Native

 On October 3, my wife and I had dinner at Native on South Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester. They describe themselves as offering "a casual upscale dining experience," and they do pizza, so here we go.

I quite liked the place, which is in 3 City Center, at the corner of South Clinton and Woodbury Boulevard. It was a warmish late afternoon and the patio doors were open. We ate inside, which had a very relaxed feel. Dark walls but not dim, high ceilings. Very nice.

The pizza options were limited, but I understand this is not a pizzeria, just a restaurant that offers pizza. We passed on the "Blu Mela" (apple compote, bacon, mozzarella, blue cheese and pearl onions), which sounds unappealing for a number of reasons that I may get into on my Facebook page, but the more options the better.

 We decided to split a "Rossa" with house red sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, and a "Senza Nome" (which translates to nameless or literally "without a name"), topped with white bean puree, leeks, NYS cheddar, shredded mozzarella, fried Brussels sprouts, and Gochujang sauce. I confess to having had to look up the latter, which AI tells me is a Korean chili sauce made from the fermented gochujang chili paste. "Chili sauce" on the description would've sufficed for me (or an explanation of what it means), but OK.

 Both pies had a thick, puffy corncione. The undersides were noticeably dusted with what I believe was cornmeal. 

The crust was chewy, and had some flavor; it wasn't just a vehicle for the toppings. For me, though, the graininess underneath diminished its impact somewhat. The Senza Nome was quite darkened, well beyond "spotting," but was still enjoyable. It also seemed puffy underneath, with visible dough bubbles.

The Rossa was, shall I say flatter underneath, had some dark spots and was crisp but more evenly browned.

 The cheese on both was melted quite nicely. Getting the cheese and the crust to come out right at the same time may be one of the trickiest aspects of making pizza, as so many variables are involved, but the cheese on both of these was right where I wanted it: melted just shy of being overdone.

I was also impressed with the toppings as a whole. The cheese melted beautifully and the tomato sauce was nicely balanced, with tomatoey sweetness and a hint of acidity. And although it would never occur to me to put a white bean puree on a pizza, this particular combination worked surprisingly well. It's not often I run across a pizza I prefer to a pepperoni pie, but I liked this one better. Kudos!

If I have a complaint, it would be about the crust.  The crusts were good but I'd like to see more consistency. And although I understand the use of cornmeal (or rice flour or whatever it was) underneath, there was a graininess on the bottom of this crust that got in the way of my enjoyment of it.

But I shouldn't end this on a bad note. It was good pizza and a good experience. Recommended.  

 

Amore

My wife recently had dinner at Amore, the Wegmans restaurant next to the East Avenue Wegmans. She brought me home two pizza slices, a Margherita and a seasonal with a butternut squash puree, zucchini and fresh mozzarella.

Okay, so I didn't eat these fresh out of the oven, which is the best way to judge a pizza, but I did keep them sealed and heated them the next day on a cast iron pan, which is the best way to reheat thin-crust pizza.

Both were extremely thin, to the point that there was virtually no interior in the crust, apart from the cornicione. That was unfortunate as otherwise they were pretty good. 

Despite the thinness, both were firm enough to be held in one hand (not that that's a prerequisite for good pizza - Neapolitan pizza often requires a knife and fork, and least in the middle) and they displayed some nice leopard spotting underneath. The cornicione was chewy and thick enough to allow the flavor of the crust to come through.

The flavors were good as well. The Margherita was topped with San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, EVOO, and Parmigiano Reggiano. The flavors were mild but the components worked well together.

I'm not always a fan of "seasonal" pizzas with unusual toppings (so far I haven't run across a pumpkin spice pizza, thank God), but I try to keep an open mind. I quite liked the butternut squash pizza. It wasn't necessarily something I would choose often, as red-sauce pizza remains my default, but I liked the combination here. As with the Margherita the flavors were on the mild side but they were complementary and allowed the flavor of the crust to come through. And the cheese on both was very nicely melted, just enough to soften without browning or liquefying (again, I did reheat these, so I'm not sure how they were upon coming out of the oven, but they were good for me).

 Overall, then, I found this very enjoyable pizza. But I think it would've been better, for me at least, had the crust been just a wee bit thicker.

Having said all that, I recognize that according to Amore's website, the head chef was born and learned his trade in Italy. I'm sure he's forgotten more about making pizza than I will ever know. I'm just giving my subjective opinion, which you may give whatever weight you think it deserves, including none at all. As the saying goes, opinions are like ... I forget, but I know everybody's got one.

Amore Italian Restaurant & Lounge

 1750 East Ave.

Rochester, NY  14610
Phone: (585) 452-8780 

Hours

5 – 9pm, Monday – Saturday
Last Seating at 8:30pm

 

 

Georgio's

After a five-year run, the Pizza Stop location in Pittsford Plaza closed last year, which was sad news for local fans of New York style pizza. (The original location on State Street in downtown Rochester remains open, as do locations in Greece and Pultneyville.)

So I was happy to see that the location was purchased and recently reopened as Georgio's Pizza, which "specialize[s] in authentic New York-style pizza, wings, and fried favorites." I recently gave it a try.

I got a cheese slice and a Margherita slice. Both were appropriately thin, and looked pretty good, until I looked underneath.

Out of habit, I almost immediately turn the pizza over to get a look at the underside. Uniform brown? Pale? Spotted? Any screen marks? That tells me something about how the pizza was prepared and baked.

This was a tale of two pies. The Margherita was pale with a little spotted browning, and the cheese slice was blackened to the point of charcoal.

That was unfortunate as the toppings weren't bad. The cheese slice was reminiscent of The Pizza Stop, although the cheese had passed the melting point and was beginning to congeal. Just a bit. The Margherita toppings were quite nice, with a tomatoey-sweet sauce, melted fresh mozzarella and wilted fresh basil. I generally like fresh ingredients but I could've done without the tomato slices. Not necessary and throws off the balance.

Back to the crust. Despite how dark it was, the cheese slice wasn't particularly crisp or crackly underneath, it was just overdone. And the Margherita was underdone, despite the slight browning.

Whatever defects these had, I think were a matter of execution, and by saying that I don't mean to suggest I'm an expert or that I could have done better. But clearly something was amiss.

As for the Margherita, I do know that fresh mozzarella and fresh basil generally needed to be added near the end of the bake, so they don't get overdone. Maybe these were added too soon, so the pizza was pulled out too soon. The cheese slice? Harder to explain. Just a hypothesis, but too long at too low a temperature? 

To be clear, this was not bad pizza. It just needed a bit of tweaking. And Georgio's may still be working things out. So not a complaint, just telling you about these two slices on this one occasion. I'll keep Georgio's on my go-to list.

Georgio's Pizzeria

3349 Monroe Ave #18, Rochester, NY 14618
Phone: (585) 851-0770
georgiospizzaroc.com

Mon. - Wed. 11 am - 8 pm 

Thu. - Sat. 11 am - 9 pm 

Sun.    12–8 pm