Worthwhile Detroit Style Pizza In Poughkeepsie

When you think of Poughkeepsie, New York… what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If you said “Detroit Style Pizza,” I’d say you’re lying. But you could make the cast that Hudson & Packard (29 Academy Street), which opened its doors to the public at the start of the pandemic, should be synonymous with this Hudson Valley city. There is no trendier pizza style right now than pan cooked pies from the Motor City. And while the wave of revitalization that has swept over other waterfront towns like Beacon, Kingston and Hudson has not yet made its way to Poughkeepsie, a place like Hudson & Packard could help anchor development (in fact, a food hall — The Academy — just opened on the same block).

What’s Unique: Detroit style pies! In Poughkeepsie! Isn’t that unique enough? The fact that these rival some of the most renowned Detroit style pizza — both in and out of Detroit — is certainly noteworthy. It’s a borderline destination pizza place that hasn’t yet blown up as a stopping point for food en route upstate (vis-à-vis the Phoenicia Diner).

The pies are pretty funky (case in point: The Haole featuring roasted chicken, bbq sauce, pineapple, ham, red onion, scallion, and pecorino). And speaking of chicken, they also serve four types of chicken wings; they looked delicious, but we passed in an effort to maximize stomach capacity for pizza.

What To Eat: Every pie we tasted was great. The menu does rotate, but we got two pies with chicken — the Chicky Parmy (chicken cutlet, tomato sauce, basil pesto, burrata) and Firebird (a choice of ranch or blue cheese, buffalo sauce, crispy chicken cutlet, red onion) — and two without: The PYT (tomato relish, mozz, pesto, aged balsamic, parm) and The Big Cheese. The Chicky Parmy and PYT were my favorites. The pies are quite filling; two people can split a salad and a single pie and walk away full.

What To Know Before You Go: The restaurant encourages diners go “half and half” so I recommend doing so to try more options. You can also build your own pie, which our waitress said she typically does. The headline here is flexibility (a nice alternative to seeing “no substitutions” on many menus these days). Our waitress also raved about the Ford Funghi Pizza (mushrooms, onions, goat cheese, truffle oil, lemon zest). But alas, it wasn’t on the menu the night I was there. Even more of a reason I’ll be returning to Hudson & Packard very soon.

Worthwhile Detroit Style Pizza In Poughkeepsie

When you think of Poughkeepsie, New York… what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If you said “Detroit Style Pizza,” I’d say you’re lying. But you could make the cast that Hudson & Packard (29 Academy Street), which opened its doors to the public at the start of the pandemic, should be synonymous with …