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New York’s Best Pizza owner Jos\u00e9 Mosqueda holds a 28-inch calzone next to their normal 10-inch calzone at the Arlington restaurant, Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
At New York\u2019s Best Pizza in Arlington<\/a>, ordering a calzone comes with a dilemma, because the next question from behind the counter is: regular or giant size<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n Owner Jos\u00e9 Mosqueda makes a giant calzone that takes the classic Italian idea of stuffed dough folded into a half-moon shape to the extreme. It\u2019s big. Very big. This is the kind of food that arrives at the table and makes people pull out their phones before cutting into it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe started making this giant calzone this year, and a video<\/a> on social media made this dish famous. Now a lot of people come in asking for it,\u201d Mosqueda said. \u201cBefore, we barely sold any because I never promoted it, but now it\u2019s gone viral.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The giant calzone measures 28 inches and is nearly impossible to lift without the weight of its filling breaking it in half. Mosqueda makes it with pepperoni, beef sausage, mozzarella and ricotta, all wrapped in dough he makes from scratch at the restaurant. It goes into the oven and comes out golden brown before getting a generous dusting of Parmesan, ready for diners to dig in, preferably with some help.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 28-inch calzone sits next to New York’s Best Pizza\u2019s normal 10-inch calzone at the Arlington restaurant, Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The giant calzone costs $35.99 and\u00a0can feed six to eight people. It would take about eight of Mosqueda\u2019s regular calzones to reach roughly the same size.\u00a0<\/p>\n The customers coming to try it don\u2019t necessarily live nearby. Mosqueda remembers that when the video started going viral, he received a call from someone in San Antonio who wanted to make sure the calzone<\/a> would be available and asked to make a reservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n But New York\u2019s Best Pizza doesn\u2019t take reservations. You show up, find a table or wait for one, and order. After all, the giant\u00a0calzone is still pizzeria food, so everything is ordered and cooked on the spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Mosqueda said the idea of making food in exaggerated proportions came during a family trip to Galveston. His daughters wanted pizza, and when they walked into a restaurant, he discovered pizzas much larger than the ones he was making back home. So when he returned to Arlington, he ordered oversized pans online and started experimenting.\u00a0<\/p>\n That led to the giant pizzas, also sold at the restaurant, and eventually, the giant calzone. And Mosqueda has another supersized creation in mind, though he didn’t disclose what it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of things you can do with this dough,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The large calzone at New York’s Best Pizza measures 28 inches at the Arlington restaurant, Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n A decades-long story\u00a0<\/p>\n Behind those experiments and oversized dishes is a story decades in the making.\u00a0Mosqueda was born in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, considered the birthplace of Mexican independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As a teenager, about 30 years ago, he immigrated to the United States without having finished elementary school. He started out in construction, but when the weather made outdoor work impossible, he found a job washing dishes at a pizzeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York’s Best Pizza owner Jos\u00e9 Mosqueda tosses dough for a 28-inch calzone he prepared for the oven at the Arlington restaurant, Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n There he learned that the more he knew how to do, the more he could earn. Eventually, he learned food prep, then cooking, customer service, answering phones and taking orders. When he realized he needed to speak English, he taught himself by watching movies and talking to people.\u00a0<\/p>\n He spent a decade working at the pizzeria and eventually became responsible for the entire operation. It was the customers\u00a0who encouraged him to open a place of his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n After hearing \u201cyou can do it\u201d enough times, he decided to find out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n An exterior view of New York’s Best Pizza on Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Best Pizza opened in Arlington in 2014. Mosqueda credits the restaurant\u2019s 12 years in business to his decision to stick with quality ingredients, even when that means sacrificing some profit. The cheese, for example, arrives in blocks and is shredded at the restaurant, rather than being preshredded. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d rather spend a little more and have people keep coming back because the product is good,\u201d Mosqueda said. \u201cBecause if a customer leaves satisfied, they\u2019ll always bring more people back to eat here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Best Pizza is at 2107 Sherry St, Arlington. nybestpizzeria.com.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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