Merchants Grill

While my explorations have taken me to nearly all of Rochester's pizzerias, I've still got some work to do on investigating the area's bars and restaurants that serve pizza. And I've been trying to whittle away at that list.
So it was that I recently stopped by Merchants Grill, on its namesake road in northeast Rochester. It's a popular bar/restaurant serving food all day, till the wee hours.
And in addition to the usual bar fare of wings and burgers, they do pizza. So that's what I tried, sharing a pie and some wings with a friend.
My pepperoni pie had a medium-thick crust, which was very dark brown to nearly black underneath, and crisscrossed by screen marks. It wasn't particularly oily to the touch, but its color and exterior crunch suggested the presence of oil in the dough, on the pan or cooking surface, or both. The edge was lighter in color but also crunchy on the surface, though the interior did have some breadlike chew.
The pie was topped with a basic tomato sauce, with a straightforward tomatoey flavor, and an even layer of nicely melted mozzarella, as well as a judicious sprinkling of cup and char pepperoni slices. They made for a tasty, well balanced combination.
The pizza was OK, but, perhaps not surprisingly, I liked the wings better. They were meaty and well coated, but not drenched, in a medium-hot, classic Buffalo sauce. I also appreciated the inclusion of celery sticks, although I would've preferred them from the wider, root end than these skinny strips from the top of the stalk.
It's nice to see pizza as an option at local eateries that aren't full-fledged pizzerias, provided that the pizza is decent. And this was decent. I wouldn't say that Merchants Grill is a pizza destination, but if you go, consider gettting a pizza - it's not bad. The crust wasn't the greatest, but it was OK, and to the extent possible, it was compensated for by the toppings, which were flavorful and well balanced. If you were having this as an accompaniment to a pitcher of beer with some friends, I think this would be a perfectly acceptable bar pizza.  I wouldn't call this average Rochester pizza, but on balance, it falls somewhere in the middle, so I'll give it a C. 
Merchants Grill, 881 Merchants Road
482-2010
Open daily from 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. (food available until 1:00 a.m.)

Book Review: Easy Indian Cooking

There are certain ethnic cuisines that I just have to go back to now and again, and Indian is one of them. When I think of Indian food, I think of intoxicating blends of spices and other ingredients that yield complex, yet complementary blends of flavors and aromas that are a delight to the senses.
Probably like most Americans, though, my experience of Indian cooking has mostly been limited to Indian restaurants; I rarely attempt to cook Indian food at home. So I gladly accepted a review copy of Easy Indian Cooking from publisher Robert Rose.
Author Suneeta Vaswani, a native and (after some years spent in Houston, Texas) resident of Mumbai, knows her stuff, as is evident from the many tips found in the sidebars to the recipes. The book covers a gamut of Indian cuisine, from street foods to breads, meat- and vegetable-based main dishes, chutneys and sweets.
For the most part, the recipes are kept fairly simple, and though the ingredient lists can be long, there's generally nothing in them that you couldn't pick up at Wegmans, or at one of Rochester's Indian groceries, like this one or this one or this one.
You'll find Indian-restaurant staples like tandoori and pork vindaloo, as well as less familiar and vegetarian dishes, such as mussels in cilantro broth, potatoes with fenugreek leaves, and creamy broccoli curry. Not surprisingly, there aren't a lot of beef dishes here. When beef does appear, it's usually as an alternative to lamb, which is what you're more likely to find in Indian cooking, but if you want to use beef, the lamb recipes are easily adaptable.
As a home baker, and a lover of the flatbreads that you can get at Indian restaurants, I was especially interested in those recipes. The chapter on "Rice, Cereal and Breads" contains recipes for various Indian breads, but they're mostly either griddle- or deep-fried breads. Oven-baked breads are not to be found here. But any good, general baking cookbook should have recipes for those, and their absence is more than compensated for by the wealth of other Indian dishes found within these pages. Contrary to some people's impressions, Indian food is not all spicy hot, but I'm a pepperhead, and I was pleased to see recipes like "Fiery Fish," which Vaswani cautions is "not for the faint-hearted." Don't worry, you'll be able to cool your palate with a mango lassi or cucumber raita.
With 150 recipes, Easy Indian Cooking offers plenty to keep lovers of Indian food busy in their kitchens for a long time. And if you're a novice in this area, it makes for a good, user-friendly introduction to one of the world's great cuisines. 
Easy Indian Cooking, by Suneeta Vaswani. Robert Rose (2d ed. 2013). Paperback, 240 pp.

Santino's Pizza, Oakfield

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved looking at maps, and wondering what all those places were on there, and what they were like. These days, of course, you can virtually go anywhere on Google Maps, but it's hardly a substitute for being there. I'm pretty sure that spending a week looking at the Street View of Hawaii would not give me the same pleasure as spending a week there, in person.
So I still like to drive around and check out places I've never been to before. I always think, if it's your first time in a place, you're a traveler there, even if it's only an hour's drive from your home.
Which took me recently to Oakfield in Genesee County. I had to be in that area, and took the opportunity to pay my first visit to this village a few miles northwest of Batavia. Funny how some things stick in your mind, but I remembered hearing of it in 2005, when an 11-year-old girl made headlines by striking out every player she faced while pitching a Little League game. (If you're interested, here's a "what ever happened to" update.)
Of course, I didn't just go there to see Oakfield, nice as it may be. I also knew that - like any self-respecting American town - Oakfield has a pizzeria, Santino's, which had gotten some positive online reviews.
Santino's is a fairly large, bustling place, at least on a weekday at lunchtime, when I stopped in to try their pizza. They offer counter service, with a large seating area. They have pizza slices available at the counter, and I got two pepperoni slices to go, which looked pretty fresh.
The thin to medium crust was dark brown underneath, with a faint oily sheen and no screen marks. It was a good-looking crust, although on biting into it I found that it was not as crisp as I'd expected from its appearance. Firm, but not crisp.
The slices were topped with a thin layer of a simple, middle-of-the-road tomato sauce. The cheese, which seemed to be straight mozzarella, was quite thick, almost like double cheese. It had, unfortunately, congealed since coming out of the oven, which is one of the downsides of getting slices rather than a fresh pie.

A sprinkling of dried herbs was visible on top, adding a hint of oregano flavor and aroma. The thin slices of pepperoni were OK.
I could swear that I picked up a menu while I was at Santino's, but I can't seem to locate it. I'm not the most organized person around, so that doesn't surprise me. If I find it I'll edit this post to add more about their menu, but for now suffice it to say that Santino's offers a solid range of pizzas, wings and subs. 
As for this pizza, hey, it wasn't bad. The flavor was pretty good, and the crust had some breadlike aroma, even if it wasn't as crisp as I like. The cheese was generous, even if congealed and chewy. And with two slices plus a fountain drink for just $4, it was a good deal. All in all, this was decent, basic pizza, average small-town pizza (and I don't mean that in a pejorative way), and I'll give it a C.
Santino's Pizza, 2 Main St, Oakfield
Phone:  (585) 948-5266
Hours unknown, but it is open for lunch on weekdays