A visit to the famous Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn

OK, so ever since my friend Shahla told me about Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn near where she grew up, I’ve been dying to go.

It’s not only that she swears by it being the best pizza (that too, from an authentic New Yorker people), the thing that got me was that the owner, Domenico Marco, who emigrated from Italy in 1959 and opened the place in 1964, is still there — about 74-years-old by my count — making pizza. He’s actually the only one who touches the pies, using fresh ingredients, slicing to order.

My friend Summar and I hopped on the Q express train, counted about 11 stops and 40 minutes to the Avenue J stop in Midwood.

Once we got off though, we were happy to see the famed pizza place right in front of us. Shahla, being a veteran, was already there and knew to order ahead. Apparently the wait for a slice is on average 45 minutes. We ordered a regular pie ($25) since slices have gone up to a whopping $5 recently.

And of course, as expected, Mr. Marco was there, shredding cheese and threading dough. A crowd of people, that never really thinned out, sat around the mostly unimpressive small pizza joint, many leaning over the counter to watch Mr. Marco work diligently on every pie.

I took some anti-climatic videos of this, just because in the spirit of BATF, I thought I should you know:

So, a regular cheese pizza is not just cheese — it’s cheese topped with spices, basil, parmesan, and an extra serving of virgin olive oil. He actually puts oil before and after the pizza is baked making it one greasy slice. But man, when it comes out, cheese bubbling and all, slightly burned and crispy but not too much, it’s really worth the wait.

Restaurant Info:
Di Fara Pizza
1424 Avenue J.
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-258-1367
Midwood

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