Cary Pizza

Di Fara Pizza Tavern Bringing Brooklyn Style Pizza to Downtown Cary

Cary, NC – Opening in early 2020, Di Fara Pizza Tavern is a new restaurant in Downtown Cary with by-the-slice pizza and specially treated water to give it the authentic New York Pizza taste.

New York Flavor

Di Fara Pizza Tavern, opening on E Chatham St., is owned by Greg Norton and Matt Geiser and is focused on making authentic by-the-slice Brooklyn style pizzas, with thin crusts and as much real Italian flavor as they can get.

“We have ingredients imported from Italy, from a small farm in Naples. It’s not cheap but we don’t want to cut corners,” Norton said. “We hand-cut the basil and the toppings are sliced to the pie. They’re not sitting out all day to dry out.”

The authenticity of the pizza goes all the way to the water used to make the dough. Geiser said the New York City water is what gives the pizza there its unique flavor and they have found a way to replicate that with a new kind of water treatment machine.

“It purifies the water and then adds a mineral concentrate to make it identical to the water in New York,” Geiser said. “We can even pick which borough we want.”

The history with Di Fara Pizza Tavern goes back more than half a century earlier, as Norton’s uncle Domenico DeMarco first opened Di Fara in Brooklyn in 1965. Since then, it’s been one of the top rated pizza restaurants in the city, with popular food critic Anthony Bourdain calling it the “best of the best” in New York pizza.

Both Geiser and Norton are so passionate about the taste that they are not doing deliveries, out of concern it will get soggy in a delivery box or be tossed around in the drive.

“We want you to come see us making the pizza,” Norton said. “Our kitchen is up front for everyone to see.”

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Renderings of Di Fara Pizza Tavern’s interior

Gathering Place

With so many businesses and homes around Downtown Cary, Geiser said this made for an ideal location.

“We had other opportunities but we had our heart set on Downtown Cary,” Geiser said. “We’ve got customers in every direction.”

Di Fara Pizza Tavern will also include a 15-seat bar and multiple televisions for sports. There are also plans to open an outdoor space for seating on the side of the building.

The restaurant is waiting on final permits from the Town of Cary but the current plans are to open by the end of January or start of February, with a soft opening before opening day.

Di Fara Pizza Tavern is located at 111 E Chatham St.

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Story by Michael Papich. Photos courtesy of Di Fara Pizza Tavern and Steve Hall Architecture.