It’s funny sometimes which Brooklyn restaurants the national press latches onto. Yesterday the AP ran a piece about a place called Carluccio’s in Bensonhurst, which is apparently “like a shrine to lost Brooklyn[...] where music of the ’40s and ’50s plays on an endless loop” and 153 different hero sandwiches are on offer. We’ve never even heard of this place (and neither have Google or Chowhound), but in the smitten writer’s words:

Hands-down, Carluccio’s Brooklyn Italian Heroes on 15th Ave. and 78th St. in Bensonhurst makes the best hero in Brooklyn. Don’t believe me? Zagat gave it a 23. Ronnie Carluccio has been on “Emeril Live” four times, where the half-mad chef tried to extract his hero secrets. People travel from all over Brooklyn, Staten Island, Jersey, Connecticut just to get heroes or catering from Carluccio’s.

Anyone live in the nabe and know this spot? Is it as much of a tourist trap as it sounds like, or does Mr. AP actually know his heroes?

Brooklyn-Bre(a)d Heroes Take the Prize [AP]
Photo: Carluccio’s Italian heroes might look something like this one, captured on film by justinhenry. But it’s hard to tell, since there seems to be only one tiny photo of an actual Carluccio’s ‘wich online.