If any NYC pizza maker was worthy of having a street named after himself, it’s Dom DeMarco. Family and friends gathered this past Saturday to make the occasion with speeches, remembrances, and of course there was pizza.
Anyone who ate Di Fara pizza between 1965 and 2007 almost certainly had a pizza made by Dom. By the late 1990s, he had become famous for being the sole pizza maker at the Midwood, Brooklyn slice shop. He made his pizzas slowly and methodically, but nobody complained because that was part of the experience. By the time he passed away in March of 2022, his pizza making had already made a mark on the current wave of top tier pizza makers, particularly those who sell pizza by the slice.
Saturday’s event was punctuated by a proclamation by councilman Justin Brannan and speeches by Mark Iacono (Lucali), Marty Markowitz (former Brooklyn borough president), and me! It was a deep honor, especially since I had only become a customer in the early 2000s.
The pizzeria and the entire De Marco family truly deserve the honor, making them one of three streets co-named for a pizzeria owner. The other two are Bartolomeo Giove (Brothers Pizza) and Diego “Dickie” Palemine (Lee’s Tavern), both on Staten Island.
