New in Town: The Most Important Thing

There are just so many things you have to do when you move to a new neighborhood: figure out which neighbors are really annoying (no contenders yet); determine where you want the dog to poop (anywhere he wants); reset the auto-tune buttons on the car radio (my former favorite station is barely within range).

But there is one thing that is more important than all the rest, one thing that we simply could not live without knowing.

We had to find who has the best pizza delivery. And we had to do it quickly.

I should point out here that during the 25 years we lived in Irvington, NY, the best pizza we achieved was "passable." This was no doubt the result of having been spoiled by our years of living in Greenwich Village, where we had John’s and the Absolutely Positively Original First and Only Famous Ray’s (which is the one on 6th Avenue and 11th Street) within blocks of our apartment.

Now pizza is a very personal thing, even when it’s not a personal pizza. Everyone has a different idea of what’s good. So it’s not the kind of information you can get from a neighbor. I felt comfortable asking my new neighbor Brian where to get a $30,000 car fixed, but not for pizza referrals. I mean, what would happen if he gave us a name and we hated it and then Brian saw someone else delivering a pizza to us? If he confronted us, how could we explain our rejection of his recommendation? We would have to move.

So we began our search randomly by starting with the pizzeria whose delivery cars we saw most often. If everyone else is ordering from them, we figured, how bad could it be? And, indeed, Luigi’s pie wasn’t bad. We were actually starting with "passable," the level it had previously taken us a quarter century to attain. I believe the rating for the first pie we had in Irvington was "the box tasted better."

A week later, we tried Planet Pizza, which actually has a Westchester branch, so it wasn’t completely foreign. It ranked slightly better than Luigi’s, although I found the crust in both lacking.

In our travels around Stamford, we kept passing the establishment of John the Baker, so we decided to try his offering next. And it was quite good. Thin but chewy crust, slightly sweet. It even arrived on the warm side. Then we ate at Coalhouse Pizza, and that was pretty good, too, if you can get past the cutesy names they give their pies. But it seems like delivery isn’t a priority, there, and we prefer not to have to wait too long. So we’ll stay with John for now, because we like to have our pizza arrive before we go to bed.

I’m sure any readers who live in Stamford are certain that our choices and opinions are beyond laughable, and that they (and only they) know the location of the best pizza in lower Connecticut. Well, we welcome your referrals, but remember, they have to deliver to North Stamford.

In the meantime, on to Chinese food!

For more on our adventures as first-time homeowners at age 57, and moving to Stamford, visit http://theupsizers.wordpress.com/