Count

5/18/2009

Pizza Mecca in Pizza Mecca

I don't think many would dispute that New York City is the mecca of pizza (Settle down, Chicagoians, deep dish pizza is more like cheese). And the best pizza in New York is a hole in the wall in the middle of Brooklyn called Di Fara. Um... best pizza, as awarded by New York Magazine, not just Josekin. See Wikipedia (wikipedia!?), Citysearch, Yelp... and a fascinating read on the secrets of Di Fara.

Anyway, I went with my friend HW (His Q&A style review) and his friend C (Her review of Di Fara). The 45 minute ride on the Q-line brought us to the middle of no where.

It was another 45-minute wait before we got a slice of Sicilian Pizza while we waited for the half artichoke half regular pie. This might be a good place to bring up the fact that I overcut my right thumb nail - apparently, my hand cannot handle hot pizza when my thumb doesn't work. Arg. Ops, I'm distracted again: the pizza was excellent and exceptionally good. Very delicious with perfect mozzarella and margherita resting on a crisp and thin crust. The fresh basil as well as the bucket of olive oil was simmering through the whole slice.

Another awesome thing at Di Fara is that you watch the master chef Dom do his thing: making the crust, putting the ingredients on, placing the pizza in the oven, taking it out WITH HIS BARE HANDS, cutting fresh basil on it, adding olive oil... the whole nine yards.



Similar to the Sicilian slice, the round pie was also very good, if not better (it was definitely easier to handle). Due to the nature of the pie, the crust was better and I like crusts very much. On an adjacent table, however, one customer had a pretty burnt crust... anyway, I liked the plain pizza more than the artichoke side. Like I said, very similar to the sicilian slice.


Since we are in the middle of no where, after Di Fara, we had no choice but to take the 45 minute ride back to the city (or, if you fancy, a few stops to Coney Island!).

Verdict: it takes time to go to Mecca, so go at least once! Highly recommended for the overall experience. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it is the best cus I haven't had enough pizza... but I'm pretty sure this was one that I wouldn't taste elsewhere. In fact, I'm in trouble... I can't go back to $3 slices on the NY streets!

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