beyond despondent day.
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Yep. I’m 69 years old. I grew up 4 blocks from DiFara & knew Dom since I was 13. Damn.
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I’m sorry to hear. He was a true artisan.
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Aw man, that’s so sad. May his memory be a blessing.
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Pete Wells in the NYT:
I was last there 5 years ago when our niece organized a birthday party for her kid there, taking over the entire tiny space for 3 hours after they opened. A line of slice-seekers had also already formed and Dom and co. did their best to accommodate them. (I was intrigued that a certain number of people in line had suitcases. Had they come straight from the airport for this pizza? Were they trying to get one last slice before they left? Were they hoping to load up the suitcases with pizza?)
Anyway, it was a great party, as pizza after different pizza emerged at regular intervals according to Dom’s whim.
A huge loss, but he lived a full life.
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I’m wondering what his kids’ plans are. Has the pizzeria remained open?
DiFara has remained open. There was a post on Eater in April re: their plans to expand with a restaurant in Manhattan.
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You youngsters may not remember this but Dom’s daughter opened a short-lived offshoot, DeMarco’s, on Houston in the mid 1990s.
Sorta. There was the corner restaurant and the pizza place next door. From what I remember, Maggie was only marginally (& briefly) involved with the restaurant and Dom hated the idea. Both the restaurant and the pizza place next door were, I believe, majority owned by a long time customer who partnered with one of Dom’s nephews for the pizza place. Dom’s youngest son worked there, but I dont think he owned anything. At any rate, they didnt last long. I never went to the restaurant, which seemed to be doing ok, but the pizza place sucked. My interactions with the nephew gave me some insight into why, but I’ll leave that alone.
From what I understand, Dom’s oldest son has a DiFara’s in Vegas somewhere that Dom approved of and went to see & consult on. I’m pretty sure Maggie is running the Ave J place (as she pretty much has done for years now). She has a good head and I figure we’ll be hearing about some expansions of the brand. I wish her the best.
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Thanks for the clarifications.
Via the Google, the place in Vegas is called Dom DeMarco’s Pizzeria and Bar and is a full service restaurant.
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(post deleted by author)
There are two places in Las Vegas – Dom DeMarco’s as mentioned above, which is a full-service restaurant out in Summerlin. Their pizza is pretty good, although it had too much cheese for my taste.
There’s also DiFara’s, which is more of a “fast” type place in the food court at Caesars Palace on the Strip. They reheat slices (which are fine) and serve not-great lasagna, IMO.
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Thanks Roz. I would go there if I ever ever wanted to go to Vegas again.
Not first hand, but its basically what I was alluding to in terms of the extention of the “brand”. I remember that eater.com reported awhile ago that the LES one was operating out of a ghost kitchen until it opened a permanent restaurant in the South St area. However, the di fara website lists the LES address and says yelp is taking reservations to eat there, so ? Nothing about opening a different place in Manhattan on their site, but it also lists a place in Staten Island that has a pretty full menu and seems to be brick and mortar.
My guess is that Maggie (& probably siblings & maybe even a backer or two) is going for it while the iron is hot. The family is large enough to personally oversee a # of places, with her leading the Ave J one and the “corporation”, so I guess we’ll see what comes of it. Dom wasnt personally pulling all the slices at Ave J for a couple of years, so they probably have some trained folk already.
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Isn’t there one in Staten Island now as well?
