Pizza By Plu Is the Cult Favorite Pizza You Can't Get
Facebook signups, secretive drop-offs, and house-made sauce make these Detroit-style pies the most sought after pizzas in the Capital Region.
A version of this story was originally published by The 518, a biweekly newsletter from our friends Phat X. Chiem and Karley Sullivan. Get more of their Capital Region coverage (including a killer events calendar) sent directly to your email by subscribing.
Brian Plu makes some of the very best pizza in the Capital Region—but this is likely your first time hearing that name.
There’s no brick-and-mortar store. No employees. No website. It’s just Brian.
To get your grubby hands on one of his delicious Detroit-style pies, you need to follow an unconventional but very specific process. Here’s how it works:
At noon sharp on Sundays, Brian makes a post on his Facebook page with a SignUpGenius link for each day's drop. He sells out in minutes—11 minutes is the current record!
At noon on the day of each drop, Brian will send an email to the lucky few with the secret drop-off location, which happens at exactly 4:30-5:30pm on each specific day.
Late getting to the drop-off? Too bad, you’re not getting your pizza.
“People say the process is crazy, but the pizza’s worth it,” Brian tells us. Judging from the comments on his 10K strong Facebook page, thousands of people agree.
According to its Facebook bio, Pizza By Plu was voted the best pizza in the Capital Region by Times Union readers this year, shocking many local pizza lovers. Who the heck is this guy?
Brian is largely self taught: “I went to school for economics, but I was always a restaurant guy—25 years in the industry, front of house, bartender, server.” During Covid, he started experimenting with pizza-making because, like us, he has a hard time finding excellent pizza in the Capital District. One day, he quit a job he hated and went full on pizza.
Each week, Brian produces 192 Detroit-style pies (8”x10”), working out of Capital Cooks, a commercial kitchen in Colonie. Fan favorites include the Tyler Durden (double pepperoni, bacon, and Mike’s Hot Honey) and the Ricotta Be Kidding Me (white pizza with roasted broccoli, cream sauce, and truffle balsamic). Prices range from $17.75 for the cheese to $24.25 for the Tyler.
Brian’s entire business runs through Facebook, where he sprinkles in references to music and movies he loves. Not coincidentally, his favorite movie is the cult film, “Fight Club.”
“The number one rule of Pizza By Plu is that we do not talk about the actual drop locations,” he writes. Brian is also not above dropping some serious F-bombs on his posts—especially when people try to game the system to get an order.
“I have little tolerance for nonsense,” he admits.
What makes Pizza By Plu worth the hype? Brian credits his house-made sauce, quality ingredients, and 24-hour proofed dough. “It’s also made with love,” he says. “This is my passion; it’s all I do.”
So, how do you really get on Brian’s list to make an order? “Set an alarm,” he says.
—Phat
Read more from The 518 here.
The results of Best of the Capital Region have not been released. Further, please change the wording in your story. It says, "Pizza by Plu was voted the best pizza by the Times Union." This is wrong. Winners are chosen based on thousands of votes by Times Union readers. Times Union staff does not make the choices. We run the promotion, collect votes and publish the results, but we does not choose winners. Please correct the sentence.