Di Fara Pizza is a pizzeria located at 1424 Avenue J in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York City.
Situated on the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue J, the restaurant was owned and operated by Domenico DeMarco (1936–2022) from 1965.
[4] Domenico DeMarco emigrated from the Province of Caserta, Italy, in 1959 and opened Di Fara Pizza in 1965.
So I take the phone number, I call the landlord, and he says to come see me Sunday, make sure you bring a deposit.
[10][11][13][14][15] In a windowsill flower box, he grew thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, and hot peppers.
[10][21] The restaurant only has 15 seats,[10][13][18] but the pizzeria is so popular that crowds sometimes form on the sidewalk outside, as the wait can be as long as one to two hours.
[10][13][22] Di Fara's has been closed a number of times by the NYC health department due to unsanitary conditions.
In his 1998 book The Eclectic Gourmet Guide to Greater New York City, Jim Leff called the sauce used by the restaurant: a restrained, low profile masterpiece of optimal acidity and spicing (bolstered by a goodly shake of black pepper).
[13]Since The Village Voice, a New York City newspaper in Lower Manhattan, put DeMarco on its cover and proclaimed it as one of the "Best Italian restaurants",[3] Di Fara has been regarded as a top pizzeria by publications like the Daily News.
[31] In 2007, chef Anthony Bourdain called the restaurant's pizza "the best of the best" in the book Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.