de Blasio Fork Sells for Thousands in Tunnel to Towers Auction for Disabled Veterans

Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino displaying award winning pizza

Marc Cosentino of  Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Serving Mayor de Blasio the Smoking Goodfella

The infamous fork that was at the center of the international pizza scandal involving Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio's culinary skills has finally sold at auction. The fork was donated to the Tunnel To Towers Foundation by the owners of Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza to help raise awareness for the foundation which has been a tremendous help in the community building housing for disabled veterans. "We got to work with Frank Siller and the Tunnel To Towers Foundation during the recovery efforts on Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy and we witnessed the dedication and commitment to helping the community and decided we would do what we could do to help them. My brother Marc is a veteran and decided to use the fork to help raise awareness and funds for Tunnel to Towers so we said sure, let's do it " said Scot Cosentino.  The bidding was started off by the New York Brick Oven Co. at $1000 dollars which kept rolling and ended off reaching the $2500 mark by auction end. The fork was purchased by an anonymous donor who then turned around and donated it back to Goodfella's saying " it's where this piece of history belongs". The fork is now on permanent display at the world famous Staten Island eatery.

Mayor de Blasio's Fork

Opening Bid on de Blasio Fork: $1000 by New York Brick Oven Company

Scot Cosentino, Frank  Siller, Marc Cosentino, Andrew Scudera

The New York Brick Oven Company Makes $1000 bid on fork from Forkgate Scandal. "It was only a natural since one of our ovens was responsible for cooking the infamous slice of pizza" said Marc Cosentino." It's all for a great cause" added lead instructor of the Pizza School of New York Andrew Scudera  a partner of the Original Goodfella's S.I.N.Y.

• The fork that made headlines around the world after Mayor Bill de Blasio used it to eat pizza can now be part of your kitchen.
  The Staten Island based nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation began its charity auction Thursday of the infamous fork on its website. Marc Costentino, the co-owner of Goodfella's Pizzeria in Staten Island where de Blasio was caught on tape famously eating pizza with a fork, handed over the utensil to the organization Thursday. The starting bid was $1,000.
  John Hodge, the director of operations for Tunnel to Towers, expects that it will sell for much higher when the bidding ends on Feb. 21.
  "This fork is now a piece of New York history," he said. "Decades from now people will talk about this moment because it is one of those quintessential New York moments."
  All proceeds will help fund Tunnel to Towers programs, such as its annual race to Ground Zero, Superstorm Sandy relief and veterans home renovation initiative. Hodge said it has been in talks with the mayor's office and they fully support the auction.
  "We're having a lot of fun about this and Mayor de Blasio is being a big sport about this," he said.
  Log onto tunnel2towers.org to participate in the auction.

  Related

  Urbanite Jon Stewart doesn't approve of de Blasio's pizza-eating method
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The Original Fast Casual Pizza: Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Staten Island New Yok

Marc and Scot Cosentino with Goodfella's Captain America Mustang

Marc's Previous Job and Cover of his Book

Back in 1992 the Cosentino brothers opened what many industry experts consider to be the first fast casual brick oven pizza restaurant in America taking New York Pizza to a new level. New York had a handful of brick ovens pizza places at the time with fresh mozzarella but none were featuring fresh gourmet toppings cooked at blazing speed in a wood burning brick oven. Within the first year of operation they were winning titles in New York and across the country while garnering unheard of press coverage for the new kids on the block. The "Vodka Pie" which won the World's Best Pizza title soon became a national trend and their signature pie. With high aspirations and incredible drive they soon had 8 locations in the tri-state area and eventually were opening  locations across the country as far away as Puerto Rico. For most this would have been enough but they then added the Pizza School of New York  which has taught pizza students from all corners of the world, including New Zealand, the art of making great pizza. As they opened pizza shops and taught pizza makers, the demand for ovens grew so they soon took over the choirs of building their own custom brick ovens to ensure quality, which lead to them founding the New York Brick Oven Company. The Inferno Series Revolving Brick Ovens are becoming the Industry Standard for fast casual concepts due to the consistent cooking temperature, product and ease of use. The boys are never ones to rest and recently swept the media with FORKGATE which is the first international pizza scandal for the new Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio who made the fatal error of using a fork to eat his pizza. "We only started this business because we love pizza and wanted to work together, who knew it get this crazy" said Scot Cosentino who added "only in America".

The Infamous Fork to be auctioned for charity.

Andrew Scudera Winning International Pizza Expo

Scot Cosentino with the "Vodka Pie"

New York Brick Oven Company Implicated in Fork-Gate with Mayor de Blasio

The New York Brick Oven Company is responsible for cooking the incredible Smoking Goodfella pizza at the heart of the now international pizza scandal known as Fork-gate. The owners of the New York Brick of Company and founders of Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza, Marc and Scot Cosentino, had no idea of what they were about to cook up around the world when they were asked to prepare a smoked mozzarella pizza by Mayor de Blasio of New York City. The Mayor had heard of the famous Cosentino brothers pizza creations and when he learned they had smoked mozzarella on the menu, he asked Marc to make him a pie in his now industry leading revolving deck brick oven. No strangers to preparing pizza for New York City Mayors the brothers called on pizza partner Andrew Scudera  who holds "World's Best Pizza" title from the International Pizza Expo and runs the Goodfella's Pizza School of New York to help. With this kind of experience and passion for pizza it's no wonder these guys came up with a fantastic pizza prepared to perfection for the new Mayor. Everything was was moving along splendidly with smiles and laughs as de Blasio enjoyed his pizza until controversy hit. One of the throngs of reporters jammed into Goodfella's for the pizza summit noticed the Mayor eating pizza with a fork which was intentionally being ignored by the majority of Italian Americans in attendance. Somehow the now "Infamous Fork" became the center of the conversation and became the lead story for all the major news stations and became a top twitter story with Mayor tweeting about it himself.
"Cooking the best ingredients with the world's best pizza makers in the industries best oven can only lead to success" said Marc Cosentino (a former sergeant NYPD) who through habit, promptly placed that fork in an evidence bag and "vouchered it" for safe keeping and a future fund raiser with the Mayor.