Lower Bricktown’s gettin’ some ‘Bada Bing’
Pamela Grady
3/1/2007

After only being open six months, Falcone’s Pizzeria & Deli will open a second eatery in Lower Bricktown at 208 Johnny Bench, the space formerly occupied by Rio Del Fuego and Nothing But Noodles.
The lease was signed today.

Danny Falcone, owner, will be joined by investors Michael Pugliese, president and CEO of Platt College, and David “Doc” Cavallaro in leasing the 3,547-square-foot space, scheduled to open in early May, from developer Randy Hogan, principal of Stonegate-Hogan.

“We’ll miss the Big 12 playoffs and everything, but will catch it next year,” Falcone said.

Falcone opened his first location at 6705 N May Ave. last August and said he’s had tremendous success.

“Every day, the tables are full,” Falcone said. “We’ll turn the tables over two or three times and serve 150 people in an hour and a half.”

Falcone, who hails from New York City’s Bronx district, says he and the other New England natives are expanding to Bricktown because “It’s the place to be.”

“That’s where Oklahoma City’s jumping now -- right on the canal,” he said. “They need a real pizza place down there.”

The Bricktown location will seat approximately 140 people with the same décor as the original eatery, but boasts a more scenic view. The menu will consist of the same homemade, Italian originals for which Falcone’s is known.

Falcone says he makes spicy hot onions he calls “Bada-Bing.”

“We say, ‘Put a little Bada-Bing on that thing,” Falcone said in his thick Bronx accent.

Live music will be provided on Fridays and Saturdays.

Pugliese says the desire is to bring high-quality, authentic Italian food downtown.

“It’s the perfect location -- right outside of the theater, on the canal, next to the Centennial,” he said. “It’ll be the only real Italian food (available in the area). It’s all about the quality of the food and the atmosphere.”

Sounds great to me!

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Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
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Great news....Have wanted to try it with all the good reviews it gets on here

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Dr. Spaceman: Now Jenna, medically speaking for your height your weight puts you what we call the "disgusting" range. Fortunately there are solutions. For example, crystal meth has been shown to be very effective. How important is tooth retention to you?

I love Falcone's!! This is the best news for Lower Bricktown in quite some time.

i was hoping he would locate one somewhere in bricktown.
off the subject, but if you ever meet him make sure you say hi to his hot wife. yowza.

I definitely wish him luck. That place sounds really cool and a good fit to a puzzle piece of that anchor. I look forward to it opening.

That's so funny, every time the wife and I go to the Bricktown movie theatre and pass that vacant store front we comment how great a good pizzaria would be.

I've only had one bad experience at his other restaurant (pizza slice was kind cold).

I wonder which location he will work out of. He really helped make the experience complete.

Can't wait!

I hope he stays open extra late on the fri and sat nights.

yep, thats because that door is pretty much in front of the pizza warmer. i just get them to make me a fresh one. its waaaay better than having it sit there under a warmer.

saw this, i'm super excited. downtown needed something like this, just wish it was in automobile alley. i'd rather it be a gaetano's (much better but he's not interested in other locations) but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Can't wait until this opens.

I tried Gaetano's and thought it was good, but we were the only ones in there on a friday night. So I don't blame him for not opening other locations.

i agree jbrown , although I'll still admit Gaetano's is way better pizza. I was actually talking about it with my wife tonight ironically, but the guy is one lazy bum, he barely operates the one location he has, usually just sits there watching TV and bosses his waitress around. Falcone's will fill a good niche still.

When we were there, he was watching 1 vs. 100 and walking on his treadmill (he should do that more), and there was no waitress.

Hey, maybe he reads this board. I think we we all in agreement that the location would be great for a pizza place and I think some suggested Falcone's (at least, I'm pretty sure I did). This one will be more convenient for me both from work and from home, so I'm stoked. I hope it works for him.

Hey I'm from Jersey (as the name implies) and I had been looking for good pizza here in Oklahoma and getting rather disappointed (although I must admit I'm an east coast pizza snoot)...until I found Falcone's! Out of all the pizza I've had, this has got to be in my top 10. Ok I'll modify that a bit - the white sauce pizza, if ordered fresh (not slices under the lamp) is in the top 3 all time favorite pizzas (slices under the lamp aren't that special, a little dry, but that's expected for lamp pizza). But everything there is very good (salads, sandwiches, "fried pizza", etc). On how "authentic" it is, I dunno. Its just really good.

I haven't tried Gaetanos yet however, I still need to make my rounds.

I'm so glad to hear that he's moving to Bricktown - I just hope that they can do a good job keeping the kiddies under control (I know previous restaurants in that spot have had many problems). We'll see what happens.

Anybody know anything about his future spot in Norman on Lindsey street? Is that still happening?

That's quite a compliment, JerzeeGrl.

I remember seeing a sign saying Falcone's coming soon here in Norman, but it has been removed, and the building is up for sale again. I guess he is going to focus on Bricktown and his other location.

Best Pizza in OKC... simply heaven on a slice

And the meatball sandwich BadaBing is ridiculous.

Best Pizza in OKC... simply heaven on a slice

And the meatball sandwich BadaBing is ridiculous.

I wouldn't say it's the best. But it's good and welcome to Bricktown.

It was on Lindsey, and it would have done very well. I went into the May location the other day, and I kept thinking about how great it would have done in Norman. New York Pizza and Pasta on Campus Corner would've been out of business within two months of Falcone's Norman opening. Oh well...

The deal in Norman fell through. They are looking at other locations in the metro and Stillwater.

This is exactly what we need in Bricktown....nice unique, local restaurants. And this might actually do well, as we don't have a pizza place in Bricktown.

Is Hideaway Pizza not in Bricktown anymore?

Still there Watson, but it's only open when the ballpark is

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Dr. Spaceman: Now Jenna, medically speaking for your height your weight puts you what we call the "disgusting" range. Fortunately there are solutions. For example, crystal meth has been shown to be very effective. How important is tooth retention to you?