Jackson Heights Life

My girlfriend lives in Midwood, where the store is located. I am lucky she introduced me to this connoisseur. Domenico Demarco has been there for over 35 years, a culinary master. He is particular in making food; He has his children hand him the ingredients and supplies while he masters the art of pizza.  No one else aids him. The wait can be over two hours, especially on weekends.   It truly is the best pizza (IMO): I've tried Famous Ray's (all of them) and Grimaldi's.  Whenever I am there, I run into people who travel from all over the country JUST to try his pizza.  Patrons from other countries even visit NY and specifically make DiFara's part of their visiting agenda.  Slices are now 4 dollars, but it's of course worth getting a 20 dollar pie consisting of 8 slices.  Sure, Jackson Heights may have great restaurants and a wide selection of diverse eateries, but DiFara definitely has it's merit in the Pizzeria realm. If we had Difara's, Jackson Heights would be way more desired.

I heard about Nicks as well. I not such a pizza lover to schlep all the to Midwood, unless I was in that area. Of course, I've heard about the long waits and not be serviced in order of "first come, first serve."

I have not tried DiFara's, although I sure hope to sometime soon.  I think Nick's is great, as is Totono's in Coney Island.

Here's a great website for serious pizza lovers, in case you haven't seen it:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/

Dawnie, thanks for your reply.  I like pizza, but hubby absolutely loves it.  Sooo...we're always on the hunt for a good slice.  One of these weekends we'll have to schlep ourselves over into Brooklyn to try Spumoni Gardens.

By the way, I'm a non-traditionalist when it comes to pizza.  I love experimenting with assorted toppings.

Just please don't tell me that you really eat it with ham and pineapple! :tickedoff:

Not exactly.  Although, I have tried it but not a fan of that combination.  There's a pizzeria located within Bay Terrace in Bayside called Jacks.  This place has a nice assortment of prepared slices, including ham and pineapple.  My favorite combos are the broccoli on white pizza, the chicken cutlet pizza, eggplant, spinach and many others.  They even have a salad topped pizza.  Turnover is fast, so the pizza is always fresh and delicious...probably not to the same standards as the better known pizzerias, but still pretty good.  I wish we had a place like this in JH.

When we were dating, my husband and I would frequent a place called V&Ts on Amsterdam Avenue, across from St. John the Divine.  Great pizza with again, loads of toppings!

DiFara's is good pizza but $4.00 is expensive especially when we all eat more then 1 slice.  Anyway, the BEST pizza in Brooklyn is L & B Spumoni Gardens 2725 86th St, Brooklyn, NY (718) 449-1230 "Delish"  Plus, they have a restaurant there to and you can get from Spaghetti & meatballs to calamari almost anything you want is there for a reasonable price.  In the summer time they have ices & gelato's, I could go own.  Please try this place, it is by far one of the best pizzeria's around!!! Don't be discouraged by the lines, they move fast!!!!  Happy Eating!!! :smiley6600:

now I want pizza....back to work I go.
 

     4 Dollars a slice is the most expensive in the city, but Dom raised the charges based upon inflation.  All of his ingredients are imported.  Frugally speaking, it's best to get a 20 dollar pie consisting of 8 slices.  Not only that, but it's well worth it for top of the line good. He uses extra virgin olive oil, three types of cheeses, basil, chunky tomato sauce on an amazing thin crust - All extracting from Italy!  I've been a pizza fan since I came out of my mother's womb and have always voyaged through out the 5 boroughs for the epitome of godly pizza (I guess we are entitled to stand tough on our opinions . Every time I am in there, I run into someone from Washington DC (just traveled for the pizza!) and other parts of the North-East American territory.  As mentioned, I also run into people who are from the west coast and parts of Europe as well - but they are stationed in NYC for a few days and not just for the pizza

     It's a bit of a travel and if you get there early to mid day; during the week, It shouldn't take no more than half an hour to be served.  The Q train goes to Avenue J in Brooklyn and the pizzeria is on the corner of E 15th Street and on Avenue J.  About an hour and 10 minutes from Jackson Heights - Roosevelt Avenue. (A correction from my earlier post, he's been doing this for around 45 years!) I'll leave you all with some poetry that has been based upon Difara:

                           'A Million Craving Palates Lining Ave. J'
                                 Difara's Freehand Recipe

                        Popping, crackling Golden Bertolli! kisses the fresh dough
                        Tomatoes from Salerno
                        Buffalo mozzarella from Caserta,
                        and Fior di Latte,
                        and Parmigiano Reggiano
                        Mysterious burnt bubbles-
                        hissing virgin olive oil,
                        slow and steady
                        spreading dough for the Grand Experiment
                        from early, early in the day we Stand - Papa, the kids
                        and a million craving palates lining Ave. J -
                        for Brooklyn/Italian Pizza as an Art
                        'til the moon waxes and wanes and
                        the Mozzarella Master retires at midnight
                        with a vintage bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella
 

I'm a DiFara's fan.  Once made my parents drive there from LI to meet me there for my birthday - on a 95 degree weather day - and he doesn't have a/c - and we had to wait about an hour for our 2 pies!  Luckily we had wine with us.  I was *very* lucky the first time I went in that I was with a crowd that included one of the few people who have ever managed to make friends with Dom and he made us several pies and this massive calzone-like thing . . . one of the best meals of my life.

But, really, you have to know yourself - if you're willing to go somewhere that's a trip for you - and possibly wait a long time - in a place that's no more comfortable than any other storefront slice shop - and where there's no system to when you might get your food - than, yes, it is the best pizza I've ever had.  But you have to just accept all that, therefore the endless debates on C'hound year after year about it (and people being disappointed that after all that, it's just pizza though, to me, amazing pizza).

I can't imagine just going for a slice all the way from JH.  I'd only go with a couple of people - get one round and one square (they're different and both delicious) with one or no toppings, bring a bottle of wine (and an opener - though maybe after he got shut down by the DOH a year or so ago he's less willing to turn a blind eye to drinking??).  Some people colonize a table, one person stays near the counter so you have a prayer of getting your pizzas.  Bring home the leftovers.

Damn.  Got to get back there!