The Goldbelly Experience

It's no secret that I have a family full of foodies. We plan entire trips around eateries with raving reviews, but since traveling hasn't been an option lately, we've had to put our trips on hold.

We recently learned about Goldbelly, an online restaurant marketplace, from a friend who often travels for work. From Lahaina to Juneau, New Orleans, all the way up to Chicago, Goldbelly offers online ordering from well known and not so well known eateries across the country. Macadamia nut tarts, lobster rolls, and gumbo are a few of the selections available for purchase.

Our friend recommended we try the Chicago deep-dish pizza from Lou Malnati's and suggested an apple pie from the Little Pie Company in New York City for dessert.

Lou Malnati opened his pizzeria in 1971. He got his start in the Chicago deep-dish pizza game in the 1940s. He quickly gained a reputation, serving up some of the best deep-dish pies in the Windy City with a smile. The pizzeria uses California vine-ripened tomatoes for their sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese from the same dairy for more than 40 years, and the family's secret pizza crust recipe.

After a bit of research, we found Chicago has die-hard deep-dish fans, and Lou's pizza comes on top in most reviews. We ordered two pizzas, one a classic cheese and the other a pepperoni. Both pizzas arrived frozen.

While the entire pizza was delicious, I must focus on the sauce. It was a tomato sauce unlike any that I am used to from around here. The sauce celebrates the vine-ripened fruit. Aside from a tiny hint of salt, there were no other apparent ingredients- no garlic, no herbs, nothing.

I'm used to shredded cheese covering the toppings and was a little bit surprised when there wasn't a trace of cheese on top of the pizzas we ordered. The giant slab of gooey mozzarella hidden under the sauce made up for it! The cheese was also unlike anything I had ever had on a pizza before.

From the dinner pie to dessert, the star was the sour cream apple pie we ordered from the Little Pie Company. Located in Manhattan's theater district, the Little Pie Company was opened by actor Arnold Wilkerson in 1985. The pie shop embraces the simplicity of the pastry, using locally sourced ingredients for their pies, cakes, and cookies.

I am usually very critical of frozen pies; they tend to be better to look at than to eat. Our pie arrived very frozen, with clear instructions to bring to room temperature before warming in the oven.

The apples were perfectly sliced and remained crisp even after being frozen. I'm taking a wild guess and estimating that anywhere between five and seven apples went into this pie because it was loaded!

The apples, however, weren't even the best of this dessert, second only to the crumble topping that covered the pie. The instructions said to warm the pie for 10-15 minutes at 325 degrees, transforming the sticky, caramelly-looking topping into a crunchy, light crumble that was to die for! It was good enough that it earned my mom's approval, and she's pickier about pie than I am!

Both of our boxes arrived beautifully packaged, with either dry ice or a large ice pack. The pizzas were in a Styrofoam cooler, packaged within a cardboard box, while the pie shipped with a gel-like insulation pack.

The only downside to Goldbelly was the price. The pie was roughly $70, and the pizzas were pushing $80, but both prices included overnight shipping via UPS, so fair overall. Prices vary based on the location - the highest prices I saw were products coming from Hawaii.

If you're looking to try something new, or perhaps you've moved away from your favorite restaurant, check out Goldbelly.com! They may have just what you are looking for.