Culinary Arts: Pizza

In the stormy weather that occurred last night in NYC, I decided, “what a great day for pizza!” I have heard people RAVING about how delicious Di Fara’s Pizza in Brooklyn is and I have been dying to try it (because lets be honest, the old is not getting any younger). So, last night I FINALLY DID IT! I went to the Famous Di Fara Pizza with my good pal Joe.

Walking in I felt like I had stepped into the Soup Nazi’s Soup Shop.

I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to get, how to order, what to order…I was a mess. I had went there once before with a friend of mine and we thought that we were in luck when we saw that there was no line outside but when we walked up to the window, the guys inside were like “the Oldman’s taking a nap, come back later.”

But yesterday, Joe and I rushed to get there and thank you universe,  it was open and Oldman was up and making pizza! And although it was pouring outside, it was still packed inside with people waiting for a slice. We went in and I nervously told Joe to order half regular and half meat because I was so scared to order. When we got up to the counter and the lady was ready to pencil in our order (so old school), he orders half sausage and half mushroom. MUSHROOM?

Whenever you are trying to establish if a pizza is really good or not, always try the regular first and then move on to the mess on top, later. So after we stepped back from the counter, I whispered to Joe, “Mushroom? I told you regular”. He was ready to go change the order and stopped him quickly remembering the Soup Nazi. “We can’t change! They might put us at the back of the line?” So for the moment we kept our order.

After 40min, we finally got a seat and I must tell you that the decor of the place is like your Mama’s kitchen, it is as welcoming as you need it to be. You go in and catch a seat if you can and you enjoy your delicious meal cooked for you, even if you have to stand and eat it.

I went out to get beer (thank god for BYOB) and we sat and had a couple of drinks as we waited for our order to be called up.

The place was smokey and hot but I will ONLY, ONLY suffer like that for Di Fara’s Pizza, no one else! As we sat, I realized how amazing this tiny place off AVE J was.

  

One man making the pizza, his daughter right there helping him with a pleasant smile on her face and his son ever so randomly popping out of the kitchen to hand his father the dough.

It was quite a delight and joy to see a place still rooted in family and this old school Brooklyn eating experience. I was completely in awe and I guess so were ALL the people who had similiar experience and named this place the “…best pizza in Brooklyn”, “…best pizza in NYC”, …best pizza in NY”, “…best pizza in the USA”, and for me “…best damn motherf’ing pizza in the world.”

After sitting there for a while I decided, “No Mushroom!” And quickly told Joe to go see if he could change our order. I wasn’t going to risk being kicked out, I wanted pizza! So if he got kicked out, my plan was to plead the 5th, “I don’t know him.” HAHA. Luckily everything was great and they happily changed our order and we finally got our half plain,  half sausage pizza. I sat there and literally stuffed myself into oblivion. At the end of it all, I was so bloated! I felt like I ate for an entire nation. But it was all worth it. Wouldn’t stuff myself like that again but definitely going back to get me some pizza.

Joe even packed to-go the burnt crust and I looked at him and just SMH.

Overall, I enjoyed the gritty, old school, rustic atmosphere of Di Fara Pizza but mostly, I really, really enjoyed their pizza. Quote of the night, “this is the best piece of slice that my tongue has ever met.” Thank You Di Fara’s and the Old Man for giving me quite the pizza experience.

 

 

This is Pat for PG

Follow Your He(art) in Food.