Brooklyn’s Legendary Di Fara Pizza Just Opened a Sandwich Shop

It’s opening week at a new restaurant from Di Fara Pizza. The Brooklyn pizza institution, known for making some of the city’s best pies since 1965, opened a sandwich shop at 1012 E. 15th Street, near Avenue J, down the street from its original location in Midwood. It’s called 1012 Kitchen, and it’s only open for lunch to start.

The restaurant is a small takeout counter with a single table out front for seating. On the menu: affordable Italian heroes stacked with sliced eggplant, chicken cutlet, meatballs, and melted cheese. Sandwiches range in price from $8 to $11.

The shop is run by Maggie DeMarco-Mieles, the daughter of Domenico “Dom” DeMarco, Di Fara’s founder who died last March. She says the recipes for the heroes come from her dad, who once sold sandwiches and other red sauce dishes from the Midwood pizzeria. “I’m not sure if anyone notices, but they’re still listed on the sign,” she says.

In 2012, Di Fara opened a restaurant called MD Kitchen at the same address. It didn’t attract the same crowds as the pizzeria, but it had a following in the neighborhood for its eggplant parmesan and veal heroes. It closed in 2018, as DeMarco was “starting to slow down,” says DeMarco-Mieles.

1012 Kitchen will serve heroes to start, but the idea is to add spaghetti, lasagna, and other dishes to the menu in the future. “We want people to get to know the Italian recipes our dad taught us,” DeMarco-Mieles says.

Opening hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Saturday.