Di Fara's is closed again for health code violations

A Beloved Brooklyn Pizzeria Is Closed, Again, by the Health Dept.
By DALTON WALKER
Published: June 7, 2007 NYTimes

It was about lunchtime yesterday when Eugene Kaplun stood in front of a pizzeria in Brooklyn, not believing what he was seeing. He read the yellow sign. He read the brown sign. Neither was a menu.

The yellow sign, a notice of closing, had been posted by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The brown sign was a more personal note from the management about why it was closed.

The restaurant in question was Di Fara Pizza, a place in Midwood that is frequently mentioned in arguments about who serves New York’s best slices. Hours-long waits to get in are not uncommon. So finding its doors closed, as they have been since Monday, has been a source of dismay for many would-be diners.

Mr. Kaplun, 18, said he had left class at Brooklyn College and was on his way home to Coney Island when his friends called and asked to meet at their favorite pizzeria.

“I come twice a week, at least,” he said. “This is the best pizza. I don’t want to find a new place.”

The corner of East 15th Street and Avenue J where Di Fara sits was unusually quiet. The pizzeria’s owner, Domenico DeMarco, was not inside making each pie personally, as he has for more than 45 years. Instead, the doors were locked, and newspaper covered the windows.

This is not the first time that Di Fara Pizza was closed by the health department. Its doors were shut on March 15 after inspectors found numerous violations, including rodents. It failed two more inspections before being allowed to reopen on April 2.

On Monday, during another inspection, the pizzeria was cited for unsanitary conditions including flies, a mouse infestation and bare-hand contact with food, said Sara Markt, a health department spokeswoman. The operators also failed to meet some of the conditions they had agreed to in April, like proving that they had passed a food safety course.

Margaret DeMarco, Mr. DeMarco’s daughter, said that the family provided a certificate from a food safety course, but that the health department did not recognize it because it was a photocopy.

Ms. DeMarco, 30, said her family was scheduled to appear at a city tribunal on June 14 to produce the paperwork and to determine any fines and the next steps. Until then, she said, “we sit around and wait; nothing we can do about it.”

“We are just very anxious to open the place,” she added. “This is how we all make our living.”

In recent months, dozens of restaurants, from high-profile establishments like Brasserie La Côte Basque to humble neighborhood sandwich shops, have been closed by the health department. The closings came after a furor in February caused when television cameras captured rats swarming a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant in Greenwich Village the day after a health inspector gave it a passing grade.

With Di Fara’s fate unknown yesterday, people like Fred Darretta, 59, were left with their cravings unsatisfied. Mr. Darretta, who lives on Staten Island and works in Brooklyn, was eating a small chocolate roll instead of a slice from Di Fara. He said he visited the restaurant at least once a week and gladly waited in line.

“I usually take a slice home on Fridays,” Mr. Darretta said. “This is my lunch today.”

Curious onlookers tried to peek past the newspapers and signs on the windows. Some walked away confused or surprised; most walked away hungry. People in passing cars could be seen stretching their necks to read the signs in the window.

One man walked by, shaking his head. The man, Max Kelman, 23, had eaten at Di Fara on Sunday. He said he picked up a pie there most Fridays. “It hurts,” he said. “It’s the best pizza in my life, ever.”

Tony Muia, who operates a pizza tour called A Slice of Brooklyn, has been taking people to some of Brooklyn’s best-known pizzerias for years. He said his tours did not stop at Di Fara Pizza, not because of the quality but because of the long waits. He said he was optimistic that the pizzeria would reopen. But if it does not, he added, “we’ll be losing not only a Brooklyn landmark but a national treasure.”

doublediamond wrote: hmm, I never heard of them but wow, the same guy has been making pizza personally for 45 years? I totally want to try their pizza!