DiFara Pizza Coming to L.A.?
According to the the Huffington Post and the New York Post, DiFara’s, the legendary Brooklyn pizza shop, has plans to open outposts in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas and Arizona. Am I excited? Hell yes. But also concerned that it won’t be the same thing.
The 42 year old Dominick Demarco, Jr. has plans to expand on the pizza legend built by his father. But here’s the thing – in the Brooklyn shop, Dom Senior makes all the pizzas himself, and has for decades until recent years when his health hasn’t been so hot. Sure, the Grande cheese and the other ingredients matter, but Dom Senior is what makes DiFara’s so good. Can Dom Jr. teach all the minute steps in the pizza making process to someone else? We’ll see about that.
Also according the the NY Post story, the Baker’s Pride deck ovens used in Brooklyn will be replaced with Wood Stone gas and wood ovens in the new locations. The domed Wood Stones don’t cook the top of the pizzas in the same way as deck ovens. I don’t know what Junior is thinking, but he’s already changing what works.
The NY Post story claims that Dom Junior wants to alter the local water to chemically replicate New York City tap water. The myth that NY pizza or bagels can’t be produced outsite of New York is bullshit, and I proved it during my own bagel baking experiments. See also the fact that Joe’s Pizza in Santa Monica is just like the Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village. Joe didn’t foist the NYC tap water lie – Joe himself moved to L.A. and taught his staff how to make the dough correctly. The fact that Dom Junior is already pitching the water myth sounds like he’s setting up an excuse for failing to produce pizza like his old man’s.
So bring it, Junior. I can’t wait to try the pizza, and I’ll be the first one to say I was wrong if you pull this one off.
July 15th, 2010 at 9:50 am
I’m so pleased you debunked the nonsensical myth that NYC tap water makes a difference — I completely agree. One minor correction: Joe HAS actually mentioned LA tap water as a problem. But I still think it’s a crock. I’ll be damned if anyone can tell the difference between slices from Joe’s NY and LA branches in a blind taste test.
I’m also with you that it’s a bad idea to replace the deck ovens, and that technique makes a difference. One reason for optimism is that Dom Jr. has been working at Sr.’s side every time I’ve ever been to DiFara. (He’s the surly guy with a mustache.) If anyone knows Dom’s technique, it’s this guy.
One last point. This endeavor shouldn’t be confused with DeMarco’s, a failed pizza venture in NYC by one of Dom’s other kids. I had some very positive experiences at DeMarco’s, but also some awful ones. The lesson I took away from them was that the DiFara model requires EXTREME patience from customers. When you go to DiFara, it’s not uncommon to wait an hour for slices.
Most customers are too impatient to wait that long, so DeMarco’s started cutting corners like reheating slices. That will be the temptation DiFara West has to fight.
July 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Other than a phone call from Gwyneth saying how she’d enjoy meeting me, or the lottery commission sending me a check, there’s very little I want more than for DiFara to open in L.A. with the same quality as the original. I am sincerely waiting with fingers crossed and hope they can do justice to the DiFara name.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Dr. Salt, I’m sure you know about Two Boots pizza in Echo Park near the Echoplex…have you tried it?
July 17th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Greg, haven’t tried Two Boots’ L.A. shop. I wasn’t a big fan of their SoHo shop in NYC. It wasn’t bad, but they made their bones on unusual (relative to NYC pizzeria in the `90′s) toppings. It didn’t compensate for their too thick, cornmeal crust, which I thought was meh. To me, pizza is all about a good crisp crust of the right thickness, chew, and charry crispiness.
We can do a pizza crawl sometime though – Two Boots, Vito’s, and Joe’s West Hollywood and do a slice at each.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Two Boots is fine, but not really NY pizza. I like the Tony Clifton with andouille sausage added.