Di Fara: Decline in Quality?

[shivohum]

The last couple of times I went to Di Fara, the pizza was still good but lacked the punch and pizazz I remember from my first visit. It tasted good (especially the cheese) but not spectacular. In particular, the sauce lacked bite and the crust seemed a bit too hard. Anyone else experiencing this?

The Vegetarian New Yorker: http://vegny.blogspot.com/

[NYJewboy]

I have noticed that some times Dom is a bit off, undoubtedly due to the crazy volume of the buisness. I am confident that this is why, because when the crowds thin out a bit and he can really concentrate the attention on individual pies becomes keener and there are slightly better results. Again, the margin of error is slight, between very good and amazing. I think the consumer solution is to go often and catch the place at a variety of times. For instance, last time I went (4:00 midweek) it was dedfinitely as good as ever. The time before that (8:00 friday) not as good but still great. Remember only mass production does not fluctuate. Appreciate the craft of it and it becomes quite clear!

[Peter]

Funny. I've only been 6 or 7 times but the 2 times that it was an A- instead of an A+ were the two times that it WASN'T insanely crowded... only 3 or 4 other customers.

I wonder if when it's really, really quiet he's not busy enough to get into the zen state he needs to make the heavenly pies that he's capable of.

[NYJewboy]

The image of Dom as a transcendental pizza yogi is quite amusing.

[JFores]

I think this calls for some photo shopping and imagination.

[southlake]

i hear what you're spittin' but let's be honest.........dom moves at the same speed if there is a line out the door vs. if there are only 8 people in there.........i can't say i've ever seen the man look like he has a sense of urgency.....and i guess that's part of the beauty about the man

[NYJewboy]

Spitting? I think that no one could really be unaffected by all that chaos.

[anna_harlem]

Nope, I was there last week and it was as good as ever!

[southlake]

went there the other day.......flavor was on point........but the pie was a soupy mess

[rose water]

That's part of what I love about it. It's almost a creamy cheese and tomato soup. Oily, creamy, cheesy and luscious.

[JFores]

No. I was just there.

[Peter]

I'm not ready to call it a decline in quality based on one experience, but I was there about 2 months ago and I distinctly recall the pizza being very, very good instead of the usual INSANELY good. But that was just one visit.

[rose water]

No change in sauce or crust that I can tell. The only difference I noticed on my most recent trip there is that Dom put dried basil on 2 of our 3 pies, rather than snip fresh basil on (which he did on the 3rd--much preferred).

[gfood]

Was there last week, thought it was excellent.

[david sprague]

unless things went south drastically in the last nine days, i'd have to say no. not that i'm disputing your bad experience, but i've never had a bad slice (or pie) there.

actually -- and i'm not being sarcastic here -- that's not entirely true. i remember a visit back around this time of year in 2003 when i hadn't been to difara in a while, and salivated over my pie in the making, only to get it and say 'that's pretty good....man what a bummer."

[MMRuth]

I've only been once - a couple of weeks ago - and I have to say, the pizza was amazing. Could be that it was downhill - but if so, downhill from Mt. Olympus!