Not Something *I* Cooked, but Nevertheless, a Culinary Landmark

I just had Di Fara Pizza over the weekend. It's considered one of the best examples of Sicilian style pizza around. The place is a riot... it's in a dingy storefront in the middle of a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn. So you wait in line while all these guys wearing fur hats that were haute couture back in the days of Ivan the Terrible walk by. (We were there on the Sabbath so walk was all they were doing.)

Because the weather was crummy, we got there at 11:30, after a truly incomprehensible but very efficient ride my friend Anthony directed me on, and were second in line after some guy from Pennsylvania who ran a restaurant there and came to Brooklyn for ideas. We ordered a plain pie and a sausage one, the square, plus a slice of the plain round for an appetizer. The round is more "Brooklyn" style and the square definitely more Sicilian. It is a work of art made by old man Dominic Di Fara and a few assistants. The pizza is a bit on the watery side because it uses a fairly fresh tomato sauce with a cheese mix that includes buffalo mozzarella, but when it's right out of the oven it's really great. The square was the champ and the sausage was, frankly, a distraction---just get the plain, which is tomato sauce, cheese and basil chiffonade.

I won't say it was the best pizza I've ever had (that prize still goes to Papa Del's thin with sausage and green olive, cooked until the cheese is brown, at least when Pop's has a decent kitchen staff) but this was good stuff.