DONGAN HILLS — The utensil that sparked the first scandal of Mayor Bill de Blasio's tenure has been bagged as evidence and will be auctioned off for charity.
Marc Cosentino, co-owner of Goodfella's Pizzeria at 1718 Hylan Blvd., bagged and tagged the fork Bill de Blasio used to chow down on pizza in the restaurant last week.
It caused outrage from people who dubbed the mayor's untypical way of eating a slice "Pizzagate."
"I just did it because I thought it was funny," Cosentino said. "Then all of a sudden it got all this interest, so I thought let's do something, let's do something for charity."
Cosentino, a retired NYPD sergeant, got an evidence bag from one of his NYPD friends and put the silverware on display behind the bar.
Some people have even stopped into the pizza joint just to take pictures of it, Cosentino said.
De Blasio's use of utensils to eat pizza was criticized on the Internet after the meal. Comedian Jon Stewart devoted five minutes to joking about the scandal on Monday night's The Daily Show.
"I understand there's a learning curve to being mayor, but here's lesson number one, learn how to eat your city's signature dish," Stewart said on his show.
After his meal on Friday, de Blasio defended his technique, saying it's common to use forks in his ancestral home of Italy.
"In my ancestral homeland it is more typical to eat with a fork and a knife," de Blasio said. "And so I have been in Italy a lot, and I picked up the habit for certain types of pizza."
Cosentino said de Blasio wasn't alone using a knife and fork to eat his slices, and it isn't uncommon to see diners using utensils in his pizzeria.
"So long as people are eating pizza, doesn't matter how they eat it," he said.
