Legendary Di Fara Pizzeria Is Now Slinging Pies in South Street Seaport

Though Di Fara’s owner Domenico “Dom” DeMarco passed away in March, his family is forging ahead with a new outpost for the Midwood icon. The anticipated South Street Seaport expansion at 108 South Street, between Peck Slip and Beekman streets, is now open, according to the website and a Di Fara Instagram post.

The shop is stocked with Di Fara’s signature Neapolitan- and Sicilian-style slices that have drawn acclaim in the city for decades. A community board agenda lists the storied pizzeria as having applied for a liquor license at South Street as well; the Midwood location doesn’t serve alcohol.

Di Fara, considered by Eater critic Robert Sietsema to have one of the best slices of pizzas in NYC, has quietly been chugging along with other expansion plans, too. An employee confirmed that earlier this spring, the team officially debuted a location in Staten Island in collaboration with popular barbecue joint Juicy Lucy BBQ, at 100 Lincoln Avenue, near North Railroad Avenue. An employee confirmed that a liquor license is pending for this location.

Over the years, the Brooklyn icon — open since 1965 — has attempted other expansions. In fact, this Manhattan outpost is not Di Fara’s first for the borough: It has operated a delivery-only ghost kitchen on the Lower East Side for the past few years. In 2018, Di Fara opened an outpost in Williamsburg’s since-shuttered North Third Market. At the time, Grub Street pointed out that Di Fara recipe had subtly changed over the years, but that while “someone is bound to make a fuss about a cherished product that’s been “ruined” by updates, [the] universe that the entities inhabit is ultimately the same.”

DeMarco — who first immigrated to New York in 1959, via Caserta, Italy, according to the company website — made a name for himself in the Brooklyn pizza world for his slow food approach to fast-casual slices. The pizzaiolo was known to pluck fresh basil from a windowsill garden, for example.

The South Street Seaport location is open daily from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and until 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.