How long would you wait for pizza?
6 Aug
It’s been super warm, and I’ve been lacking motivation to cook. My diet consists of homemade salads for lunch and soba noodles for dinner. In any case, I’ve been wanting to go to Di Fara for two years, especially having read rave reviews for quite some time now. Heck, Serious Eats has a bunch of posts dedicated to this one place!
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ll know that I’ve only done one other review during the entire lifespan of this site. I reviewed a Vietnamese place in San Francisco, and I dream about their Emperial roll sometimes. *drool*
This is no ordinary pizza. We waited so long to eat this!
While doing a review will only be another drop in the bucket, I still thought it was appropriate to do a post about my experience, especially at a place that has been called “The best pizza in New York” by so many.
The thing that kept me from going there was the fact that it was in Midwood, Brooklyn. Lucky for me, D is open to trying out new places! 
It only took us about 20 minutes to drive over from Queens. We found a parking spot and as expected, saw a line already out the door.
Time check: 6:31 pm. (Note that it’s still light outside. Mood: eager and not that hungry yet.)
The line to order moved rather quickly, so we thought we were making good progress. Dom DeMarco, the 70 something year-old man who has been making pizza at this location since 1964, makes each pie from start to finish. And the hefty price tag ($35 for Di Fara special) was quickly explained by a quote from this Epicurious article:
Dom: “I use only the freshest ingredients, the bufala mozzarella from the town I grew up in, the oregano and basil from Israel, tomatoes from Salerno, flour from Italy,” he says with a smile. “That’s the secret recipe.”
Once we made it inside the restaurant, we quickly noticed that our eyes were burning from the smoke. So we stepped out and tried to entertain ourselves. We walked across to Walgreens to grab drinks. And after a while, we noticed a trend – people went to other places and returned just in time for their pizza! Smart! I also went to the 99 cent store next door to look at Silly Bandz (Didn’t find anything good, just in case you were wondering).
There was also the time where I mistakenly thought I heard them call out our order. Oops. I was off by about 8 pizzas. Here’s a photo of Dom making someone else’s pizza. After waiting for what seemed like forever, Our pizza was finally ready!
Time check: 8:50 pm (Dark outside. Mood: starving and astonished that I waited so long for pizza!)
I noticed a rope at the door, because the restaurant closes at 9 pm. I think there were about 6 orders after we left.
I finally sunk my teeth into a piping hot slice of the Di Fara special (with sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions).
It was SO good! To be honest, I don’t even like pizza that much! In any case, I have to say that I could taste all the ingredients, from the tomatoes to the cheese to the fresh basil. The crust was chewy yet crunchy. I learned from my friend J that a square pie with the hot peppers is a must. Something to keep in mind if I ever make it back there. Just don’t go there on Saturday night. But if you must, make sure you have good company!
