Gia's Pizza Kitchen, East Rochester

 After checking out one pizza place in East Rochester, which I liked very much, I decided to try another. And I liked this one too.

 I know East Rochester has historically been home to a large Italian-American population, and some very good Italian restaurants. But Gia's Pizza Kitchen, which opened last October, just came up on my radar screen recently.

I ordered a large pie to go, half cup and char pepperoni, half onions and sweet peppers.

I didn't realize until I got there to pick up the pizza that Gia's is a full-service restaurant. There is a small bar near the door and several tables to the right as you enter; the kitchen is in the back and is visible from the bar.

I got it home quickly and was quite pleased with the pizza. The underside, though a bit heavily dusted with cornmeal (or maybe it was rice flour; I should've paid closer attention, but hey, I'm out of practice), was slightly charred, and firm though not crackly crisp. The crust had a chewy texture, with a well-formed cornicione and bread-like flavor. It was on the thinner side. Quite nice overall.

It all starts with the crust, but that's not to discount the importance of the toppings. They need to be good, and applied in balance with each other. And these were good.

 The sauce was a tad sweet, but not in a sugary way, more tomatoey. The cheese was nicely melted. And both were applied in good proportion to the crust. I'm not a fan of heavily laden pizza, with a lot of sauce and cheese, especially with a thin crust, and this was just about right.

The pepperoni was done right: browned and crisp along the edges, chewy in the middle. On the other half, the use of yellow bell peppers was unusual but not unwelcome. They have a milder, slightly sweeter flavor that the usual green variety. Both the peppers and the onions were softened but not browned.

I came away rather happy with this pizza. I'm not sure how I would classify it, not that I need to, but it worked for me. Good job, in my opinion.Gia's Pizza Kitchen

211 Main St., East Rochester

Wed. - Fri. 11:30 am - 9 pm
Sat. 4 - 9 pm
Sun 12 - 7 pm

Closed Mon. & Tue. 

 

 

GG's, East Rochester

During my long hiatus from updating this blog, I never stopped wanting to try new pizzerias around Rochester, and I maintained a to-do list, which I updated any time I found out about a place I hadn't tried before. Although I would occasionally manage to cross one off the list, it wasn't often enough to prevent the list from getting longer and longer.

Now that I'm back to blog writing, I'm hoping to whittle down the list. My current goal is to visit at least one establishment a week. Last week, I got to work on that goal by ordering takeout from GG's Pizza in East Rochester, which came highly recommended by a friend and former coworker. 

Deciding what to order was a bit daunting, as they offer various specialty pizzas and 26 different toppings, as well as several options like well done, par bake (for reheating at home), square cut, thick crust, thin crust, etc.  

My first time trying a place, I try to keep it relatively simple, so I went with a large, half cup 'n' char pepperoni, half onions and green peppers. I did not specify any other options, and as to crust thickness the first time around I always want to try their default crust. 

Got it home in about 20 minutes, for family dinner. The three of us polished off eleven of the twelve slices (I'm not sure which of us was the slacker who only ate three.) 

As I mentioned, GG's offers thin and thick crust options, and this was indeed medium. Thick around the edge, quarter inch maybe inside the perimeter. 

I was a bit disappointed at the underside, which was heavily screen marked and a splotchy brown. It was firm but not particularly crisp underneath. But that was a relatively minor matter as the crust was quite good. 

My litmus test for pizza crust is, is it good enough to eat on its own? And this was. It was bready (which my autocorrect insists is not a word, but it is in my vocabulary), meaning it had the texture, aroma and flavor of freshly baked bread. 

The sauce was slightly sweet and applied in good balance with the crust. Another test that pizza has to meet is the balance test. The crust and whatever is on top of the crust, be it sauce, cheese, or other toppings, need to stay in balance. Now if you want to pile on the toppings and get five kinds of meat and extra cheese, go right ahead. I'm not about to tell you you're wrong. But that's not how I evaluate a basic pizza. 

The cheese was also good, nothing but processed mozzarella as far as I could tell, but it seemed to be a good quality cheese as it was nicely melted, without a lot of exuded fat. Pepperoni was crisp, and the onions and peppers were nicely done, and would have been quite at home on an Italian sausage sandwich.  

My takeaway was that this was a great example of Rochester-style pizza. Not that we have a particularly unique style of pizza; by "Rochester style" I mean, the style that came to be predominant around Rochester. A little thick on the crust, a little sweet on the sauce, a bit heavy on the cheese. In many ways, it's the template for what became American pizza. 

I'd certainly like to go back to GG's, to explore their other options, but as I said at the start I have a long list to get to, so it may be a while. Next time I might ask for the pie to be baked directly on the oven deck, to crisp up the bottom. A slice I reheated at home on a cast iron skillet was nicely crisp. I could also go with the par-baked option but generally I don't want to have to finish baking an entire pizza after I get home.

That, however, is a minor quibble in light of how enjoyable this was. For classic Rochester style pizza, I can well recommend GG's.

 GG's Pizzeria, 326 W. Commercial St., East Rochester

585-360-2050

Mon. - Thu.11:00 AM - 7:45 PM

Fri. & Sat. 11:00 AM - 8:45 PM

Sun. 12:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

 At a reader's suggestion, I decided to check out Anatolia Mediterranean Grill, a Turkish restaurant across the street from Seabreeze Amusement Park. Not because they serve pizza, exactly, but something akin to pizza. 

The idea of flatbread with toppings is an ancient one that's found in many countries, especially around the Mediterranean, where wheat is the staple grain. In my highly subjective opinion, that concept reached its apotheosis with the development of what we know today as pizza. But in addition to the myriad forms that pizza itself has taken over the years, it also has many close relatives that are well worth exploring. 

Some of those can be found in Turkey. Lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey boasts a national cuisine as delicious as it is diverse, as I've written about in this blog, first in 2011, and again in 2016. 

On those occasions, I had tried lahmacun, which is sometimes referred to as "Turkish pizza," although in my opinion that's neither particularly accurate nor fair. It's a thin flatbread, usually topped with well-seasoned ground or minced meat, most commonly lamb.

I'm no lahmacun connoisseur, but Anatolia's was quite enjoyable. The crust (strictly speaking, I'm not sure if "crust" is the correct term for it, but for lack of a better term I'll go with that) was thin, chewy, and on the line between pliable and crunchy:  not as foldable as a wrap, but not brittle or crackly either. It provided a good base for the tasty lamb mixture on top, which was packed with flavor. 

 We also ordered another dish, pide ("pee-deh"), which is a closer relative of pizza, both etymologically and culinarily. We chose the "mixed" pide, topped with cheese, pastrami, Turkish sausage, and ground beef. 

The crust was thicker and chewier, and far more pizza-like than the lahmacun. The biggest differences between this and traditional pizza were the shape (sometimes described as a boat shape) and the toppings. I particularly enjoyed the pastrami, which added a burst of salty meaty flavor that made me wonder why it's not a more common pizza topping. I think I will try it next time I make pizza at home.

Oh yeah, the other food was good too. We got a chicken plate, with fried chicken, rice, bell peppers and salad. It was flavorful yet simple and there was a lot of it. We ended up taking some home, which made for a very nice lunch the next day.

Oh, and the dessert bar. That's a blog post in itself, but I'll just say that no trip to Anatolia should be considered complete without a visit to the dessert bar. 

 So ... to whoever recommended Anatolia, thank you.

To my readers, if you want pizza, this is not a pizzeria. They don't serve pizza, as such.

But if you like pizza and are interested in exploring the many variations and cousins of pizza, you should check out Anatolia. I don't think you will be disappointed.

For me, I intend to return and try some of their other dishes. If they are this good, there's a lot more worth exploring. 

 Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

4671 Culver Rd., Irondequoit, NY 14622 

585-226-7578 

Sun., Mon. Wed., Thu. 11 am - 9 pm

Fri., Sat. 11 am - 10 pm

Closed Tue.