Sunday, September 09, 2001


excellent weekend! yesterday i made it to di fara's for the artichoke pie. it's heaven.

with the overexpansion and decline of john's, the sale of grimaldi's, and the decay of patsy's, real pizza now means di fara's. domenic, the sage elder pizza artist, is it. this is the only artisan pizza in new york; i don't care what the neapolitan-certified hosteria fiorella thinks. order the margherita or the artichoke pie. only. everything other pizza will suddenly seem to recede in your mind. . .

domenic grinds the cheese by hand, he spreads the pizza by hand; he makes his own sauce from san-marzano-style tomatoes from noted produce provider the orchard; the dough he makes in the back in what has to be a pre-war hobart next to the pots of live basil he's growing towards the side street.

the place is a total dive; it hasn't seen a coat of paint since the korean war, i'm sure, the tables and floor are shocking. but the artichoke pizza is incredible. he uses only the hearts of the freshest globe artichokes -- five artichokes per small pie. thus you understand why the pizza is $4 slice. he sautes the hearts in a mixture of butter and olive oil from umbria. just until they're slightly soft. then he spreads them on a fresh dough circle with just a touch of sauce, fresh mozzarella, and romano. into the gas-fired oven it goes. it doesn't come out until the edges of the hearts are slightly crunchy and toasted. this gives the artichokes a nutty flavor that the olive oil carries to the entire pizza.

worth the trek on the new Q train! my advice: take the N and R to dekalb ave. in brooklyn and then catch the Q. it's a speedy trip, and di fara's is literally 1/2 block from the ave. j stop.

to cap off this great weekend, i finally had a cup of espresso that didn't require sugar. it was by far the best espresso i've ever had in new york so far. where? robin's sherwood forest, a funky neo-bistro on smith st, two blocks beyond wyckoff on the left-hand side of the street. the decor is junk-shop hip; old life-size statues of the guadalupe, a dented chandelier made for a football stadium; a couple of bathtubs, a foosball table, whatever.

have the manager/maitre d' make the espresso. they have a lovely two-group wega atlas. this is the real stuff.

posted by fortune | 2:25 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments