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Barstool Pizza Review - Dom Demarco's Pizzeria (Las Vegas, NV)
One Bite Pizza Reviews
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2/13/2024
El Presidente | Pizza Reviews
Category
🥇
Sports
Transcript
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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]
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