"F" Stands for Funny at New Bed Stuy Pizzeria

A shimmering new pizzeria on a not-so-shimmering stretch of Bedford Avenue caught my eye. The gigantic advertisement promised "brick-oven focaccia." I was intrigued. Is the gentrification of Williamsburg reaching this far South? I was excited by the prospect of being within the delivery radius of a decent pizzeria.

Why funny? The concept if you can't guess from the name, Focaccino, is a pizzeria and espresso bar. The decor is modern and sleek, but accented with an upholstered banquette covered in plastic, an odd rendition of Times Square that had me wondering what exactly it was and an "F" logo that only reminded me of the "S" on Superman's chest. It comes across as a naive interpretation of "Manhattan cool." I can't imagine spending any significant amount of time enjoying pizza or espresso there. But all this can be endearing.

Focaccino is about a month old and offers focaccia, pizza, salads and sandwiches and espresso drinks. The pizzas and focaccia come in both personal and family sizes and either regular or brick oven ranging from about $5.00-$10.00. Toppings are $2.00 each. I tried the rosemary brick oven focaccia and the regular pizza with grilled parmesan and roasted red peppers. I was curious about the grilled parmesan, but it was just regular grated parmesan and the roasted peppers still had their skins intact. The rosemary focaccia came with melted blue cheese, which jolted my taste buds upon first bite. The consistency and overwhelming sweetness of the dough lead me to question whether their "special dough" was made on the premises or mass produced. Brick oven treatment gives the dough a boost though.

Focaccino doesn't have a take out menu yet, but they do plan to deliver eventually. With a little tweaking (fresh mozzarella would be nice) and especially improving the dough (how about homemade), Focaccino could be a boon to a brick oven pizzeria starved section of Brooklyn

Focaccino is located at 1069 Bedford Avenue, 718- 622-2228.