Monday, July 6, 2009

Here We Go Magic


With Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi force feeding themselves cabbage and Pollio string cheese to prepare their stomachs for the next day's hot-dog eating contest at Coney, Pete was forced to enlist the Triple-A squad--Stretch, D-Nice, and Mackey--for an excursion to visit the real master of competitive eating, Domenico De Marco. Many restaurants are overrated and/or overhyped--i.e., Corner Bistro,  Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, Magnolia Bakery, Grimaldi's, etc.--however, despite the overwhelming hype and accolades and hype, DiFara Pizzeria (which Pete once heard name-checked while visiting Victoria Island in British Columbia) on Avenue J in Midwood is definitely not overrated. It is also definitely not efficient and not easy to find a seat to eat at--Pete and the Triple-As waited an hour and a half for their pie and were forced to eat standing up in the rain while using the take-away window as their table. But it was worth it. The square pie is prepared in a slightly different manner than the normal not-so-round ones. The sauce is made with simmered pancetta or prosciutto for one. Dom also bakes the dough with only a layer of sauce on top of it for five or so minutes, then takes out the dough; once it cools, he adds olive oil to the bottom of the pan--which results in the bottom of the pie being super light and yet crispy--and adds the first two cheeses. He then re-sauces and tops the entire thing with an entire thing of bufalo mozzarella. He then puts it back in the oven; upon removal, it gets the same treatment as the not-so-round pies: fresh basil and parmesan. The result is magical; and, even if it wasn't, most folks are so fucking hungry by this point that cabbage and Pollio string cheese would seem like an appealing option.

2 comments:

  1. Haven't had the square pie yet...yum! But yes—the wait has always, always, always been worth it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pete always thinks to himself, "This just isn't worth it." Then, once Pete's belly is full; he thinks, "Maybe, I'll be back next week."

    ReplyDelete