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Peter
Oct 24, 2008 11:45 AM
I went on a weekend day at 5:30. Since they're closed from 4:30 to 6, when I got there I got the 2nd place in line. 30 minutes later they let us in, we ordered in a very civilized fashion, and then promptly got one of the best pies I've had there in a while.
I think getting Dom just after his break gets you a more thoughtful, less harried pie.
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when i go on weekends or when it's busy, i make sure i order a "specific" pie (half pepperoni, etc.).
i prefer good old sauce and cheese, but i have found that when i just order a plain pie, that when he pulls it out, some yahoo tries to claim it or he forgets who its for and starts serving it as slices, etc.›2 Replies -
I was there the week before last, I think it was Weds around 7pm.
If there was a line, it was a virtual line of people who had already ordered and were waiting for their orders to come out. My order was taken immediately. There were 5 empty seats; about half of the occupied seats had people who were already eating.
My pizza came out after about a 25-minute wait. -
We went today (Saturday) around 1PM, later than I wanted to get there.. I told my husband to be prepared to wait. There was a line but it wasn't insanely crowded. We ordered a sausage pie, and by some miracle, Dom pulled one out of the oven not two minutes later and handed it to us. He said something about someone had called in an order but they weren't there yet. Maybe he has a soft spot for kids. It was our 4-year-old's first time there. Uncoached, she announced "Wow! This pizza is REALLLY gooooood." We're happy to be back in Brooklyn after two years in the hinterlands. The thought of raising my kid on California Pizza Kitchen wasn't sitting well with me.
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Saturday afternoon has never been a good time to get a pie. For the last 3 months I got all of my pies in under 20 minutes, but there's a level of technique and timing to that (I go every week on Tues or Wed in between early dinner and late dinner rush times. It's been very reasonable lately, but I won't go near the place on weekends.)
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re: JFores
Steve R
Oct 2, 2008 05:25 AM
Something to consider for weekday evenings: a friend and I (both of us know Dom very well for many years) dropped by for a slice yesterday (Wed) eve. at around 5:45 on the way to somewhere else. There was a sign on the door to DiFara's that said "Intermission until 6:15" and the door was locked. He was inside and let us in to talk while he ate his dinner and made some more dough. He told us that he's started doing this most evenings. We hung out for the half hour and then his son opened the door. A line had formed outside in the drizzling rain and 12 or so people came in and started ordering. Not too bad, but some were clearly going to wait. We ate a slice and left. So... plan your evenings accordingly.
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re: JFores
NYJewboy
Oct 3, 2008 05:52 AM
J: the last slices I got from Dom were outrageously burnt. It was not just the wonderful and welcome charming carbon of peasant cooking, but really scorched like Hiroshima. I couldn't say anything because I discovered it when I was in my car blocks away. It was inedible. I think the master might be slipping due to demand and old age, because this is not the first off product I have gotten. Judging from posts, it might just be the beginning of the end. I will not hold it against him for sure, I going there today, but I thought it was worth a post.
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re: NYJewboy
The end is not so near. I was there yesterday and all was well. I called in two pies to stay at 12:50, arrived at 1:05 and was eating the first by 1:20. They were perfect, no burning, perfect taste. The only oddity was that each pie had a small area with no end crust, sauce and cheese to the edge. I guess he pulled it to much at that spot. The place was quiet and Dom had abandoned the beret. Maggie was writing down orders and the whole place had a zen like calm about it. Enjoy.
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re: NYJewboy
You wrote " the last slices I got from Dom were outrageously burnt. It was not just the wonderful and welcome charming carbon of peasant cooking, but really scorched like Hiroshima."
The precise same thing happened to me twice in the last few weeks. In each instance, I ordered a square pie to go (with a topping that I can't remember but is not relevant to this post), and later discovered that the pie was burnt to the point where the char undermined the entire eating experience. The first time it happened, I would honestly say that the pie was quite frankly inedible. The burn was like ash and overwhelmed the pizza. The burn was unfortunately, the defining charaterisitic of that pie. If a first-time visitor was ever served that particular pie, the newbie would be unable, by anystretch of the imagination, to reconcile the actual pizza with the fanatical culinary reviews Dom routinely gets. I am a Di Fara's long time regular and have been patronizing his pizzeria before he was "discovered". So I know how good the pizza can be.
I am somewhat concerned because this happened to me not once, but twice, fairly close together in time, all of it relatively recently. It might be a sign of decline. On the other hand, who knows. Randomness? I had a pie there last week which was sublime, about as good as it ever gets even by Dom's standards.
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