Noshing on Brooklyn

Nov 16

The Godfather of Brooklyn Pizza

Di Fara Midwood

“Of course you’ve been to Di Fara’s!” “Well, er…actually, I haven’t been.” Next thing I remember was being transported in Amy Krakow’s Mini Cooper to…

Di Fara Pizzeria

So this is the place everyone is raving about? Must say I was expecting a tad more than a corner wreck selling a $5 slice of pizza. How shallow of me!

Since this was the first stop on our Brooklyn food outing, we decided to share a slice.

Sharing a $5 slice

Fortunately, we arrived early, so the wait was short. I’ve been told that the lines can stretch down the block & Di Fara fanatics wait as long as 2+ hours for their fix.

Well, the pizza…you can see for yourself. Tasted as good as it looks.

I hadn’t researched it in advance, so I didn’t know the story behind Di Fara. What I saw an elderly man (I should talk!), moving at a measured pace, oblivious to anything beyond the pizza he was making.

Domenico (Dom) DeMarco

Dom is about 75 years old. He emigrated from Italy ( a small town near Napoli) at age 26. After a few months of working on a farm in Long Island, he decided to open a Pizzeria to support his growing family: a wife, and 7 children ( 5 of which he employs). That was 1963. For close to 50 years, he has been the sole pizza maker. No wonder the lines are so long.

Checking the pizza

He alone stretches the dough, ladles the sauce, precisely applies the cheese & toppings, drizzles the olive oil, puts it in the oven, checks & rotates, then takes the finished pizza out with his asbestos hands.

Asbestos hands

Once out of the oven, he adds more grated cheese (Gran Padano), another drizzle of extra virgin olive oil &… the drum roll, please..scissor cut’s fresh basil.

Final anointment

He was asked in an on interview, how many pizza he has made over the years? He thought a moment, & said “It must be over a million.” I whipped out my calculator & did the math. According to Dom, he makes about 20 pizzas an hour. They’re open 7 hours a day, 5 days a week (on a contemporary schedule). That’s 600 pies a week, 30,000 pies a year x 49 years= 1,470,000 pizzas!!!!!!!

And why is the pizza so good? It’s passion, top quality ingredients & a 1963 Bakers Pride oven.

He brings a whole new meaning to ‘slow food’. He takes pride in what he does. “If people don’t want to wait, they can go somewhere else.”

This say’s it all

Frustrations run high, but they wait.

Hey, Lady, I want my pizza!

And it’s worth it.

Bravissimo, Domenico!

Oct 5

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Burp! Excuse me.

Mile End Delicatessen Boerum Hill
Must be the season, as I was craving a pastrami sandwich. Had plans to have lunch with my friend Amy & asked if she was interested in trying Mile End, the hipster Jewish Deli in Boerum Hill. As she is a foodie, her response was ” Ooh…yes!”.

She lives in upper Manhattan & not known for her timely arrivals. I, on the other hand, am genetically programmed to be on time. It was a rainy day which added to her lateness, so I took the long wait (an hour to be exact) as a photo op. Not an easy feat juggling an open umbrella & camera in the pouring rain.

As I am not a big eater, I trained for this lunch as an athlete. Had a light dinner the night before & skipped breakfast. By the time Amy arrived and we were finally seated, I could have grazed on the mustard & ketchup condiments. Time to order. I stuck with my mission: the pastrami sandwich. Would it measure up to the mecca of Katz’s pastrami?

Miles End pastrami sandwich

Yes, it did! Since the owner’s are from Montreal, it’s called ‘cured & smoked beef brisket’. They bake their own rye bread and it’s the real thing. It took me back to the local Jewish bakery of my youth.

Amy ordered borscht as a starter (am not including the photo, as it tasted better than it looked) & the chicken salad sandwich. The elements were mind boggling: chicken salad, gribenes (chicken skin crackling), pickles, schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) on 1/2 inch thick challah. It was a chicken heartburn festival.

The slaw was not great ( guess that’s how they make it in Montreal), but the pickles were to die for.

The other part of my mission was to try the Poutine. I have an extensive culinary background, but somehow had missed out on this Quebecois version of fries.

For those uneducated, like me, it’s fries topped with brown gravy & cheese curd. A perfect light companion to a pastrami sandwich.

The restaurant has about 17 seats & even on a rainy day, it was buzzing.

The Counter

The Menu

To quote Amy, “What a lunch!”

Amy Krakow with leftovers

I had Pepcid AC and miso soup for dinner.

Oct 1

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On the Air at Roberta’s

September 26 Bushwick

I was invited to be a guest on Taste Matters, a Heritage radio show hosted by Mitchell Davis, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation. To be honest, I had some pull since Mitchell is my cousin. The segment is called All in the family (click on this link to hear the show). We chatted about our Jewish family food stories, my years as co-founder of the Soho Charcuterie in the ’70’s & ’80’s and our cousin, Mickey Ruskin, who owned the legendary Max’s Kansas City in the ’60’s & 70’s.

I was excited to be on the program with Mitchell, but one of the big perks was airing it at Roberta’s. Having recently moved to Brooklyn, it was my maiden voyage to Bushwick. I surfaced from the L train & felt I had time traveled back to early Soho, before it had become an outdoor designer Mall. It was 10:30 am & the warehouse lined streets were desolate. Wasn’t certain what to expect, but turned a corner & there was Roberta’s. The outside was a perfect fit for the neighborhood.

Glitzy Roberta’s

Through this immortal portal

dining room

The restaurant wasn’t opened yet, but finally found someone who directed me to Heritage’s broadcast room. In keeping with the whole DIY of Roberta’s, Heritage radio is actually 2 connected shipping containers dropped in the backyard. After the show, Mitchell treated me to an early lunch. It was hard to decide what to eat.