Midwood is a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, Eastern European in origin, though plenty of other religious groups and ethnicities live in the area. Famous names, from Adam "MCA" Yauch (of the Beastie Boys) to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, hail from the Midwood section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood has largely resisted the forces of gentrification sweeping Brooklyn's western coast (the side facing Manhattan).
As DeMarco explained in a New York Times article from 2004:
"My pizza is good, because I use fresh tomatoes. They come from Italy, from Salerno. Then I started to get mozzarella from Italy, from my hometown in the province of Caserta. It's $8 a pound, and this parmesan, it's $12. It comes twice a week. This might have been made two days ago, or three days ago.
I do this as an art. I don't look to make big money. If somebody comes over here and offers me a price for the store, there's no price. There's no money in the world they could pay me for it. I'm very proud of what I do. I don't have any employees; I use my kids."
Wondering how the pizza was? It was really good.
I've lived in New York City for over six years, and eaten at some of New York's best (from well-known spots like John's of Bleecker Street to lesser known gems like Luigi's in Green-wood). Before that, I grew up with amazing pizza from first- and second-generation Italian families that moved to the suburbs in the 1960s and '70s to open restaurants. I lived in the Mediterranean region for a year in college. I really like pizza, y'all.
All that said, Di Fara's was easily one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted. Every bite is a punch in the face of flavor, accented by sharp parmesan and herbaceous fresh basil. It easily stands among the titans of New York pizza.
There's clearly a lot of thought put into even the simplest cheese pie. The sauce is tangy and sweet, contrasting beautifully with the sharp, salty parmesan and gooey, creamy mozzarella. The crust is, in many places, burned black and soaked with savory, pungent olive oil. At first it looks overdone, but it's another intentional move from DeMarco — the man does have over 50 years experience making pizza, so I'm gonna defer to his judgment.
Don't take my word for it — here's DeMarco himself explaining it:
"I come from Italy, and I go back there every once in a while to see how they do it [the dough] over there. They don't throw it in the icebox. It's not supposed to be cold dough. The fresh dough bubbles when you put it in the oven, and the bubbles get a little burnt. You see the pizza, and it's got a lot of black spots, it's Italian pizza. If you see pizza that's straight brown, it's not Italian pizza."
Di Fara Pizza has a legendarily long line. We arrived on a Sunday night at around 6:45PM. We got our pizza at around 8PM. Really.
Di Fara Pizza is cash only, and has limited seating. You'd better be ready for a long wait, likely on your feet, and you better have a good chunk of cash on you (remember: a single, standard eight slice cheese pie costs thirty dollars).
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