Posted this morning on Di Fara’s Facebook page:
[Di Fara] is happy to announce that several doors down we will be opening a tiny take out place offering all our old menu items that so many have been missing. We will have pasta, heros, salad and more.We expect to open mid April. All our products will use the finest and freshest ingredients as we always do at Difara….please, no questions at this time…Will update as we see fit ! Thank you….Happy April !
Eater, which was the first to report on this off-shoot of the current Di Fara’s location (1424 Avenue J), notes that it will be the first time in at least 10 years since Di Fara sold pasta dishes.
C’mon already, I’m cravin’ chicken parm here!
Well, looks like I won’t have to wait much longer. The storefront of Delmar Pizza & Italian Eatery at 1668 Sheepshead Bay Road is just about done, with new facade and all. We stopped in there today, and the interior still needs work, but the owner tells us the hardest part is behind them. They were constructing a brand new counter, which looks like it runs a little longer than the previous one – but it’s okay, they’ve pushed back the back wall, too, so the seating area will stay about the same.
They will be open in early spring if all goes according to plan. That’s just a few weeks away, and another reason to celebrate the end of this dreadful, depressing winter.
Delmar Pizza & Italian Eatery at 1668 Sheepshead Bay Road hung up a temporary “opening soon” banner this week. So please – please, please, please, please, please – stop e-mailing, calling, texting, Facebooking and Tweeting me about whether or not they’ll open. They’re opening. Soon.
Just how soon? When we stopped by this morning, the owners there – who’ve been paying for repairs out-of-pocket because of delays in government loans – said they’re confident they’ll be tossing dough before March.
Don’t expect the same ol’ Delmar, though. Yes, it’ll have the classic, scrumptious pizza we all know and love. But they’re altering the floor layout and adding a salad bar. Oh, and all the memorabilia hanging on the walls? It all survived Sandy.
See you soon, chicken parm on a roll. I promise.
Prince of Pizza at 1101 Avenue U (corner of Coney Island Avenue) has rebranded, according to tipster Pat M, who sent in the above photo. The business is now calling itself Pizza and Chicken Masters.
No, not that Chicken Masters, as in the recently-shuttered Vinnie’s Chicken Masters. In fact, Chicken Masters’ former owner, Vinnie Mazzone, was pretty adamant about that point, noting in an e-mail to us that he had tried to get trademark status on the name but that it was shot down because other businesses had already established similar names – including a Pollo Masters.
It must really suck to be a chicken, the only animal I can think of that is destined for the dinner table in just about every culture. And they’ve got a lot of masters.
Marine J & L Pizzeria opened recently at 3033 Avenue V, replacing what was the second location of Sofia Pizza, which opened in late 2010.
We’re not quite sure how long this has been open, having just been spotted by reader nolastname. However, the Health Department inspected the place in March, so the new owners have been operating the location since then at the very least.
We’ve been wondering what would happen to the Atlantic Bagel Company at 2 Neptune Avenue ever since they closed down about a year ago. Honestly, we wondered how a bagel store – no matter how bad, if it was – could possibly close for lack of business in that location, considering that for many heading to the B/Q station from Manhattan Beach and the co-ops around West End Avenue it is the only place to get breakfast.
But, c’est la vie, it did indeed shutter.
And now, about a year later, a sign has gone up in the window indicating that it will once again be a bagel place… as well as pizzeria and deli (what, no fried chicken and ice cream?!).
And it’s expanding, too. The new location will also encompass the attached storefront of Four Seasons florist.
Welcome to the neighborhood. We look forward to trying the pizza bagels that you better produce.
The signs for Cafe Apple Grill went up Tuesday, giving neighbors the first sight of what will replace Chipp Neapolitan Pizzeria at 2971 Ocean Avenue.
Reader James Griffin snapped the photo and tipped us off to the new sign, and asked that we throw in a plug for his new website www.shuttereuphoria.com. So… www.shuttereuphoria.com, www.shuttereuphoria.com, www.shuttereuphoria.com!
That’ll be $250, Griffin…
Chipp Neapolitan Pizzeria, which was co-owned by Lenny “The Russian” Veltman of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice, closed in October after only seven months. We spotted the for sale announcement on Craigslist in June. At that time, co-owner Rus Gor told us that a dispute between the partners led to the sale.
After it sold we stopped by, and Gor and Veltman were both there with the new owner – who told us it would be a Russian-Uzbeki restaurant.
Now we’ve got Cafe Apple Grill, and we can spend the next few weeks until it opens wondering if it’s a cafe or a grill.
Oh, and www.shuttereuphoria.com.
Photo by Robert Fernandez
There’s a new pizza joint in town.
Click to enlarge
Five Brothers Pizza, Pasta and Grill (718-648-1600 ) just opened at 2650C Coney Island Avenue between Crawford Avenue and Avenue X. Flanked between Universal Hair Studio on the left and the Famaliving furniture store on the right, Five Brothers (“& a sister, the boss”) replaces Beans & Crepes, whose lasting legacy, according to a Yellow Pages reviewer, was that they made “fresh queezed juices” and their chairs “fit the behind in a perfect manner.”
But enough about queezed juices and ergonomic seating — a cursory web search revealed that, in the short time Five Brothers Pizza has been open, foursquare user Stefanee R. has checked in twice (a good sign), uploaded a photo of a sumptuous slice of New York pizza, and has subsequently declared herself Mayor of the new establishment, which also offers free delivery. We hope the five brothers and a sister don’t mind someone from outside the family’s bloodline crowning themselves with such a high-ranking level of distinction.
Nevertheless, we wish the entire Five Brothers family much success and look forward to sinking our choppers into a hot slice or two in the near future.
Source: Wikipedia Commons
Oh no! The city’s best pizzeria, Di Fara’s Pizza in Midwood, was shuttered by Department of Health inspectors yesterday after racking up 67 violation points.
Of course, it’s not a surprise to most familiar with the 1424 Avenue J location. The venerable pizzeria makes most fanatics feel torn. On the one hand: what a pizza! On the other: at $5 a slice, couldn’t you gussy the place up a bit?
Apparently the Health Department agreed with the assessment, and it’s not the first time. It was shut down at least two other times as recently as 2007. Here’s the run down of the latest violations.
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Don’t believe the signs! Though Taste of Romania’s Europa Bistro still flaunts “Grand Opening” flags, the Italian-Romanian eatery at 1652 Sheepshead Bay Road has closed down after less than a year in business.
Europa Bistro opened in January, replacing La Sorrentina II. One of the two owners of the business told Sheepshead Bites’ Robert Fernandez a few weeks ago that he planned to buy out the other owner, and reopen with more of a focus on hamburgers and other quick-fix foods – which could help balance things out on the stretch that’s home to more sushi shops than Tokyo. We just hope they keep the pastrami.
Whatever happens, best of luck to those involved, and we hope to see this space put to good use soon.
