Perpetual "best-of" list-topper and cultishly loved Midwood institution Di Fara pizzeria has been shuttered after racking up a not-so-delicious 67 violation points by the Department of Health. Perhaps Adam Kuban's wife was right when she griped on pizza blog Slice last week that "eating at Di Fara is like eating in a coal mine."
During a visit last week, the DOH cited Di Fara for mice, flies, dirty surfaces and dirty people, amongst other cringe-inducing violations. The restaurant posted on their Facebook page that they would be closed for "approximately 2 to 4 days due to personal matters," assuring the dozens of concerned customers that it's "just a glitch in some paperwork bureaucracy with the new grading system...no worries." It's worth perusing the comments just to see how much people love this place—one Facebook fan offers his legal services against the DOH.
Longtime Di Fara fans know that this isn't the pizzeria's first run-in with the DOH—in 2007, it was shuttered for similar violations, and some bloggers have been bitching for years that the place is "absolutely filthy," imploring legendary owner Don DeMarco to "Clean the ovens, you old bat!" Even so, something tells us this little setback won't do much to shorten the equally-legendary wait time once the shop opens back up.
A phone call to Di Fara this morning yielded an automated message saying they'll be closed November 16th-22nd. [via Eater]
