Barstool Pizza Review - Dom Demarco's Pizzeria (Las Vegas, NV) - video Dailymotion

One Bite Pizza Reviews

El Presidente | Pizza Reviews

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:02 All right, pizzer view time.

00:20 We are in Vegas, Dom DeMarco's Pizzeria and Bar.

00:25 Now, if you know me, you know pizza, you know Brooklyn,

00:29 you know New York, you know the one by Pizza Fest,

00:32 Dom is DeFara.

00:36 Inarguably-- and he passed away--

00:38 inarguably, though, DeFara, top 10 pizza places in the world.

00:42 Famous, the Works, we've had concerts,

00:45 if they were the 9-4, it's the 9-4 in Brooklyn.

00:48 I didn't even know they had this.

00:50 I know there's other DeFaras.

00:51 I've never seen one named after the old man, Dom DeMarco's.

00:58 If you're going to put Dom DeMarco's name on a box,

01:00 it better knock your dick off.

01:03 It better, because he is an icon,

01:08 and his name is gold in the pizza industry.

01:11 So one bite, every nose the rules.

01:14 I'm trying to see if it is going to be like the same as DeFara.

01:18 I don't know why.

01:18 You said-- is this your spot?

01:20 Yeah.

01:21 So what is the deal?

01:22 Why is it called Dom DeMarco's, not DeFara?

01:25 I spent three years with him.

01:26 OK.

01:27 And I made a deal with him to open up here under his name.

01:30 We use everything he uses.

01:31 So it's the same pizza as DeFara, just different name.

01:34 Yeah.

01:34 Well, I have one in Caesar's Palace called DeFara.

01:37 Got it.

01:37 But this one here, I called it after him.

01:39 Got it.

01:40 So there's no one named after him that there is.

01:42 Yeah.

01:43 Yeah, all right.

01:44 So here we go.

01:44 So where do you-- they're great undercarriage.

01:47 Where do you spend the three years?

01:49 In Avenue J, East 15.

01:50 So you're working with them now.

01:52 Yeah, well, I went to them to learn.

01:53 I made a deal with them.

01:54 Took me five years to make a deal.

01:56 I'll tell you all the stories in between.

01:58 Five years to make the deal.

01:59 Then after I made the deal with them,

02:00 I was still living in Vegas.

02:02 We go back on Sundays.

02:03 He was closed Monday and Tuesday.

02:05 We spent Monday and Tuesday with him and his son, Dominic.

02:07 We learned how to do it.

02:08 It took us three years.

02:09 And then we opened here.

02:10 So an eight-year process total?

02:12 Yeah.

02:13 It's a long story.

02:14 It's too much for your thing.

02:15 But I'll tell you when you're done.

02:16 All right.

02:17 Eight years in the making.

02:18 You got to respect that.

02:19 So we went and spent eight years with him in Brooklyn

02:21 to get the name, the pizza, the learn.

02:23 Here we go.

02:24 No pressure.

02:25 Definitely has the vibes.

02:34 A little thicker than I remember,

02:35 but definitely has the vibes.

02:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:40 Best of Las Vegas, Las Vegas Review.

03:04 Gold, best pizza, best Italian restaurant,

03:06 best outdoor dining.

03:07 Oh.

03:07 7-9 on it just missed an 8-1 for me.

03:14 It's a little thicker than I remember.

03:15 It's still very good.

03:16 And you can tell it has the vibes of Brooklyn.

03:18 And it's as good as we've had out here.

03:22 I like it a little tighter, but still very good stuff.

03:25 So 7-9, Don DeMarco's.

03:27 I'm curious.

03:28 How many people know--

03:29 You want to sit and I'll buy you a drink.

03:31 I'll tell you the whole story.

03:32 How many people know who Don DeMarco is

03:34 before they come here?

03:34 A lot of them.

03:35 They do?

03:35 Yeah.

03:36 A lot of them.

03:37 We've got a lot of people in here.

03:38 East Coast people?

03:39 A lot of people from Avenue J. You won't believe it.

03:42 I believe it.

03:42 Come on in, buddy.

03:43 I'll buy you a drink.

03:44 It's an interesting story.

03:45 You're going to like it.

03:46 I grew up right outside of Trenton.

03:49 My favorite pizza for my whole life

03:52 was DiLorenzo's tomato pie.

03:53 I love them.

03:54 In 2005, my son-in-law was building a hotel,

03:59 which he built over here.

04:01 And he ended up in White Plains, New York.

04:05 And when they got done talking about the business,

04:07 they started talking about pizza.

04:09 So he tells the guy his favorite pizza

04:11 is DiLorenzo's tomato pie in Trenton.

04:14 And the guy says, well, our favorite is DeFaro.

04:16 My son-in-law said, I've never heard of it.

04:18 And the guy said, come on, we'll take it.

04:20 So they take my son-in-law there.

04:21 Now, my son-in-law travels all over the world,

04:23 called me a million times with pizzas,

04:25 never one as good as DiLorenzo's.

04:27 He said--

04:28 You found one?

04:29 He said, this pizza here is just as good as DiLorenzo's.

04:32 He said, you've got to come out with me next week.

04:35 Next week, I fly out with him.

04:36 We go to DeFaro, right?

04:38 Walked in, I tasted the square and the round.

04:40 Yeah, I said, this pizza's really good.

04:42 Now, I don't know anyone, right?

04:44 So now Maggie, who I know really well now,

04:47 but I didn't know her at the time.

04:48 I went up to her.

04:48 I said, honey, listen.

04:50 I said, I'm a retired guy living in Vegas.

04:52 I said, I'd love to bring this pizza to Vegas.

04:55 A real copy, she says to me.

04:57 My father gets offers from the suits on Wall Street

05:00 all day long.

05:02 We're not interested in doing business with anybody.

05:04 So I walked back to the table.

05:06 I says to my son, I said, hey, this ain't going to be easy.

05:09 So this is '05.

05:11 So between '05 and '08, well, like 15 times a year,

05:16 we're there.

05:17 15 times he gives me the cold shoulder.

05:20 A little bit after that, one day I go in and she says to me,

05:23 I'm going to turn you over to my brother Dominic.

05:25 He calls the shots around here.

05:28 For a minute, I got real excited.

05:30 Now, you know the place.

05:31 So I'm standing here.

05:32 Margaret's there.

05:33 The old man and Dominic Jr. have their backs to me.

05:36 And she yells to me, she says, Dominic,

05:38 this is Albert from Las Vegas.

05:40 So I reach my hand.

05:41 I'm going to shake hands with him.

05:43 And he turns around and gives me one of these looks.

05:45 And he goes like this.

05:47 I go back to my son-in-law.

05:49 I said to her, I said, you put me from the frying pan.

05:52 You could have fired him.

05:53 For a second, I was happy, right?

05:56 I said to my son-in-law, I said, these guys,

05:58 this is going to be really tough.

05:59 Now, 2008, we opened a hotel.

06:02 Now, I got cards with my name on them.

06:05 We go to White Plains to see Starwoods.

06:08 That's what we want, the Starwood Hotel.

06:10 So I come in a pizzeria.

06:11 I said to Jeff, that's my son-in-law.

06:13 I said, welcome to the door.

06:14 He said, I got a different plan of attack.

06:16 So I go up to Mark, Dominic, and I call them over Junior.

06:19 I hadn't even met the old man by then.

06:21 Junior comes over, and I says, look.

06:23 I said, we just opened this hotel in Las Vegas.

06:26 It's a beautiful hotel, not a casino.

06:29 I want to invite you.

06:30 You bring the whole family.

06:31 You bring my guests.

06:31 I go, what hotel are we talking about?

06:33 Where's the bar?

06:34 It's called the Elements.

06:35 It's right here on Town Center and 250.

06:38 He gets the card.

06:39 He puts it in his pocket.

06:40 And he says to me, why would I want to go to Vegas?

06:45 I got everything I want right here on my block.

06:48 I don't even need a car.

06:51 I turned around.

06:52 I went to my son-in-law.

06:53 I said, before I punch this guy in the face,

06:55 let's get out of here.

06:56 We leave.

06:57 Two weeks later, I get a phone call.

07:00 Hey, Al, how are you?

07:01 Who's this?

07:02 Hey, it's Dom.

07:03 How you doing?

07:04 My best friend from Brooklyn, Dominic DiMarco, right?

07:08 I said, I'm doing good, buddy.

07:09 How you doing?

07:10 Listen, he says, I went home.

07:11 I showed that card to my wife.

07:13 I didn't know she wanted to come to Vegas.

07:16 Does the offer still stand?

07:18 I said, look, the offer stands.

07:20 I said, but I want you to bring your father, your mother,

07:22 bring your whole family.

07:23 He said, listen.

07:24 My old man came here in 1957.

07:27 He said he left Brooklyn 14 times,

07:30 every time only to fly back to Cacerca, Italy.

07:33 He said he ain't going nowhere.

07:35 I says, all right.

07:36 He says, well, look, I want to come.

07:37 I said, you can stay as long as you want.

07:38 He said, I only want to come for a week.

07:40 I'm going to bring my wife.

07:41 My son had his own big house with a kitchen

07:43 outside with a pizza oven.

07:44 So now every day, we're over there making pizza.

07:46 And I'm taking him to all the best restaurants in town.

07:49 He's having the time of his life.

07:51 So at the end of the week, he says to me, listen.

07:53 The reason my father never did it

07:56 is we import all our stuff from Italy.

07:58 And my father figured nobody's going to do this.

08:01 They'll ruin our reputation.

08:02 He said, but I could see you guys are serious.

08:05 He says, so I'm going to recommend that we do it, he said.

08:07 But I got to get his OK.

08:09 Now, this was a Sunday he goes back.

08:11 He calls me the next day.

08:12 My father wants to meet you.

08:14 He said, look, you know, we're closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

08:16 So come on a Sunday night.

08:18 He says, and have dinner.

08:19 And then Monday and Tuesday, we'll meet with my father.

08:22 So we did.

08:23 We go the next week.

08:24 So when I go there, 9 o'clock Monday morning,

08:26 the iron gates are down, the locks,

08:28 everything's locked up tight.

08:30 Bang on the thing, he looks, we let's us in.

08:33 Now, the old man, who I got real friendly with, and the kid,

08:36 or he's not really a kid, he's probably your age or older.

08:39 So now, he says, come on, sit down with us, have a drink.

08:42 Now, it's 9 o'clock in the morning, right?

08:44 I don't drink much.

08:46 So now I'm drinking wine 9 o'clock in the morning.

08:48 My face is all red.

08:49 I can see I'm sweating.

08:50 So the old man says to me in Italian, which I understood,

08:53 Fiesta Paes.

08:54 He wanted to know where in Italy we were from.

08:56 I said, Cendola, Ferdi di Cendola, Provincia di Salerno.

08:59 He says to me, he's laughing.

09:01 I said, why are you laughing?

09:02 Hey, he said, I spent a two year in the Italian army over there.

09:06 Woo, the people, woo, the people.

09:08 So we shake hands, and we made a deal.

09:09 Nothing ever on paper.

09:11 He says, all right, he says, on Mondays and Tuesdays,

09:14 when we're closed, you guys come here.

09:16 I'll show you everything.

09:17 So we spent three years going back.

09:19 So every Monday, Tuesday, you're flying.

09:21 Well, not every Monday, but when we go back,

09:24 and we learned everything.

09:25 Now, he had everything in there was from 19--

09:28 you know, he opened in '65.

09:30 But the stuff that he bought was all used.

09:32 It was from the '50s.

09:33 You know, I would have loved when he'd go in and get three

09:36 pizzas.

09:36 So he's doing something, and he says, in a pinch of this,

09:40 I said, Don, go get the scale.

09:42 We ain't going to go get no scale.

09:43 What do you mean a scale?

09:43 I had to send it out to get a scale so we

09:45 could measure everything.

09:47 And then another thing he says to me was, he says,

09:50 I blind a man who couldn't make the dough.

09:53 Come, what do you mean?

09:54 He said, oh, in the field.

09:56 The field, you needed the more salt.

09:58 You needed the more oil.

09:59 It's in the field.

10:00 Yeah, well, it's an old-- yeah.

10:00 I said, Don, how do I teach somebody that?

10:02 It's like, how does anyone teach?

10:04 He's like a magician, you know?

10:06 This story, if you didn't know what we were talking about

10:08 pizza, you'd think you were just doing a Francis Ford Coppola

10:10 movie, the way you were going there.

10:12 Oh, I got a good--

10:13 I got a lot of good stories about him.

10:15 So when I opened up Caesar's, right,

10:17 they wanted the old man to come out.

10:19 Yep.

10:20 So they said, we'll fly him in the family first class.

10:23 We'll put him in a big suite.

10:24 We'll give him $2,500 for a week.

10:27 All he's got to do is for one hour stand and invite a pizza.

10:30 So I called him up.

10:32 What do you think he said to me?

10:34 No.

10:34 He said, you can give me a million a dollar, and I no come.

10:40 This is a great story.

10:41 Nice meeting you.

10:41 Yeah, nice meeting you.

10:42 My pleasure.

10:43 Yeah, take care.

10:43 See you guys.

10:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Barstool Pizza Review - Dom Demarco's Pizzeria (Las Vegas, NV)

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