Across Two Rivers

The Hudson and the East. Traversing both and continuing into the Midwood section of Brooklyn (a largely Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, ironically) brings you to one of the most famous pizzerias in New York, Di Fara. A definite schlep, but worth it...

There is just one pizza maker at Di Fara, and that is the owner, Domenico "Dom" DiMarco. He doesn't wear kitchen whites but rather (the day I was there) a blue business shirt and chinos. He has been making pizzas for decades.

The wait is long, the price is high ($25 for a plain whole round pie, $30 for a plain whole square pie, which is his version of a Sicilian.) That deters no one interested in serious pizza.

What makes his pizza so good? Firm crust, delicious tomato sauce, real buffalo mozzarella, handfuls (not token sprinkles) of real Parmesan, drizzles of extra virgin olive oil, a bubbly, well-done finish, and a peerless final benediction, after the pizza leaves the oven, a shower of fresh basil leaves (he takes a scissors to a bunch of basil and snips away, generously, and goes through cases of basil a day).

In my experience, nobody in Jersey makes pizza exactly this way, though Al Santillo in Elizabeth comes close--minus the imported buffalo mozzarella, the Italian tomatoes and the shower of basil leaves.

My roughly 6-week trek through the state in search of its best pizza left no doubt that as a state we are blessed in this department. But Dom DiMarco at Di Fara is, I have to admit, in a league of his own.

Tags: photography | Pizza | Broooklyn | Di Fara Pizza