I finally made it to Di Fara! It one of those places that is constantly written up in tons of blogs and articles as one of the best pizza places in the country. Although it's in Brooklyn, it's in a part of the borough that most people probably have never been to, Midwood. While it looks far on the subway map, it's actually only 30 minutes on the Q train and it's literally right off the Ave J train stop. Anuja and I got there on a Saturday night right when it opened at 6:30. Right when we walked in, I noticed that it was very unassuming. I wouldn't even really call it a restaurant. It's more like a very old school pizzeria with only a few tables. There is absolutely zero decor or ambiance to speak of. It's just 2 old men and a pizza oven and maybe 5-6 dirty tables. Most of the time, the place is filled with pizza smoke and when I left the place not only did my hair smell like pizza but so did my sweater, jeans and jacket. But despite all that, the pizza is incredibly yummy and worth at least one trip out there.
I'm typically not a huge pizza lover. I mean, I like it but I never crave it and when I do it's usually deep dish Chicago style pizza. Although lately, I've had a few good run-in with thin crust pizza (I'm looking at you Roberta's). You can buy slices here ($5 each) but Anuja and I decided that since we were there, we might as well get a whole pie and then bring some slices home for a snack or lunch. The menu is pretty basic with your choice of round or square pizza and then you can add a variety of toppings. We chose to get the Di Fara classic ($32) which came with sausage, peppers, mushrooms and onion. We were told it takes 30 minutes, so we grabbed a seat and just stared at everyone else's food until he finally called our name, almost exactly 30 minutes later. It was a huge pie and I was sure that we would have more than 1 slice each left over. Famous last words. The one thing I did notice was that there was a lot of grease on top but I felt like it would be an insult to be one of those people soaks the oil with a paper towel. I didn't find any forks or knives either so eating a giant greasy slice with my hands was kind of a bummer. But the slice itself was delicious. The ingredients were incredibly fresh and the additional topping of basil really made the whole bite even better. I loved that he used sweet orange peppers instead of your standard green peppers and red onions instead of a standard yellow/white onion. The crust is slightly charred on the edge and nice and crispy but I was never a crust person, so I still didn't eat the crust but everyone around me seemed to enjoy it. I managed to down 3 slices at dinner and took the last slice home. Everyone eating there seemed be cult followers of the place. One guy next to me said "I just had a pizza orgasm" and another guy told his friend to move and get out of the way so that they could make room for the pizza. It was a fun excursion to a different part of Brooklyn and I would totally do it again with anyone else who's interested. One thing of note: it's cash only.
Photo Credit: Anuja Gagoomal
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