[title]
Besides a cracker-thin crust topped with a zingy tomato sauce, Di Fara Pizza guaranteed you one other experience: a long wait. A very long wait.
For years, ordering a slice or entire pie from this corner joint off Avenue J in Midwood, Brooklyn, would scare off even the most devoted pizza lovers. Standing in line for two or three-hours wasn’t unusual during the busiest days and sometimes it was even more when ’za master Dom De Marco was tossing, cooking and serving every single pie.
Photography: Courtesy of Goldbelly
But for the first time since 1965, the famed Di Fara Pizza—among our best New York pizzas—is working with gourmet online distributor Goldbelly to launch delivery of its pizzas across the 50 states. Starting at noon EST on Thursday, Dec. 5, you can order here and the first 1,000 pies will have no delivery fee. Today also happens to be De Marco’s 83rd birthday and while he’s slowed down, he’s still known to be working.
Only two pies will be available: the signature Neapolitan pie and the square Sicilian pie. For $83, you get four, 12-inch round Neapolitan pies or two, thicker crust square Sicilian pies. Each pizza (swimming in a three-cheese blend of fresh buffalo mozzarella, fior di latte and Parmigiano-Reggiano) will arrive frozen. But the basil De Marco is known for snipping over each hot pie? You’ll have to do that on your own but it will come with your order (the herb is sourced from Hawaii and Israel).
“People have been requesting we deliver outside of New York for so many years,” Margaret Mieles, Di Fara’s manager and one of De Marco’s seven children, tells Time Out New York. “There’s not a day that passes that someone doesn’t ask us on the phone or email to deliver. They’ll tell us, ‘I’ll pay all the money in the world.’ I would always say maybe sometime in the future.”
The launch has been in the works for months and according to a Goldbelly spokesperson, the company has had more than 20,000 requests over the years for Di Fara’s pizzas to be shipped. Locally, New Yorkers could order on Grub Hub and only recently did Di Fara expand with a Williamsburg location, where all the Goldbelly pies will be made to order.
Photography: Courtesy of Goldbelly
While waiting for Di Fara’s pies was part of the experience and nothing can replace stuffing our faces with a slice that’s just come out of the shop’s gas ovens, the smaller pies means you’ll get more crust with each bite—whether you’re in Bronxville, New York, or Bozeman, Montana.
“We’re known as one of the best,” says Mieles. “Not just in Brooklyn or New York but the world.”