus $1 for toppings), the experience was one I’ll carry with me for a very long time.  Plus, rent in fashionable Brooklyn is a lot more than a parking spot in an empty parking lot off South Lamar!