Move over, Lombardi’s and Grimaldi’s — NYC has a new coal-fired pizza favorite, using the city’s oldest oven

Something old, thing new.

Lucky Charlie is 1 of Brooklyn’s buzziest caller pizzeria openings — with an ancient concealed to its abrupt success.

Abandoned, boarded up down drywall successful nan basement for years and only precocious rediscovered, nan Bushwick restaurant’s monolithic ember oven dates each nan measurement backmost to 1890 — even earlier near-ancient pizzerias for illustration Lombardi’s, John’s of Bleecker and Grimaldi’s made their debuts.

Today, it’s firing up immoderate of NYC’s champion pies — and nan vicinity can’t get enough.

The sprawling, 18-foot by 15-foot abstraction of sizzling existent property boasts 63 power zones and tin churn retired nan zestiest ‘za successful conscionable 5 minutes. 

“[That’s] thing you couldn’t do pinch immoderate different oven,” Nino Coniglio, a co-owner of Lucky Charlie, told The Post. “It conscionable gives [the pizza] this benignant of char — benignant of for illustration each nan champion of everything put together.”

Dating backmost to nan 19th century, erstwhile nan building was a engaged bakery for nan migrant neighborhood, nan uncommon gem was fundamentally mislaid to history — that is, until nan building’s landlord, Charlie Verde, made nan astonishing find successful 2002 while having immoderate activity done connected nan property.

Once Verde recovered his hidden treasure, plans of trading nan building went retired nan window.

Even though his expertise was successful construction, not cooking, he knew he had to prevention nan aging underground artifact and get it backmost into usage — even arsenic local laws surrounding nan usage of nan progressively uncommon power sources person go notoriously tough.

Primarily utilized backmost successful their heyday because burning ember was cheaper than wood, nan outdated ovens went into diminution astir 100 years ago. First, state became nan norm successful nan 1930s — then came nan stainless alloy oven — and nan remainder was modern history.

According to pizza master Scott Wiener, astatine that constituent ember ovens could nary longer compete — and nan metropolis went astir 30 years, from nan precocious 1950s each nan measurement until 1990, without a caller coal-fired pizzeria.

“Most business owners don’t want to woody pinch nan confusing regulations of nan Department of Buildings and nan occurrence commissioner,” according to Wiener, penning for Pizza Today. “They tin make overmuch much money by ripping retired nan aged structures and enhancing their buildings’ surviving spaces.”

Once a coal-fired pizzeria unopen up shop, he said, nan oven’s destiny was typically sealed.

Not this time.

“Bringing backmost a small spot of that spirit is simply a cool thing,” said Coniglio, who antecedently apprenticed pinch nan legendary, precocious Dom DeMarco of NYC’s award-winning Di Fara Pizza.

And he’s bringing it backmost aft Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a controversial climate-change rule targeting coal, lipid and state producers, and NYC approved a greenish edict that orders businesses for illustration Coniglio’s to trim ember emissions by 75%.

However, nan “Preserving Our Culinary Traditions Act,” from Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island), would waive nan burning of wood, coal, earthy gas, propane aliases different fuels for cooking aliases preparing nutrient from immoderate contamination restrictions, arsenic The Post antecedently reported.

A one-time “Chopped” champ, Coniglio initially sewage progressive pinch different edifice task Verde had successful mind for nan abstraction — which has now evolved to go Lucky Charlie.

These days, nan proud pizzaiolo is putting blast-from-the-past, coal-fired goodness successful beforehand of a caller procreation of New Yorkers — from an highly well-aged oven.

The paper astatine Lucky Charlie’s is fittingly classical — simple, but pinch top-tier ingredients. A $32 classical pizza, a cornerstone of nan tightly-curated menu, is made pinch pastry pinch fiori di latte, DOP San Marzano tomatoes, Sicilian oregano, and imported Italian sheep’s beverage pecorino — with finishing flourishes of Sicilian other virgin oliva lipid and grated parmigiano reggiano.

“It’s an astonishing opportunity,” Congilio said of his chance to activity magic pinch nan ancient oven.

“Everybody who’s tried [the pizza] has been for illustration losing their minds successful a measurement that I’ve ne'er seen successful my career.”