He’s the once and future pizza king.
Coal-oven legend Patsy Grimaldi is coming out of retirement to flip thin-crust pies again at the Brooklyn storefront that helped launch a brick-oven pizza craze — and more than one lawsuit.
The 80-year-old pizzaiolo has cut a deal to take over his old coal-fired cooker and the rest of the soon-to-be vacant Grimaldi’s pizzeria space on Old Fulton Street in DUMBO, where his successor, Frank Ciolli, is being booted at month’s end, The Post has learned.
In an ironic twist, Ciolli is relocating his world-famous hotspot, which he bought from Patsy Grimaldi in 1998, to a larger site one storefront away — setting up a potential New York pizza war with his predecessor.
But while he’s taking the Grimaldi name down the block, he must leave behind the oven that is his pizza’s claim to fame.
Grimaldi, meanwhile, is naming his new joint Juliana’s, after his late mother.
The pizza-slinger switcheroo came about after landlord Mark Waxman decided not to renew Ciolli’s lease for 19 Old Fulton St. The move came a year after Waxman tried to evict Ciolli for being delinquent in rent.
“A year after I sold Grimaldi’s, I was very sorry,” Grimaldi told The Post. “So when Mr. Waxman called me and asked if I wanted to come back, I thought I was dreaming. I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.”
Grimaldi, who plans to open in March, said he’s spent the past 13 years traveling with Carol, his wife of 40 years.
But pizza is in his blood so he decide to stage a comeback.
Carol Grimaldi said that while the place will get a makeover, the menu would still focus on pizzas made with “only the best ingredients” — like her homemade mozzarella — and include other items like soups, calzones and desserts.
Patsy plans to be at the restaurant daily, greeting customers and making pies.
As for a potential showdown with the now-rival pizzeria bearing their name, the Grimaldi’s aren’t expecting one.
“There’s enough business in that area for three Grimaldi’s to do well,” said Patsy, who nevertheless admitted he was shocked to learn Ciolli scored the former bank space at the corner.
Ciolli on Monday told the Post he welcomed “competition” and would apply for city permission to acquire another coal-fired brick oven — although such approval is rare due to environmental issues,.
But he was unaware at that time that the Grimaldis were the ones taking over his oven. Ciolli could not be reached for comment last night.
The Fulton Landing pizzeria is no stranger to controversy.
Patsy Grimaldi joined the family business when he was 10, working at his uncle Patsy Lancieri’s famous East Harlem pizzeria. Then, when Grimaldi opened his own place in DUMBO in 1990, he called it “Patsy’s.”
But he had to change the name to “Grimaldi’s” in 1995 when he was sued after his uncle died and his aunt sold the Patsy’s name.
Over the years, Grimaldi’s became a favorite in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge overpass, attracting often hour-long lines of tourists and locals alike and celebrity patrons from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga for the trademark coal-charred pies.
“When we moved there in 1990 people thought we were crazy,” Carol Grimaldi said. “All that was there was warehouses, a few apartment buildings and us. Now the area is a major tourist destination.”
CAN YOU TOP THIS? Pizza legend Patsy Grimaldi (left) is returning to the fold, and will compete with successor Frank Ciolli from his old joint. (BRIGITTE STELZER/ THE BROOKLYN PAPER)