Showing posts with label Totonnos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Totonnos. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

THE HISTORY of NEW YORK PIZZA

 
LOMBARDI'S
The ROOT of ALL GREAT PIZZA In AMERICA
GENARO LOMARDI With PIZZAIOLO ANTHONY PERO (Totonno's)
 
 

1905: Gennaro Lombardi’s opens America's "First Ever Pizzeria" at  53 1/2 Spring St. in Lower Manhattam, New York, NY .. Some famed Pizzaioli  (Pizza Makers) work there over the years;Anthony Pero founder of Totonno's Coney Island, John Sasso of John's Pizza Bleecker Street, and Pasquale Lancieri aka "Patsy" who opens "Patsy's Pizzeria in Eats Harlem. A Pizza cost a Nickel at Lombardi's in 1905 ..

1924: Anthony “Totonno” Pero opens Totonno’s in Coney Island. Establishes unusual ritual that some Pizzerias carry on to this day. When the dough runs out, the Pizzeria close for the day.

1929: John Sasso opens John’s Pizzeria on Bleecker Street.

1933: Pasquale “Patsy” Lancieri opens Patsy’s in East Harlem.

1956: Average cost of a slice of New York pizza: 15 cents. Price keeps pace with cost of subway fare, seen as a kind of an economic indicator.

1959: Ralph Cuomo opens Ray’s Pizza on Prince Street.

1964: Di Fara Pizza opens in Midwood, Brooklyn.

1977: Saturday Night FeverJohn Travolta double-slices it at Lenny’s in Bay Ridge.

1990: Three Ray’s owners, none of them named Ray, band together, form a coalition to trademark the name, and eliminate impostors, or make them pay a fee.

1994: Seventy-nine people are arrested for operating an international drug ring out of a midtown Famous Original Ray’s.

2004: Anthony Mangieri opens Una Pizza Napoletana. Some cal him "The Pizza Nazi" 

2004: Zagat awards Di Fara 28 rating for food along with Le Bernardin and Jean Georges; Di Fara also receives lowest rating ever for décor: 5.

TOTONNO'S OPENED IN 1924 
By FORMER LOMBARDI'S PIZZAIOLO
ANTHONY PERRO
photo by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke
   
 
JOHN'S PIZZERIA
OPENED 1929
By FORMER LOMBARDI'S PIZZAIOLO JOHN SASSO
 
 
photo Daniel Bellino-Zwicke
 
 
 
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PATSY'S OPENED 1933
by FORMER LOMBARDI'S PIZZAIOLO
PASQUALE LACIERI
 
PATSY'S
BACK In The DAY
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PATSY'S PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA SPAGHETTI HOUSE
Circa 1933
East Harlem, New York
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The Maestro of PIZZA
Mr. Dominic DeMarco
DiFara Pizza
Brooklyn, NEW YORK
Many consider DiFara Pizza made by the Maestro of Pizza Mr. Dom DeMarco to be New York's # 1 very best Pizza of all. That my friends means it's the best pizza in America and I wouldn't disagree.
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Sunday Sauce 
by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke
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MANGIA ITALIANO
Daniel Bellino-Zwicke
.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Di Fara Pizza ... A Religious Experience

Yes," Eating Pizza Made by The Maestro DOM DeMARCO
Is a Religious Experience !!!

   Much has been said of the now famed Pizzeria (DiFara Pizza) on Avenue J in Brooklyn, New York the Capital of Thee Best Pizza in the whole United States of America, bar-none, even Manhattan. Brooklyn lays claim to the Top two Pizzerias in the country, the top of the list 1 and 2, number 1, The Best and number 2, the second best. Well no, I don't know if I should put it that way, as it sound s as one is better than the other, which is not ht e case, as they are both equally good, equally Great and equally the Best Pizza and the Best Pizzerias in the United States, though they are are little different than one another. The Pizza at both Totonno's on Neptune Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York  and Di Farra Pizza on Avenue J in Brooklyn are both otherworldly specimens  of some the Finest Pizza on other and the Undisputed Best Pizza in America.
   Wow, got off on a tangent about both Di Farra and Totonno's when I just intended to talk about Di Farra Pizza, Dom DeMarco the Maestro of Di Farra's and the Religious experience that it is to go there, watch Dominic masterfully make Pizza after glorious Pizza (without the help of anyone else), to watch in awe and anticipation and Salivation til you finally get yours (after about a hour or hour and a half wait), you hold it in your hand like a precious baby, and then to sink your teeth into it, savoring each wondrous bite after the other. "Yes," it is truly a religious experience, that is, if you are a great lover of this wonderful invention, created in Napoli, spread throughout the the Italian Peninsular and then across the Atlantic to America from Italian Immigrants where Gennaro Lombardi opened the First Pizzeria in America on Prince Street in New York City some 100 years ago or so.
    Back to Di Farra and Pizzaiolo Extraordinaire, Mr. Dominic DeMarco. It is Dominic that makes Di Farra what it is, it certainly isn't the Pizzeria itself which is ultra plain and even appalling to some. Mr. DeMarco's pizzas are just about as close to absolute perfection in the Pizza Making World, a world in which New York City excels and has only one rival in Naples, Italy and the whole of Italy itself. Mr. De Marco has the magic touch, with perfect dough, the perfect balance of ingredients, tomato and other ingredient ratio to cheese, and this include Mr. Demarcos judicious use of Olive Oil which is right-on and a little magic touch that whoever complains about it, just does not know there Pizza and Italian Food on a whole. We Italians love our olive oil. And those who complain are unaware that it is a condiment that adds the final last touch to many dishes before they are eaten. Dominic knows this and should not be discourage against his generous use of it by those who do not understand the proper essence of the Italian Table. So please, keep your traps shut, if you don't like it don't eat it, this countries finest examples of the Pizza Art.
     And on to the religious experience of Di Fara, Dom DeMarco and the mans artistry with Pizza. There is nothing quite like it in the entire Pizza World. There does not exist, to my knowledge any place in the world that has an elderly man making a hundred plus Pizzas a day in a place that has endless lines, day and night. Pizza that are so perfect, words can not describe  People line up for greatness and artistry, and for a couple of slices of the most marvelous pizza this side of Naples, and to watch this passionate little old man work his heart out, not getting, not allowing anyone else to make a pie at his beloved Pizzeria. The man is elderly. He's worked his whole life. He makes such a magical thing that people line up each and every day to see him and eat one of his many masterpieces. With business like this, he could hire to other Pizzaiolos to help him, doubling or tripling his business and and financial intake. He could hire two guys and make pizza aloing with them, or sit back and get three guys to do it. At his age, he's entitled to. But know, Dom DeMarco loves what he does, he loves his Pizza, each and every one that passes that counter and into thousands of appreciative hands. The man feels that no one else can make a Pizza the way he does; and wants; he grinds   
chunks of Peceriono Romano in an old hand cranked meat grinder and sprinkles on each pie just before serving, along with cutting fresh Basil onto the Pizza at the last moment after Dom's prerequisite drizzling of the Olive Oil giving two different taste and contrast on the same pie, one baked on (Cheese) and one applied at the last moment, devoid of the hot oven heat. Dom guilds the Lilly, so to speak. This is truth, not just a figure of speech.
    Yes Dom makes each and every Pizza that goes out or is consume on the spot, at DiFarra's. No one else has his skills, his passion and love for the Pizza, thus he does it all himself. And this my friends is the reason that going to Di Farra's to watch Dominic the maestro in action, all by himself while hundreds of people line up every day, waiting an hour and a half to two hours just to get a Pizza (not just any old Pizza mind you). "It's a Religious Experience." Truly! A show and there is nothing like it in the World, Dom DeMarco, a man and his Pizza, America's Best, and something to rival that other World Pizza Capital, Napoli.


by Daniel Bellino Zwicke


by Daniel Bellino Zwicke