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 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