$6 Million Demand for Grimaldi’s Pizza Oven

BROOKLYN (CN) - The landlords of Grimaldi's, the famous pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge, are accused of refusing to allow the restaurateurs to remove their trademark coal-fired brick oven before moving next door, then throwing the oven away.

Patabee Inc. dba Grimald's filed the $6 million lawsuit against the Dorothy Waxman Removable Living Trust, in Kings County Court.

Grimaldi's, which often tops foodies' lists as the best pizza in New York (Frank Sinatra was a fan), opened in 1989 in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The restaurant moved next door after Waxman terminated its lease in 2010.

The oven, which helps give the pizzas their distinctive flavor, did not go with them.

"Waxman, after obtaining possession of the premises, wrongfully removed and discarded the brick oven from the premises," the lawsuit states. "The brick oven had great value to Grimaldi's."

The new location shares space with "Mob Wives" reality TV star "Big Ang's" new bar, The Brooklyn Monkey, a spinoff of her original Drunken Monkey on Staten Island.

The restaurant seeks $2 million for wrongful conversion, $2 million for breach of lease and $2 million for tortious interference with business.

The lawsuit was filed by Peter Pruzan.

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