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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Little Louie's Spencerport: Chicken Artichoke Pizza

Little Louie's Pizzeria on Urbanspoon
Last August, I posted a review of Little Louie's in Spencerport. I gave a C+ to their large (half sheet) pizza, which I found "pretty enjoyable," but a bit undercooked for my taste.
Sheet pizzas tend to differ so much from pies, however, that I wanted to make it back to Little Louie's sometime to try one of their pies, which come in small and medium sizes only. So not long ago, I picked up a medium, pie-style cheese pizza from LL, as well as one of their specialty pies, topped with chicken and artichokes.
Starting with the latter, the underside of the chicken artichoke pie's medium-thick crust was more of a golden brown than charred, but it was nice and crisp nonetheless. The pizza had an overall garlicky aroma, which seemed more redolent of garlic powder than of fresh garlic.
Contrary to the description in the menu, I didn't see any "white sauce" on this pizza. I think it was likely brushed or drizzled with olive oil before the cheese was applied.
The toppings worked well together, with a layer of melted, stringy mozzarella as a base for the chunks of chicken, artichoke and tomatoes. The unbreaded chicken didn't add a tremendous amount of flavor to the pie, but these toppings were on the whole characterized by relatively subtle flavors, so a light touch with the seasonings was probably called for here. The overall flavor was marked by a certain tanginess from the artichokes. My only complaint as far as the toppings are concerned was that several of the artichoke bits contained the hard outer leaves, rather than just the softer hearts, and by the time I was done I had a small pile of chewed-up artichoke leaves on my plate.
The cheese in some spots reached nearly to the edge of this pizza, while in others it was a good couple of inches away. The edge was reasonably pleasant on its own, though, with an airy, chewy interior.
Like the chicken artichoke pizza, the cheese pie was topped with a thick, stringy layer of well-melted mozzarella, with just the faintest hints of browning. I've noticed that Little Louie's cheese tends to be soft-textured and stringy, as opposed to the more oily/chewy/congealed cheese you get on a lot of pizzas.
Underneath, this pie's crust was noticeably softer and paler than the chicken artichoke pie's. For whatever reason, there were also some visible creases in the dough underneath, as if had folded a bit or hadn't quite lay flat while baking.
What also distinguished this pie from the chicken artichoke pizza, of course, was the addition of red sauce. This sauce was marked by a very tomatoey flavor. It was not especially sweet, salty, or heavily seasoned, but instead had a bright, prominent flavor of tomatoes.
Both the sauce and cheese were plentiful on this pizza, though both were in balance with each other, and the crust was substantial enough to stand up to both, without being overwhelmed by them.
The crust on both these pizzas was pretty good, although I wouldn't call it especially bready. But it had a pleasing flavor, and a nice, chewy texture. All in all, these were good pizzas, and while they didn't exactly wow me, I thought they were better than average, so I'll give them both a B.
Little Louie's Pizzeria, 1835 N. Union St., Spencerport. 349-3393
Mon. - Sat. 10:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m., Sun. noon - 9:00 p.m.

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