And I’ve never even been there. Reviewer Frank Bruni goes hog wild for the place. Franny’s is located at: 295 Flatbush Avenue (Prospect Place) in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; (718) 230-0221.

So was Franny’s essentially a glorified pizza parlor? For those outside Brooklyn, did it really warrant a water crossing?

To the first question the answer is no; to the second, an emphatic yes.

Other
restaurants have honorable pies, admirable lettuces or noteworthy
salumi. But take it from a cranky Franny’s doubter, now a besotted
Franny’s believer: not many do all three with as much joy and
distinction as Franny’s.

Besides which, Franny’s does more. In
June it reinstated pasta dishes on its menu. A few had been there in
the beginning but were quickly jettisoned, because Franny’s chef,
Andrew Feinberg, didn’t think he’d mastered them.

Now his kitchen
has new equipment, while he has new confidence. So it’s pasta once
again, and the rigatoncini with peppery pork sausage and sweet
cipollini onions will have you hoping it’s pasta forever.