December 6, 2011
This week, 14850 Dining is huddling by the fireplace and making the food come to us. You may not realize it, but pizza delivery was pioneered right here in Ithaca over a half century ago, when Pirro's Pizza realized the ultimate convenience food could be even more convenient if they brought it to your door, and the options have expanded since then.
Domino's talks about being the first chain to deliver pizza, but not long before they got around to it, the Pirro family started bringing pizzas to their customers' doors. Did you know Ithaca also pioneered McDonald's delivery? That didn't work out as well; the downtown McDonald's (which became Benchwarmers for a while) found that fries didn't travel so well, and stopped delivering them. Before long, the "value meal" meant meals without fries were practically nonexistent!
Many restaurants will deliver if you call them -- Hal's Deli and Wok Village and Napoli Pizzeria have been doing that for decades -- but we admit we like the convenience of clicking a few buttons without even picking up the phone.
Campusfood.com focuses on online ordering for eateries in college towns, and has some three dozen to choose from in Ithaca. Place your order for pick-up or delivery for right now, or set a time for delivery later. Store your home address, your work address, even that corner on campus where you're always studying late at night, pick what you want, and your order will be sent along to the restaurant.
We wish we could say the clearly printed orders meant no more mistakes, but sure, the wrong thing will still sometimes show up if the restaurant isn't paying close attention. It's still a great way to get that calzone or sesame chicken headed your way, and most places will fix their errors if you give them a ring. Campusfood tacks on a small service charge, usually 75 cents, for handling your order, and they'll include a delivery fee, typically a buck or so, if the restaurant charges one. You can always tell in advance whether there's a fee.
IthacaToGo solves the problem of getting food from restaurants that don't do their own delivery -- they pick up your order and bring it to you, for a $4 delivery fee. That means they can bring you food from eateries that just aren't set up to deliver, like Culture Shock and the State Diner, or even Razorback BBQ. The $4 fee may seem steep compared to free delivery, or a buck, but it's easy to divvy up among a few friends and it means you have more choices of where to get your food from.
What if you really need a bag of Doritos, or a half gallon of Heavenly Hash? Rogan's Corner will show up not just with wings, subs, or pizza, but anything they sell in the store. Free delivery -- but there's an $8 minimum order. Again, not too hard if you're ordering for more than one or getting some provisions along with your sandwich.
And we've talked about Garden Gate Delivery, the locavore food delivery service that brings fresh local meat, produce, bread, and more to your door so you can do the cooking yourself with top-notch local food. Check out gardengatedelivery.com and place your order by noon Sunday for the delivery rounds next week.
So next time you're not feeling like venturing out, click over to dining.14850.com for some of your delivery options, tell them you heard about them here, and remember to tip your driver -- especially in lousy weather.
