Da Ciro Brooklyn Trattoria & Pizzeria Opens On Myrtle Ave Wednesday

“People tell me that my pizza is better than sex. I tell them they’re having sex with the wrong people,” said legendary pizza maker Ciro Verdi.

Wednesday, May 4, will mark the grand opening of the chef and humblebrag extraordinaire’s latest venture, Da Ciro Brooklyn Trattoria And Pizzeria, at 458 Myrtle Avenue — formerly the site of comfort food purveyor The Runner.

Victoria Frignani, Da Ciro Brooklyn’s co-owner, revealed that they’ll be serving dinner for the first two weeks prior to a grand opening that will see them add lunch fare.

Verdi said he opened the shop in Brooklyn because he wanted a more vibrant, experimental audience that would allow him to expand his culinary horizons. Frignani told us she found the space on the internet that had been posted “an hour earlier.” When they came to scope out the location, Verdi saw potential of a beautiful brick oven sitting idle and quickly came to terms on a lease with the owners.

That was seven months ago. This summer, Da Ciro will have an backyard outdoor patio and will include regional fare in addition to Verdi’s famed standbys.

Verdi hails from Astoria, where he was born into a Neapolitan family and diehard Mets fandom. He got his start in the restaurant business stretching dough pizzerias like Mezzaluna and La Madri in 1984. A decade later, in 1994, Verdi founded the original Da Ciro Ristorante, a Midtown Manhattan pizzeria that became a landmark and brought him fame.

While that restaurant’s legacy and its old favorites will definitely be present, Verdi intends to expand the menu with more regional Italian specialties. Some of the staff from the Manhattan Da Ciro will be coming over to the Brooklyn outpost — fitting considering Verdi counts his closest childhood friend as one of his business partners. Verdi has appeared on the Food Network five times, including as Bobby Flay’s pizza coach in an episode of Throwdown.

Verdi’s favorite dish is his own brainchild: the foccacia robiola. It’s an unorthodox take on pizza which Verdi described to the Focus as a “thin focaccia sliced open and then spread with the robiola, then drizzled with truffle oil.” The New York Daily News has said “if they serve grilled-cheese sandwiches in heaven, this is what you get.“

We’re ready to be raptured this Wednesday.