JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For those craving authentic New Haven-style pizza, Emangeo’s Brick Oven Pizza has opened up a new location.
Emangeo’s is now serving Jacksonville’s Baymeadows area, expanding its reach beyond its original brick-and-mortar location in Green Cove Springs. Their popular food truck also continues traveling throughout the city.
Owners George and Tina Schneider moved to Florida from Connecticut in 1999 and later decided to bring a taste of home to the community.
The menu features a variety of pizzas, including classic New York-style options and specialty New Haven-style pies like the Mama T’s Sweet Heat and the New Haven Dill Pickle. These pizzas are known for their ultra-thin crust, crispy bottom, and signature char, baked at 700 degrees in just three minutes.
“New York, I mean everybody is familiar with New York. It’s a thin slice, and it should be crispy, foldable, some New York’s have some kind of char, but it’s not a good amount of char. New Haven it’s most noted for being crispy on the bottom, super thin; it’s typically thinner than a New York slice. It has a char on it so it’s cooked in a higher heat,” said George Schneider.
Schneider says traditional New Haven pizza is cooked in a coal-fired oven, but Emangeo’s achieves similar results using their own oven.
“The standard is cooked in a coal-fired oven, we don’t use coal-fire, but we get the same results with the oven that we do use. We cook at 700 degrees which is about a 3-minute cook, and we get the same results, and we’ve had really get luck. Kind of look around and no one has New Haven style so we’re pioneering it to Jacksonville and it feels pretty good.”
Pizzas come in multiple sizes to suit any appetite. New Haven-style pies are available in 10 and 14-inch sizes, while New York-style pizzas come in 12, 14- and 16-inch options. Emangeo’s also offers a 9-inch cauliflower crust, along with calzones and stromboli.
Schneider says many of the pizza flavors are inspired by his childhood, and the restaurant also encourages creativity among staff through friendly competitions.
“We are huge on teamwork and creating our Emangeo’s family. So, we have contests a lot of times where everybody puts out their favorite pizza and comes up with something and we run it for a month and if it sticks, it stays. One of the things with of that is the employee that actually wins the contest, they get to name their pizza.”
Beyond pizza, Emangeo’s offers a variety of other dishes for those looking for something different. The menu includes appetizers like cheese sticks with marinara, pesto knots, and buffalo chicken egg rolls, as well as wings, salads, subs, and classic Italian dinners such as lasagna, spaghetti, and fettuccini Alfredo.
The restaurant is also active in the community, supporting local organizations like little leagues and Kids Helping Kids.
For Schneider, seeing customers enjoy the food is the most rewarding part of the job.
“We do what it takes to make people happy. I think that’s probably one of the most satisfying things that we have is seeing all these people loving our pizza, it’s a really awesome feeling, I mean that’s why we do it. I just want people to be happy, if they liked it spread the word, if not, come back to us and we’ll make it right. We want everybody to have a great experience.”
For the full menu, visit the Emangeo’s Brick Oven Pizza website.
For more information or to be considered for WOKV’S For Locals By Locals, email news@wokv.com. Please put “For Locals by Locals” in the subject line.
0 of 29
