The Real Deal New York

From the April issue: At 6 p.m. on Sunday evenings, the line outside Lucali, an 18-month-old brick-oven pizzeria in Carroll Gardens, can be 50 people long. That’s before the restaurant even opens; the only word the chef and owner, Mark Iacono, can find to describe what happens next is “chaos.” “That’s when it’s really hectic,” Iacono said, adding that the wait can be as long as two hours. Even as economic uncertainty looms, leaders in the restaurant business say they expect New York City’s eateries, especially those in the outer boroughs, to keep doing well. While the logic may seem counterintuitive — belt-tightening and all that — many outer-borough restaurants are offering less expensive alternatives for New Yorkers who are notoriously averse to cooking for themselves.