pizza by air

June 22, 2007 10:50 AM

Who has the best New York pizza by FedEx?

I live in Texas and want to surprise my wife, who grew up on white pizza in New York. When we lived in the hinterlands of Oklahoma several years ago there was a place that we sometimes ordered from located near Poughkeepsie NY that FedExed great, authentic New York pizza. However I can't remember who they were and I won't assume they're still the best for this.

I'm sure there's good brick oven pizza in Texas, but all we have within 50 miles is Dominos.

Any suggestions from anyone that's done this, and knows New York pizza?

posted by zek to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Carmine's (in Brooklyn) is the best pizza I have ever had. I don't know if they FedEx but you can email them from their website.
posted by nimsey lou at 11:06 AM on June 22, 2007

Here's a good post with a few tips on mail order NY Pizza, from SliceNY, a pizza blog whose authors, in my opinion, really understand the essentials of NY Pizza. Some would say that NY Pizza loses it's specialness the second it hits a cardboard box, but desperate times call for desperate measures. That blog post had me thinking this might turn out ok.

I haven't been the the places they recommend, but the fact that these places offers the service seems remarkable--- the places I would recommend for the best pizza in NYC (namely, DeNino's and Joe and Pat's in Staten Island, DiFara and Grimaldi's in Brooklyn) don't seem like they'd be very into the whole mailing thing.

Incidentally, if you're anywhere near Austin, see about Home Slice and Saccone's-- those are the two places that we counted on for NY Pizza while we lived in Texas.
posted by activitystory at 11:40 AM on June 22, 2007

A piece of advice once you've got the pizza in-hand...

If you're getting a "half-baked" pizza, follow the instructions sent along. If you're getting a fully baked pizza that you'll be reheating, thin crust pizza doesn't work out of the microwave.

Instead, crank up a 450 degree oven, preheat a cookie sheet inside. Drop the slices right on the preheated cookie sheet to warm them up - no foil. When the cheese is bubbling, the bottom is crisping and it's time to eat a non-soggy reheated slice of pie.
posted by peacecorn at 11:44 AM on June 22, 2007

What peacecorn said. I use a preheated pizza stone instead of a cookie sheet. The technique is so good, sometimes the reheat is better than the first time...
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:51 AM on June 22, 2007

Be sure the check the comments on that SliceNY entry. A reader says that both FlyingPizza.com and IWantNYPizza.com were "horrible."
posted by kathryn at 11:56 AM on June 22, 2007

Whichever pizza you get, fold the slice in half the long way. Then go outside and walk around while eating. It always tastes better that way. Ask any New Yorker.
posted by dudeman at 11:56 AM on June 22, 2007 [2 favorites]

i've been told that a the main reasons nypizza is special is the conditions at which they're cooked.

many "special" ny pizzerias have coal burning ovens (which you cannot install anymore, the old ones are simply allowed to stay) that generate an extremely high heat (and perhaps a unique flavor?).

if you took a halfbake or a raw pizza from one of these places and baked it in a conventional oven, you'd still be missing out on key components of the process.
posted by k7lim at 12:04 PM on June 22, 2007

Mineos in Pittsburg. No, it's not New York, but it is incredible, wonderful pizza.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:12 PM on June 22, 2007

Airlifting in some NY pizza sounds like a fun thing to do, but don't assume that good pizza is impossible to find outside of the NY metro area.

I'm from Jersey originally, so I'm pretty used to good pizza. In recent years I have found that it *is* possible to get good pizza even when you're no longer on the east coast. For instance, a place called Pulcinella in Fort Collins, Colorado makes some of the best pizza I've ever had-- the place is run by people from Naples. Pizza Colore in Boulder, Colorado is good, too. You just need to really experiment, and ignore what the locals say is "good"-- they will almost invariably favor some weird doughy "pizza."

Same thing with cheesesteaks, by the way. I lived in Philly for a time and grew accustomed to a good cheesesteak. For years I couldn't find anything even close to a cheesesteak outside of Philadelphia-- the best would be a "steak sandwich." Good cheesesteak places though seem to be popping up around the country-- not great, but pretty good. (Still have never found Philly-style pretzels anywhere else, though.)
posted by yesno at 12:45 PM on June 22, 2007

I'm close enough that I can get the pizza whenever I want, but the idea of a pizza stone is one of the best things you can do. And instead of spending money at a kitchen store for something marketed that way, head over to your local home center, you should be able to buy a large, smooth finished terra cotta tile for a lot less, and that's really all a pizza stone is. Just make sure and preheat well first to get the right texture on your crust.
posted by pupdog at 1:12 PM on June 22, 2007

dudeman and k7lim are describing two different kinds of "NY-style" pizza. The kind you fold and walk around with is "slice style," and it's cooked in a gas or electric deck oven at 450-550 degrees. The kind that's cooked (or inspired by sorts that are cooked) in coal-burning ovens is cooked at 600 F or hotter (sometimes up to 950 F) and has a good deal of char on it.

The slice style is pretty easy to make at home if one is willing to practice for a few weeks. The hot-oven, restaurant kind is hard to make at home because of the oven conditions... but unfortunately it's also a kind that doesn't reheat well, and is best in the first 5 minutes after coming out of the oven.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:10 AM on June 23, 2007

Mineo's is awesome. I'm kinda surprised they do mail order, as they don't even deliver within Pittsburgh . . . .
posted by FlyingMonkey at 1:14 PM on June 28, 2007