Di Fara reopens after brief closure
Famed Midwood pizzeria had been seized by state due to unpaid taxes
BY ROSE ADAMS
The food fi ght is over!
Midwood’s iconic pizzeria,
Di Fara, reopened on Aug. 22
after reaching an agreement
with the state to settle its sizable
tax debt.
“It’s been intense, exhausting,
and challenging, but
we worked fast,” said Margaret
Mieles, the daughter
of Domenico Demarco, who
founded De Fara in 1964.
The state’s Department of
Taxation and Finance seized
the revered pizza shop on Aug.
20 for failing to pay $167,506
in taxes. Mieles claimed that
the closure came after her 82-
year-old father gave the business
over to her and her siblings,
and confusion arose
over the payment system.
“There’s a lot that goes
into his old school way of doing
things, so we fall behind
on things,” Mieles said at
the pizzeria’s reopening. “I
thought, going through my records,
that we had missed one
payment, but they’re showing
that we missed more.”
The Department of Taxation
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and Finance claimed
that some of Di Fara’s debts
dated back to 2015, Thrillest
reported. But Mieles argued
that the pizza joint’s steadfast
presence in the neighborhood
should kill suspicions of tax
evasion.
“We’ve been in business 54
years … if we weren’t paying
taxes, we wouldn’t be here,”
she said.
The eatery’s closure
caused an uproar among
pizza afi cionados, including
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who
tweeted that he would “do
anything” to reopen the 54-
year-old restaurant.
New Yorkers quickly accused
the Mayor of misusing
his resources and having
misaligned priorities
— even Gov. Andrew Cuomo
chimed in.
“He has no legal authority
to forgive state taxes,” Cuomo
said during a tour of the New
York State Fair in Syracuse.
“Now, if he wants to pay the
$200,000 on behalf of the pizza
place, he can do that. That’s
fi ne. And if he wants to get
$200,000 worth of pizza, that’s
his business. But he can’t forgive
state taxes.”
State Sen. Andrew
Gounrdes (D–Bay Ridge) also
criticized de Blasio for his
debt forgiveness efforts.
“I like Di Fara’s too, but I
dunno, maybe they can pay
their taxes?” he tweeted.
The Mayor’s offi ce claims
that it had nothing to do with
the reopening, but will be in
touch with Mieles should anything
go awry.
“She’s in touch with our
Emergency Response Team
over at Small Business Services
and will let us know
if she needs anything,” said
Freddi Goldstein, the Mayor’s
press secretary.
Excited customers formed
a line outside Di Fara hours
before its reopening — some
of whom had been waiting
since the morning, Mieles
said.
One local said he was delighted
when he saw that
the pizzeria was opening up
shop.
“It’s phenomenal,” said
Michael Sheveland, who
lives around the corner from
the pizzeria. “When they reopened
it, I was stoked.”
Shevelend ordered his
usual — a full pizza with wild
onions, sun-dried toasted peppers,
pepperoni, and porcini
mushrooms — and was grateful
for the relatively short
wait time, compared to weekends.
“If it’s a Saturday or a Sunday,
you better park a tent out
front,” he said.
FRESH START: Di Fara Pizza reopened two days after the state shut it
down for failing to pay more than $167,000 in taxes. Photo by Rose Adams
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