New Webisode: John Arena on Dom De Marco

Hi Everyone,

Here’s a great holiday treat for you: John Arena, who we’ve featured in the previous few webisodes, describes to the folks who gathered at the Forno Bravo Expo how the iconic pizzaiolo, Domenico (Dom) De Marco, founder, owner, and pretty much the only pizza maker for the past 60 years at Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn, makes his legendary pizzas. Talk about the roots of “Slow Food!” You’ll see what I mean, and those of you who have been to Di Fara, I’m sure will get a good chuckle seeing John describe and imitate Dom’s fastidious method in this segment. The only difference from Di Fara is that we were baking it in a wood-fired oven, while Dom makes his pizzas in a classic gas-powered pizza deck oven.

Who knows how much longer we’ll have Dom around, standing in that same place, growing basil and oregano in his window boxes and snipping it onto his beautiful pizzas? (I heard that he now sometimes lets his son make a pizza every once in a while — can one of you Brooklynites confirm this below in the comments section?) So let’s enjoy him while we can — he’s definitely of a bygone era, yet he still inspires so many pizza makers around the world, many of whom make their own pilgrimage for the honor of standing in line, waiting as long as it takes, for one of Dom’s beautiful pies!