If the editors at DS were to sit down and imagine the perfect bar, it’d have to include a well-edited selection of beer and whiskey, good music, a few flatscreens to catch the game, a pool table and a dart board, some classic board games and a little outdoor patio for when the weather got nice.  If our thoughts resonated with yours, then it’s time to head to Park Slope, Brooklyn and check out Dram Shop.  They’ve also got some outstanding bar food, including a great burger (the double is the default).  And since reservations aren’t accepted, head over there early to stake out a sizable booth for you and your fellow gamers, and settle in for a night of good food, drink and a competitive game of Jenga.  For the cruise-deck contingency, there’s even a shuffle board for your gaming pleasure.

It seems every other day a new pizza joint pops up in New York.  Seemingly oblivious to the frenetic changes in this gastronomic arena, Domenico De Marco continues to go about his business in the one way that he knows best—calm, collected and with hardly a word uttered, as hungry patrons wait in droves in the Midwood section of Brooklyn.  Watching Domenico work (which you will, as wait times average 45 minutes, if not more) reveals the mastery that comes with innate genius and significant time (over 40 years worth) as he deliberately and patiently dusts each pizza with real Parmesan cheese, drizzles an extremely generous lacing of extra-virgin olive oil on top, and cuts up fresh basil over the pizza itself before it’s ready to be taken away.  The pizza is thin, crisp, piping-hot, and has a sweet sauce that’s further accented by the generous dosing of olive oil.  True loving patrons of Di Fara pizza wear every gripe they have about the ordeal of getting their pizza as a badge of honor, that if anything, makes it all that more satisfying.  Yes, the location is out of the way.  Yes, you’re going to have to wait.  But oh yes, it will be the best pizza you’ve ever had in your life.