Di Fara Closed due to extreme weather

[Recursion]

Just a tip if you are looking to get pizza at Di Fara's anytime soon, call and ask if they are open. They seem to be on a trend of putting signs outside saying the shop is closed due to extreme weather. It wasn't even that hot today.

[Tiny Iota]

My wife and I were in Brooklyn last week and tried to go only to find that inside-out pizza box in the door indicating that they were closed. We went across the street and down a couple blocks to Jerusalem Steak House, ate only appetizers and ate quite well.

"More hot bread?" they kept asking.

"I can't stuff anything more into my face," we kept saying.

So, what do you guys do when DiFarra's is closed?

[NYJewboy]

I go to L&B, which is not NEARLY as good.

[Brklynbobby]

That has to be the understatement of the year!

[NYJewboy]

Nostalgia goes a long way my friend....

[david sprague]

L & B has its own charm, and there;s something about their pies that appeals in a totally different way.

[Jeffsayyes]

I have no nostalgia of it although it has the nostalgic feel... I still very much dig their square pies. It's a different food than di faras though. obviously different.

[dietndesire]

More importantly, did he RE OPEN?!
Someone might want to go and it is hardly like one will always get through on the telephone.

[jdf]

...or the fact that not everyone reads Chowhound and someone may actually make the trip believing Difara has actual set business hours without calling to see if he's open.

[eglazarev]

Please stop going to DiFara's. The pizza hasn't been good in years. The wait seems long because it takes Dom forever to make one pie, let alone remember who ordered it. There's better pizza at nearly every corner joint in Brooklyn, Queens, SI and the Bronx. Any person willing to wait a minimum of 30 mins, to get a soggy, overhyped, $5 slice is a moron. And all who keep rhapsodizing about how great DiFara's continues to be are doing a disservice to the real reason to eat pizza -- It's a cheap, comfort food.

[NYJewboy]

OK eglazarev, give me your top pizza joints (and not random corner ones) and I will try one or two. Hey, I'm open to new things. We shall see who is as good as Dom!

[eglazarev]

Well NYJ, I grew up in the Bronx and live out in Coney now so I'm partial to places in Italian neighborhoods. I've tried Franny's, Totonnos, DiFara's, L&B Patsy's in Manhattan and I understand their appeal. Again I just can't believe people want to wait 45 mins to fork over $5 for something that should cost $2. As for specific places, I would try a stretch of Avenue U between Coney Island Ave. and Ocean Ave. There's a Prince of Pizza place on the corner of U and Coney Is. and a pretty good brick-oven place on U and E. 13th or 14th st.
Then there's the stretch of 18th Ave. in Bensonhurst -- between 86th St. and 79th St. -- which I pop into but don't recall the name. In the Bronx, Arthur Ave. has plenty of candidates but I was from Pelham Parkway area and there's a place on corner of Lydig and Holland that had oversized slices. In Queens, you can't do much better than Frankie's, which is under the el, near the GCP entrance. Maybe someone else on the board knows the exact address.
My bigger point is don't be suckered in by these artisanal peddlers. Go for a drive and discover some for yourself. Then report back to us.

[Jeffsayyes]

I'll give you two: Luigi's in Windsor Terrace and Amore in Flushing.
I can't believe I'm letting these out, but who am I kidding? how many people really read this anyway?
I've been going through this entire city trying to find awesome pizza like this.

[stuartlafonda]

Jeff, Amore is not a secret. There must be a dozen threads in the last couple of years that have mentioned the place and debated its connection to the long departed and much loved Gloria's. I love the place and I am a regular, it is a great slice joint. As good as it is it is not in the same league as DiFara.

[NYJewboy]

Amore is OK, maybe good, but not that good.

[Jeffsayyes]

I like slice places.

[MRich]

Luigi's on 5th ave? That isn't Windsor Terrace.

[Jeffsayyes]

no, luigi's in windsor terrace

[Amy Mintzer]

Where is it? I live nearby but don't know it.

[Jeffsayyes]

http://www.yelp.com/biz/luigis-pizza-...
its at 5th and 20th

[missmasala]

I don't care what yelp says, 5th and 20th is NOT windsor terrace!!!

south slope--maybe. greenwood heights--i've heard that, mainly in real estate ads. but windsor terrace? I think those yelp people don't know that part of brooklyn very well!

[Jeffsayyes]

yeah , they are computers there.

it seems windsor terrace is directly underneath the park. and to the west, park slope borders the cemetary. so I guess it is South Slope? the area cordoned off via naming by park slopers?

try it, and order by the pie. if he likes you, you will get a drizzle of pesto on top. be nice.

[hhhippo]

Yeah, I once saw a yelp post where someone referred to Kensington as "deep, deep Brooklyn" (as if it were the edge of civilization).

Anyway, I've had the fresh mozzarella slice at Luigi's. I thought it was decent, but not extraordinary. Is it much better by the pie? Also, if I were to order a whole pie, would you recommend the fresh mozzarella or just a traditional N.Y. style plain cheese pie (or something else altogether)?

[MRich]

Oh ok, yeah that confused me.

That really isn't Windsor Terrace at all. WT ends at 9th avenue (Prospect Park West).

I've heard good things about that place, however and will make a point of trying it. That will be a busy little Pizza area, since Toby's makes good pizza and Lucali II is supposedly going to open near there.

[flo]

"he doesn't need your business" and if he "wants to close it's his business" ?
it's true, because he can afford it.

[MOREKASHA]

Yep he can. I've never eaten there and have no desire to. Mainly 'cause I work near Nicks in Queens and that's pretty good to me. That said, I hear he's a hard working old fella. So, if he's a bit eccentric that's a good thing. Othewise then we get chains like Pizza Box, Juan's Pizza etc....Hand made food/alcohol always has a bit of wobble to it.

[david sprague]

much like minetta tavern's $27 price tag for a cheap hockey puck of a burger, batali's usurious pasta, bouley's laughable dirty water dogs at platinum prices, david chang's poor imitation of popeye's chicken at 100 bucks, masa's one-bedroom rent fish meal.... they're all a joke to some, a thrill to others.

[Jeffsayyes]

$5 anything is hardly a comparison. just wait til batali gets a hold of a pizza recipe. (i have no idea if they serve it )

[itryalot]

They do, although Neopolitan style, not quite the same.

[apossibleworld]

wow, somebody's unhappy. thanks for sharing.

[kernel]

amen

[MrsT]

At $5 a slice Dom can afford to do whatever he wants. As long as the tourists read all about the Great DiFara's on the message boards, in magazines, and in the NOT FOR TOURISTS guide books, he won't even remember the kids that grew up going there.

[Recursion]

yes and every other pizza shop in the city was open. As for the AC, I know numerous shops around the city which run a AC full time, some even leave the door open. All of them are cool inside and none close randomly.

[MMRuth]

And are the pizza makers at them as old as Dom?

[Recursion]

some older.

[fourunder]

The great thing about being your own boss.....you can come and go as you please. He's entitled to that decision, wouldn't you agree?

[flo]

almost everybody else would be out of business in a very short time with that policy, just saying....

[david sprague]

true, flo, but a lot of places with odd policies (like Rao's 'you need to be a blood relative to even look in the window') thrive in this very odd town.

[MOREKASHA]

Hey, if he wants to close it's HIS business. If he was younger he could use twitter to let folks know,or using ancient technology, leave a message on an answering machine.

[apossibleworld]

"Sripraphai: Going downhill?" "Little Pepper: bad meal!" "DiFara's: overpriced and too hot in there"

Dear Chowhound -- boy, folks are quick to complain. why all the whining? go someplace else if you're upset about a $5 slice or people who like to take a siesta when it gets too hot. Or if you don't like places that are weird and random, try living in the suburbs. New York has character (and characters), like it or not.

[fourunder]

flo,

with regards to Di Fara closing due to extreme weather a s the OP indicated.....

and your comment of....almost everybody else would be out of business in a very short time with that policy, just saying....

Almost everybody else actually does have this same policy in place as Di Fara's does, whether they realize it or not.......only they apply the policy in the winter after a blizzard and when there's a foot of snow on the ground. No establishment should be going out of business due to the loss of a day's receipts, or a few.

[flo]

I was just responding to your statement that business owners " can come and go as they please", not to be confused with this very specific weather related incident at DiFaras, or others like it.

[Jeffsayyes]

just let the man do his thing. He doesn't need your business. call ahead for now on. you cannot compare him to any other pizza maker in the city.

[Brklynbobby]

"It wasn't even that hot today."

Try standing in a small enclosed place with a 700+ degree oven, 90% humidity, the constant opening and closing of the door and many people crowded around you and then tell me it's not hot.

[jennitrixie]

At $5/slice they should soon be able to afford the most powerful a/c known to humankind!

[NYJewboy]

Dom doesn't like too much a/c. It is an old world thing.

[Brklynbobby]

The most powerful a/c will do nothing with people coming in and out all day (not to mention the competition from the oven).

[NYJewboy]

It is BRUTAL in there even in spring!!!!