Empire Pizza and Pub is a saucy new eatery with a happy hour that will genuinely make you happy.
You can opt for two-for-one well drinks, wine and beer, two-for-one slices of cheese or pepperoni and any domestic draft for $4 between 4 and 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and all day Sundays.
But that's not all you'll like about Empire, which is owned by Jeffrey Sorrentino, a Long Island, N.Y., native, along with Chicagoan Thomas Browne and Brooklyn native David Furmanski.
The trio opened the restaurant last July and the bar in the beginning of November.
Jon Harrington, the 32-year-old general manager and chef, has been doing pizza half his life. He started at Little Caesars and has logged time at Picurro's Pizzeria, Vero Amore, La Ferlita Pizza Cafe and Grimaldi's Pizzeria.
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Empire took fifth in the country for its Spicy Italian Classic at the American Pizza Championship last September in Orlando, Fla.
The vibe
When you walk in, you come to a counter with salads in a case to the right. A refrigerator with sodas is behind you, and the menu is listed above.
For a moment, it seems that you'll either have to rough it and eat at one of the six tables out front or take your food home.
Then you see a hallway to the left, which leads to a narrow room with dark wood floors and a long, U-shaped bar that has about a dozen barstools and a half-dozen high tables and chairs.
Ah, this is more like it.
Two flat-screens show sports, and there's also a mix of old-school hip-hop, Irish music and classic rock.
The room has beautiful brick walls, which were exposed after a renovation chipped away at layers upon layers of plaster. Pressed-tin ceilings, two large gold-framed mirrors and dark wood floors add to the urban vibe.
You can order at the front and they'll bring your food to you, or you can order from the bartender, who will do the same.
The selection of alcohol is impressive and includes about 25 whiskeys, eight quality tap beers and about 15 bottled beers.
The food
We started our meal with six garlic knots ($2). We weren't expecting much because of the low price, but we were pleasantly surprised by the fluffy, almost fist-sized knots that were sprinkled with just enough garlic. The warm bread came with a cup of marinara and served as the perfect way to start our nosh fest.
The Italian grinder ($6) would be the perfect fuel for a weekend evening pub crawl along North Fourth Avenue and East Congress Street.
Our grinder arrived with generous helpings of pepperoni and salami under a mountain of hot peppers, tomato slices, onion, lettuce and provolone.
The thick, gooey layer of Italian dressing that covered the sandwich and soaked into the roll established its flavor dominance early on, giving the meal an extra tangy kick.
Pizzas, many named after New York neighborhoods, include classic and specialty slices and come in 16- and 20-inch pies.
A slice of mushroom pizza ($3.10) was one-eighth of a 20-inch pie and came with a healthy amount of fresh mushrooms and a not-so-healthy amount of red sauce and cheese.
We loved the slice of Jackson Heights ($3.75), which was a very thin crust spread with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, chunks of white and dark chicken, Grande Mozzarella, green pepper and red onion.
Salads include Caesar, chef, Greek, veggie and spinach ($5.50, $1.50 if you add chicken).
End the meal with a slice of house-made cheesecake ($4.50), whose flavors change weekly, or a scoop of one of the three or four gelatos or sorbettos from Cafe Italiano ($3).
If you go
• Empire Pizza and Pub, 137 E. Congress St., 882-7499
• Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sundays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-3 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. About 2 a.m., Empire scales down and offers window service to sell cheese and pepperoni slices.
• Bicycle delivery is available in the immediate downtown area until 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays, and midnight Thursdays through Saturdays. Car delivery will begin in the next month or so.
• Military, law-enforcement and fire-department personnel get a 20 percent discount; students and seniors get 10 percent off.
The bill
• Two sodas: $2.
• Garlic knots: $2.
• Jackson Heights slice: $3.75.
• Mushroom slice: $3.10.
• Italian grinder: $6.
• Mango sorbetto: $3.
• Total, before tax and tip: $19.85.
