State seizes Midwood’s Di Fara Pizza
BY ROSE ADAMS
State tax collectors seized the
iconic Midwood pizzeria Di Fara
on Tuesday for failing to pay taxes,
according to a spokesman from the
state’s Department of Taxation and
Finance.
The spokesman said the eatery
owes the state a whopping $167,506,
which, at $30 for a medium pie without
toppings, means Di Fara would
have to sell 5,583 pies to settle its
debt with the state.
Domenico DeMarco, owner of the
54-year-old Italian establishment —
located on the corner of Avenue J
and E. 15th Street — may be able to
regain ownership of the restaurant
if he reaches a mutually agreeable
solution with the state’s tax department
before the building is sold, according
to the Department of Taxation
and Finance .
This wouldn’t be the first time Di
Fara has been shuttered by the government,
but those closures usually
come at the hands of city health inspectors.
In May, the eatery temporarily
closed after the Department of
Health found evidence of mice and
poor hygiene among workers, according
to an Eater report .
City health inspectors also shut
down the pizzeria in 2018, 2011, and
COURIER L 10 IFE, AUG. 23-29, 2019
OUT OF DOUGH: Di Fara Pizza has shut down because its owner failed to pay $167,506 in taxes, the Dept. of Taxation and Finances
confi rmed. Derrick Watterson
2007, but DeMarco said he treated
the closures as a vacation.
“The only time I get to relax is
when they close us,” DeMarco said
after Di Fara was shut down in 2011
for numerous health code violations,
including mouse droppings
“throughout the kitchen.”
Di Fara has another location on
N. Third Street in Williamsburg,
but a call there was not immediatley
answered.