I just got some Di Fara news from Dom DeMarco's daughter, Maggie. She says that the celebrated Midwood pizzeria will be raising slice prices to $5, a sum that we at Slice believe is the highest priced plain slice outside a ballpark or airport. Plain slices at Di Fara were previously $4 a pop.
Pie prices will also go up for a few dollars, Maggie says.
Other news: Di Fara will now be closing on Tuesdays as well as Mondays.
Update (7/7/2009): Just got further word from Maggie. The plain pies are now $25, square pies are $30, special round pies are $30, and special square pies are $35.
All the traffic will bear. Sounds like way too much to me, but I'm one of those who think my homemade pies are the best and haven't eaten a store bought pizza in a looong time.
So let me get this straight - Dom wants the same salary but wants to work 2 less days, and the customer gets to pay his welfare. I have an idea - TEACH SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE A PIZZA!
Bejeebus - will the suckers continue to spend 5 bucks a slice to eat at Dom's? Of course - it's no longer pizza, it's pizza chauvinism.
@JiminHolland: I hear ya, but I'll put on my Di Fara apologist hat and say that the customer was ALWAYS paying Dom's "welfare" or retirement fund* or whatever label you choose to put on it. Di Fara can and will raise its prices to whatever the market will bear—and judging by the crowd, the $1 increase will likely have little effect on the line or wait times.
The one thing I wonder about is whether the folks in the neighborhood there will pay $5. For them, that's their neighborhood slice joint, not a tourist destination that they're making a night of in visiting. The increase might turn the place into all-pizza-tourists-all-the-time rather than 90 percent pizza tourist.
@JimInHolland: anyone can be taught to make a pizza, however very few of those taught care enough to apply said teaching to each and every pizza made thereafter. Consistency and endurance are hard to teach.
Personally, I think $5 a slice is very steep, especially given the long wait many people endure to obtain a slice from DiFara's. If they are going to raise their prices by 25%, Dom, Maggie and family should definitely bring some structure to the ordering process. In the end, as with any business, the customer base will decide how much of a price increase they will bear for a particular item.
Personally, I find $5 hard to take. But Di Fara has never been my regular $2 slice lunch or dinner. As I mentioned above, I, like many people, make an occasion out of going to the place, so the price jump likely won't affect how often I go (maybe 4 times a year anymore—the insane crowds thinned my visitation frequency years ago).
I am kind of shocked that people will still line up for $5.00 a slice of pizza. I don't care how amazing it is, there are places that are still decent that I would rather go to. At some point you manage to just piss off the customers. They did treat me like gold when I went to do my review, and they are really nice people, but $5.00 is way too excessive. Not like the extra money goes to decorating the place.
@Adam: The $5 is hard to take. However, being nearly 200 miles away, it is not gonna effect how often I go there (I just went for my first time and will go maybe once more in the next year). The slices are very damned good though.
Still, at $5 per slice, you're not too far from the price range where I better get a slice and a fluff job ;)
$5 can feed 5 lunches on St. Mark's Pl. Granted he makes great pizzas, but right now, I think everyone is watching one's own pocket, not to mention the time waiting online.
Is this really a case of business being so good that Di Faras can close an extra day AND put up the prices? (as some seem to suggest)
Or is this rather a case of other circumstances preventing Tuesday business and the logical (at least in my mind) rise in prices to maintain the same level of weekly income? (Pure speculation, mind).
The $5 slice will probably not deter business all that much there. People will still visit and pay the extra money. And, yes, it probably is in response to the projected loss of income from Tuesday business. "Other circumstances" just might be that Dom is in his early 70s now and he's been doing pizza at the place 7 days a week without a vacation for most of the pizzeria's existence. I think the guy has earned 2 friggin' days a week off. And if he has to charge more to do it, so be it.
Think of it as reverse Darminism: it's a great way to weed the smart people out of the line so only the dumbasses remain. If he can find a way to sterilize those still willing to wait & pay $5 the world will actually improve!
I have yet tried Di Fara's, but you bet he'll get what he's asking for. Now that the G train is going to his neighborhood, crowds are gonna get stiffer. He's making bank. I'll stick with Nick's in Forest Hills.
@hungry_traveler: What is wrong with him making bank? Based on articles over the past few years, I don't believe Dom's primary reason for making pizza is to make a lot of money. If it was, he might look to potentially add another location or, even easier, speed up the time it takes for him to dress a skin before cooking in the oven, which would allow him to cook more pizzas and make more profit. Even a 15% speed up in his skin dressing time would make a meaningful annual difference in his profit.
If I understand correctly (someone please correct me if I am wrong), the real serious crowds at DiFara are a relatively recent occurance, as in the past 10 years or so? If that's true, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Dom has not made a large amount of money over the years. If he has made a lot of money, then more power to him. If you can do something you are passionate about and in an honest manner, which is what people like Dom appear to be doing, then what is wrong with making money, potentially a lot of money, by doing so? I would also not be surprised if Dom does not have the kind of medical benefits many of us have access to through our jobs. At 73, there could be all types of expenses Dom may be incurring and these could potentially be tied into the price hike....who knows?
Yes, I have already voiced I feel $5 for a slice is steep. Still, I would rather eat two slices of Dom's pies than the four slices that money would by at a place like Lenny's for example. I agree with Adam....Dom is 73 years old, he should be able to take a couple of days off a week (as a business owner, he can make whatever decision he wants, not that all choices would be beneficial to the business).
BTW, Nick's in Forest Hills is some seriously good pie....perhaps the best non-coal or wood fired pizza in the USA?
@Paulie Gee: do you live in Brooklyn or Jersey? For some reason, maybe due to the limoncello article posted on a Jersey paper's site, I though you lived in the Garden State?
@Pizzablogger Don't get me wrong. More power to Dom for making the best of his modest enterprise. It's, after all, what makes America and, more so, Brooklyn great. Di Fara's is on my bucket list none the less.
@Paulie Gee: I stand corrected but I'm still heading to Midwood.
I'm one of those guys who would happily pay $5 for a truly stellar slice (okay - maybe not happily but I would) ... but I wouldn't pay that much AND wait 45 minutes to an hour.
I hope I didn't leave the wrong impression in my last comment. To clarify - I don't think it at all unreasonable for Dom to close for 2 of 7 days a week (I doubt at 73 I'd be half as fit to be working those hours/days). I was just curious whether there had been any mention of reasons for the change. That said, it's his decision and hardly my place (or anyone else's) to question it.
I wish him all the best, and hope one day that I will make it to Di Fara's to sample the legendary slice.
FP
@pizzablogger Yes I do live in Central Jersey, but spent my first 30 years in the Borough of Kings. And I seem to be spending more time there than in the Garden State recently. And I expect that trend to continue. Dylan Thomas was wrong.
@hungry_traveler I love that Gee train. It now starts at the station of my youth and makes it last Brooklyn stop in Greenpoint, my favorite NYC neighborhood.
@PGee: Dude, you are too figgin' much! When I come up to stay for a weekend in NYC, you can most likely find me in Greenpoint, where my friend lives. It's a fantastic neighborhood....has that small town feel to it almost. And the Polish "scenery" is always nice to look at as well, not to mention a killer view across the East River and a great local in the Mark Bar.
@Mooner: Eight slices to a pie—at least most standard NYC-style pies. So, yeah, theoretically a $40 pie. But at the old price of $4 a slice, the pies were $20—a $12 discount for whole-pie purchase as opposed to by-the-slice. Doing the math, I'm guessing the new whole-pie price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.
$4 slices (at old price) x 8 slices = $32
$20/pie (old price) ÷ $32/by-the-slice = 0.625
0.625 x $40/by-the-slice = $25
@pizzablogger The area around Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue rocks. Only one thing missing. The freebee slices at The Alligator Lounge II don't count.
I love Dom and the price doesn't matter but the lines. Think I'll stick to Patsy's on 117th Street, no line, fantastic slices, though I hear they may raise their price in sympathy to $2.00 a slice from the current $1.75. ;)
--Guttergourmet
The problem is many of the top tier slice places in Manahattan took their cue from DiFara and raised their prices just below the old $4.00 plateau that he established. Even pizza places in NJ posted articles surrounding his last price increase almost using it as justification for any moderate increases that they had considered.
Many places are already charging $3.50 to $3.75 for Fresh Mozzarella slices. These places may not be as good as DiFara's, but they feel that they invest a substantial portion of their overhead into their ingredients and have higher rents to maintain, and will now be emboldened by the move.
When the prices were raised the last time he had some compelling circumstances that were dictating an increase:
1. Soaring cost of dairy.
2. The increasing strength of the Euro against the dollar, that impacted imported products like Mozzarella Di Bufala and imported Olive Oils etc.
At this point the price of dairy has fallen significantly and the currency situation is more stable, so the only reason for the increase is to max out the profits and subsidize the new 5 day schedule.
The unintended consequences of this move is that he is actually setting the market for other vendors and thus making decent pizza more expensive for everyone.
Top Tier is relative I guess, especially with the lack of truly great slice places in Manhattan, but I will use one Manhattan place as an example. Pizza 33 serves a respectable Margarita slice that is now $3.75 just below the $4.00 mark that Di Fara had established. They use San Marzano tomatoes and a quality fresh Mozzarella. They may not run out tomorrow and publish a price increase over what Di Fara has done, but I am sure that with the next up surge in dairy, or other ingredients they will use it as a pretext to bring their prices closer to the $5.00 price point that Dom has now established. Others places that are spending more on their ingredients will follow suit as well. The places that are already using shitty Sysco products will keep their prices the same, because cheapness is their only strength.
Moving on to whole pies... how long do you think it will be before Mangieri at Una Pizza will be raising the price of his Pizza's to the $30.00 level? He already has gone on record as stating that he feels his pizza are worth $50.00 if the market would bear it. This might be hyperbole on his part, but I do not think his ego would allow him to stay at a "paltry" $26.00 price point for very long.
@Anthony A: Ah, yeah. Those special Margherita slices that places serve. I generally avoid them because they're usually more expensive than a regular slice and the uptick in quality is generally not worth it—particularly if it's a slice pie that has been sitting around on the counter for who knows how long.
Speaking of increases, it's always fascinating/maddening to see a new place open (and here I'm talking about Neapolitan-style places), charge a relatively inexpensive price for a pie, and then jack up the prices as soon as a steady crowd of diners forms around the place.
Pizza has unfortunately become divorced from its peasant roots.
first of all, I live in California, which is great for surf, but mostly a pizza wasteland. there are some terrible places charging way too much for their awful product out here. one place, unfortunately across the street from where I work, is a chain called Pizzeria Venti ("America's Only Authentic Sliceria") -- more like authentic garbageria, and they charge $4 a slice for their pathetic soggy version of Ellio's.
so to me, $5 a slice for the greatest pizza in the universe is no big deal. it's more than twice as good as an average slice.
for all the people who feel it is too expensive... please go ahead and eat elsewhere... i don't think those of us who think Di Fara is worth it at any price will mind less people there.
I have absolutely no problem with these prices. I couldn't afford to eat there or have the time to wait every day, but this isn't about that. This pizza is special, something to set aside time for, not some crap to shove in your mouth when you want something fast. Everytime I come home to NYC I head straight to DiFara. I almost had a heart attack when I read the headline of another blog that the restaurant was closing. Thank God it is back open and I hope Dom is feeling okay after his surgery.
1. You are getting quality ingredients and food made by someone who actually cares about what he's making you, without pretensions
2. Dom works his rear off and has done so for years, he deserves to get paid for it and take another day off!
3. You should be going to DiFara to get a whole pie anyway!
This weekend I will be at DiFara and the time can't go by fast enough until then...
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41 Comments:
All the traffic will bear. Sounds like way too much to me, but I'm one of those who think my homemade pies are the best and haven't eaten a store bought pizza in a looong time.
grampart at 8:52AM on 07/06/09
So let me get this straight - Dom wants the same salary but wants to work 2 less days, and the customer gets to pay his welfare. I have an idea - TEACH SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE A PIZZA!
Bejeebus - will the suckers continue to spend 5 bucks a slice to eat at Dom's? Of course - it's no longer pizza, it's pizza chauvinism.
JimInHolland at 9:16AM on 07/06/09
How much were the slices before the increase, do they include toppings and how big are they?
phaelon56 at 9:24AM on 07/06/09
@phaelon56: Plain slices were previously $4. The new $5 price does not include toppings.
Adam Kuban at 10:04AM on 07/06/09
If he can get it, good for him.
ratbuddy at 10:05AM on 07/06/09
@JiminHolland: I hear ya, but I'll put on my Di Fara apologist hat and say that the customer was ALWAYS paying Dom's "welfare" or retirement fund* or whatever label you choose to put on it. Di Fara can and will raise its prices to whatever the market will bear—and judging by the crowd, the $1 increase will likely have little effect on the line or wait times.
The one thing I wonder about is whether the folks in the neighborhood there will pay $5. For them, that's their neighborhood slice joint, not a tourist destination that they're making a night of in visiting. The increase might turn the place into all-pizza-tourists-all-the-time rather than 90 percent pizza tourist.
* Not that he'll ever retire.
Adam Kuban at 10:10AM on 07/06/09
@JimInHolland: anyone can be taught to make a pizza, however very few of those taught care enough to apply said teaching to each and every pizza made thereafter. Consistency and endurance are hard to teach.
Personally, I think $5 a slice is very steep, especially given the long wait many people endure to obtain a slice from DiFara's. If they are going to raise their prices by 25%, Dom, Maggie and family should definitely bring some structure to the ordering process. In the end, as with any business, the customer base will decide how much of a price increase they will bear for a particular item.
Pizzablogger at 10:18AM on 07/06/09
Personally, I find $5 hard to take. But Di Fara has never been my regular $2 slice lunch or dinner. As I mentioned above, I, like many people, make an occasion out of going to the place, so the price jump likely won't affect how often I go (maybe 4 times a year anymore—the insane crowds thinned my visitation frequency years ago).
Adam Kuban at 10:21AM on 07/06/09
I am kind of shocked that people will still line up for $5.00 a slice of pizza. I don't care how amazing it is, there are places that are still decent that I would rather go to. At some point you manage to just piss off the customers. They did treat me like gold when I went to do my review, and they are really nice people, but $5.00 is way too excessive. Not like the extra money goes to decorating the place.
pizzaexpert at 10:32AM on 07/06/09
Maybe people will buy more whole pies instead of slices now? And yea... dude should teach someone else to make the pies...
foodinmouth at 10:32AM on 07/06/09
@Adam: The $5 is hard to take. However, being nearly 200 miles away, it is not gonna effect how often I go there (I just went for my first time and will go maybe once more in the next year). The slices are very damned good though.
Still, at $5 per slice, you're not too far from the price range where I better get a slice and a fluff job ;)
Pizzablogger at 10:32AM on 07/06/09
This all fine by me. Any steps that this man can take to keep his product, and his enjoyment of making the product, at this level is a good idea.
JudgeFudge at 10:40AM on 07/06/09
$5 can feed 5 lunches on St. Mark's Pl. Granted he makes great pizzas, but right now, I think everyone is watching one's own pocket, not to mention the time waiting online.
gargupie at 11:24AM on 07/06/09
Is this really a case of business being so good that Di Faras can close an extra day AND put up the prices? (as some seem to suggest)
Or is this rather a case of other circumstances preventing Tuesday business and the logical (at least in my mind) rise in prices to maintain the same level of weekly income? (Pure speculation, mind).
foolishpoolish at 12:35PM on 07/06/09
@foolishpoolish: Both, I'd say.
The $5 slice will probably not deter business all that much there. People will still visit and pay the extra money. And, yes, it probably is in response to the projected loss of income from Tuesday business. "Other circumstances" just might be that Dom is in his early 70s now and he's been doing pizza at the place 7 days a week without a vacation for most of the pizzeria's existence. I think the guy has earned 2 friggin' days a week off. And if he has to charge more to do it, so be it.
Adam Kuban at 12:55PM on 07/06/09
There's a sucker born every minute.
cliffyb at 1:05PM on 07/06/09
Think of it as reverse Darminism: it's a great way to weed the smart people out of the line so only the dumbasses remain. If he can find a way to sterilize those still willing to wait & pay $5 the world will actually improve!
f650gsd at 1:33PM on 07/06/09
I have yet tried Di Fara's, but you bet he'll get what he's asking for. Now that the G train is going to his neighborhood, crowds are gonna get stiffer. He's making bank. I'll stick with Nick's in Forest Hills.
hungry_traveler at 1:37PM on 07/06/09
@hungry_traveler. The G Train is not going near his place. It will now end at the Church Avenue station (at MacDonald).
Perhaps this is their way of keeping the crowds down in response to my post yesterday.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 1:49PM on 07/06/09
worth every penny- best pies in NY City, hands down. it's no sally's though...
frankbooth at 2:58PM on 07/06/09
@hungry_traveler: What is wrong with him making bank? Based on articles over the past few years, I don't believe Dom's primary reason for making pizza is to make a lot of money. If it was, he might look to potentially add another location or, even easier, speed up the time it takes for him to dress a skin before cooking in the oven, which would allow him to cook more pizzas and make more profit. Even a 15% speed up in his skin dressing time would make a meaningful annual difference in his profit.
If I understand correctly (someone please correct me if I am wrong), the real serious crowds at DiFara are a relatively recent occurance, as in the past 10 years or so? If that's true, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Dom has not made a large amount of money over the years. If he has made a lot of money, then more power to him. If you can do something you are passionate about and in an honest manner, which is what people like Dom appear to be doing, then what is wrong with making money, potentially a lot of money, by doing so? I would also not be surprised if Dom does not have the kind of medical benefits many of us have access to through our jobs. At 73, there could be all types of expenses Dom may be incurring and these could potentially be tied into the price hike....who knows?
Yes, I have already voiced I feel $5 for a slice is steep. Still, I would rather eat two slices of Dom's pies than the four slices that money would by at a place like Lenny's for example. I agree with Adam....Dom is 73 years old, he should be able to take a couple of days off a week (as a business owner, he can make whatever decision he wants, not that all choices would be beneficial to the business).
BTW, Nick's in Forest Hills is some seriously good pie....perhaps the best non-coal or wood fired pizza in the USA?
Pizzablogger at 3:13PM on 07/06/09
@Paulie Gee: do you live in Brooklyn or Jersey? For some reason, maybe due to the limoncello article posted on a Jersey paper's site, I though you lived in the Garden State?
Pizzablogger at 3:16PM on 07/06/09
@Pizzablogger Don't get me wrong. More power to Dom for making the best of his modest enterprise. It's, after all, what makes America and, more so, Brooklyn great. Di Fara's is on my bucket list none the less.
@Paulie Gee: I stand corrected but I'm still heading to Midwood.
hungry_traveler at 3:48PM on 07/06/09
I'm one of those guys who would happily pay $5 for a truly stellar slice (okay - maybe not happily but I would) ... but I wouldn't pay that much AND wait 45 minutes to an hour.
phaelon56 at 4:05PM on 07/06/09
I hope I didn't leave the wrong impression in my last comment. To clarify - I don't think it at all unreasonable for Dom to close for 2 of 7 days a week (I doubt at 73 I'd be half as fit to be working those hours/days). I was just curious whether there had been any mention of reasons for the change. That said, it's his decision and hardly my place (or anyone else's) to question it.
I wish him all the best, and hope one day that I will make it to Di Fara's to sample the legendary slice.
FP
foolishpoolish at 4:06PM on 07/06/09
@pizzablogger Yes I do live in Central Jersey, but spent my first 30 years in the Borough of Kings. And I seem to be spending more time there than in the Garden State recently. And I expect that trend to continue. Dylan Thomas was wrong.
@hungry_traveler I love that Gee train. It now starts at the station of my youth and makes it last Brooklyn stop in Greenpoint, my favorite NYC neighborhood.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 4:53PM on 07/06/09
@PGee: Dude, you are too figgin' much! When I come up to stay for a weekend in NYC, you can most likely find me in Greenpoint, where my friend lives. It's a fantastic neighborhood....has that small town feel to it almost. And the Polish "scenery" is always nice to look at as well, not to mention a killer view across the East River and a great local in the Mark Bar.
Pizzablogger at 5:01PM on 07/06/09
$5 is way too much for a slice. but I suppose it could be worth it if it is excellent!
These days, you can get a medium pizza w/ one topping for 5-6 bucks at least in my neighborhood!
I wish him good luck
jlew911 at 5:37PM on 07/06/09
I am assuming there is 8 slices to a pie?? So that's a $40 pizza?? YIKES!
Even if they are large slices and it's a 6 slice pizza, $30 is still too much.
Mooner at 9:39PM on 07/06/09
@Mooner: Eight slices to a pie—at least most standard NYC-style pies. So, yeah, theoretically a $40 pie. But at the old price of $4 a slice, the pies were $20—a $12 discount for whole-pie purchase as opposed to by-the-slice. Doing the math, I'm guessing the new whole-pie price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.
$4 slices (at old price) x 8 slices = $32
$20/pie (old price) ÷ $32/by-the-slice = 0.625
0.625 x $40/by-the-slice = $25
Someone can doublecheck me on that math, tho.
Adam Kuban at 10:04PM on 07/06/09
@pizzablogger The area around Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue rocks. Only one thing missing. The freebee slices at The Alligator Lounge II don't count.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 12:12AM on 07/07/09
I am having a hard time not taking this personally
STFUDonnie at 12:51AM on 07/07/09
Do they actually sell a lot of slices? Every time I've been the majority of people get whole pies.
bobbob at 8:40AM on 07/07/09
@Adam Kuban: My whole pizza and San Pellegrino Limonata came to a total of $27, so I think you are on the mark with the new price
@Paulie Gee: My friend lives on Franklin Street....that area is definitely way cool!
Pizzablogger at 9:36AM on 07/07/09
I love Dom and the price doesn't matter but the lines. Think I'll stick to Patsy's on 117th Street, no line, fantastic slices, though I hear they may raise their price in sympathy to $2.00 a slice from the current $1.75. ;)
--Guttergourmet
guttergour at 8:35PM on 07/07/09
The problem is many of the top tier slice places in Manahattan took their cue from DiFara and raised their prices just below the old $4.00 plateau that he established. Even pizza places in NJ posted articles surrounding his last price increase almost using it as justification for any moderate increases that they had considered.
Many places are already charging $3.50 to $3.75 for Fresh Mozzarella slices. These places may not be as good as DiFara's, but they feel that they invest a substantial portion of their overhead into their ingredients and have higher rents to maintain, and will now be emboldened by the move.
When the prices were raised the last time he had some compelling circumstances that were dictating an increase:
1. Soaring cost of dairy.
2. The increasing strength of the Euro against the dollar, that impacted imported products like Mozzarella Di Bufala and imported Olive Oils etc.
At this point the price of dairy has fallen significantly and the currency situation is more stable, so the only reason for the increase is to max out the profits and subsidize the new 5 day schedule.
The unintended consequences of this move is that he is actually setting the market for other vendors and thus making decent pizza more expensive for everyone.
Anthony A at 11:31PM on 07/07/09
@Anthony A: Good point. I thought of that, too. What top tier places in Manhattan are you thinking of?
Adam Kuban at 11:48PM on 07/07/09
Top Tier is relative I guess, especially with the lack of truly great slice places in Manhattan, but I will use one Manhattan place as an example. Pizza 33 serves a respectable Margarita slice that is now $3.75 just below the $4.00 mark that Di Fara had established. They use San Marzano tomatoes and a quality fresh Mozzarella. They may not run out tomorrow and publish a price increase over what Di Fara has done, but I am sure that with the next up surge in dairy, or other ingredients they will use it as a pretext to bring their prices closer to the $5.00 price point that Dom has now established. Others places that are spending more on their ingredients will follow suit as well. The places that are already using shitty Sysco products will keep their prices the same, because cheapness is their only strength.
Moving on to whole pies... how long do you think it will be before Mangieri at Una Pizza will be raising the price of his Pizza's to the $30.00 level? He already has gone on record as stating that he feels his pizza are worth $50.00 if the market would bear it. This might be hyperbole on his part, but I do not think his ego would allow him to stay at a "paltry" $26.00 price point for very long.
Anthony A at 12:14AM on 07/08/09
@Anthony A: Ah, yeah. Those special Margherita slices that places serve. I generally avoid them because they're usually more expensive than a regular slice and the uptick in quality is generally not worth it—particularly if it's a slice pie that has been sitting around on the counter for who knows how long.
Speaking of increases, it's always fascinating/maddening to see a new place open (and here I'm talking about Neapolitan-style places), charge a relatively inexpensive price for a pie, and then jack up the prices as soon as a steady crowd of diners forms around the place.
Pizza has unfortunately become divorced from its peasant roots.
Adam Kuban at 12:27AM on 07/08/09
first of all, I live in California, which is great for surf, but mostly a pizza wasteland. there are some terrible places charging way too much for their awful product out here. one place, unfortunately across the street from where I work, is a chain called Pizzeria Venti ("America's Only Authentic Sliceria") -- more like authentic garbageria, and they charge $4 a slice for their pathetic soggy version of Ellio's.
so to me, $5 a slice for the greatest pizza in the universe is no big deal. it's more than twice as good as an average slice.
for all the people who feel it is too expensive... please go ahead and eat elsewhere... i don't think those of us who think Di Fara is worth it at any price will mind less people there.
Dom is Love!
pizzajake at 8:23PM on 07/08/09
I have absolutely no problem with these prices. I couldn't afford to eat there or have the time to wait every day, but this isn't about that. This pizza is special, something to set aside time for, not some crap to shove in your mouth when you want something fast. Everytime I come home to NYC I head straight to DiFara. I almost had a heart attack when I read the headline of another blog that the restaurant was closing. Thank God it is back open and I hope Dom is feeling okay after his surgery.
1. You are getting quality ingredients and food made by someone who actually cares about what he's making you, without pretensions
2. Dom works his rear off and has done so for years, he deserves to get paid for it and take another day off!
3. You should be going to DiFara to get a whole pie anyway!
This weekend I will be at DiFara and the time can't go by fast enough until then...
heymarie at 12:02PM on 07/16/09