Pizzerias open and pizzerias close, but I was more than a little intrigued when I saw recently that Pizza
NOTA had opened in the Neighborhood of the Arts in Rochester. They bill themselves as offering something along the lines of New Haven (Ct.) style pizza, which as far as I know is a first for this area.
So why is that a big deal? In a nutshell, New Haven style pizza is sort of like New York style pizza, but not exactly. And devotees of each will tell you why one is better than the other. There's an abundance of stuff about it online, but for a primer, go here or here. I've been to New Haven and tried a few of places, and I've read quite a bit about it, so I had an idea of the style going in.
NOTA seems a bit unsure of where they stand; their website describes their pies as "Inspired by New Haven’s iconic char," but "finished with a touch of New York influence." Not quite sure what that means, but my interest was piqued by seeing that NOTA has a coal-fired oven. I don't want to get into a long digression here, but coal-fired ovens are typical of New Haven's long-established pizzerias, and some of NYC's older pizzerias as well. Coal was the fuel of choice way back when primarily because it was more readily available, and there are some differences between coal- and wood-fired ovens in terms of temperature, maintaining the fire, oven humidity, and so on. Read more here.
My wife and I shared one pizza, along with a salad. So the question was, which pizza to order? Several sounded interesting, but since this was our first time here, I figured we'd go with a classic New Haven pizza, the
tomato pie. NOTA's version is described as topped with Bianco DiNapoli tomato, garlic, pecorino, Parmesan, Sicilian oregano, and EVOO (no mozzarella).
Upon its arrival at our table, our pie was blackened along the edge and blistered underneath. There was almost no cornicione to speak of; the edge was just barely thicker than the rest of the crust, and the sauce was also applied nearly all the way to the rim.
One of the most striking aspects of the pizza was how thin the crust was. It was literally translucent.
So there wasn't much interior. It was a nicely charred bottom and the toppings, but with almost nothing in between.
At this point I will pause to address "authenticity" and style points, as in, is this how New Haven style pizza is "supposed" to be?
I'll digress long enough to say that (1) I've had New Haven pizza, but I'm no expert; (2) there are differences among New Haven pizzerias, so there are no hard and fast rules, just general characteristics; and (3) I don't put too much emphasis on that sort of stuff anyway. If I were judging this in a competition in the category of New Haven style pizza, sure.
But as much as I enjoy trying different pizza styles, as a blog writer I try to focus more on simply describing the pizza, allowing for some subjective impressions, with less emphasis on measuring it against some Platonic ideal. Perhaps I hold a more Aristotelian view of pizza. It's hard to say because neither Plato nor Aristotle were familiar with pizza, although they probably did enjoy the occasional flatbread.
Wait, where was I?
Oh yes. In my estimation this fell within the parameters of the New Haven style, based on my own experience and what I've read and seen about New Haven pizza: thin, charred, and chewy.
But to re-digress for a moment to the subject of style, if I were a stickler for that sort of thing I could ding NOTA in a few nitpicky respects.
For starters, I was a bit surprised to see that they offer no clam pizza, which is perhaps the most iconic New Haven variety. I'm not even saying I like clam pizza, just that I was surprised.
Second: too round. Yes,
too round. For reasons that have never been explained to my satisfaction, purported authorities on the subject have asserted that New Haven pizza is not supposed to be circular, but sort of oblong or "roundish." If you don't believe me, ask AI, which is never wrong about these sorts of things.
That was actually a valuable piece of information, though, as I've discovered that shapewise at least, I've been making New Haven style pizza all these years; despite my best efforts I have yet to get a pie to come out perfectly round. I'll have to remember that next time I serve homemade pizza to guests. ("Uh, yeaah?! It's New Haven style! It's supposed to look that way!")
Third: it's all described as "pizza." As the pizza intelligentsia (fancy word for snobs) know, in New Haven, it's not "pizza," it's "apizza," which for still more inexplicable reasons is pronounced "ah-beetz." Maybe that's where the New York attitude comes in? ("Ah-beetz? What da **** is ah-beetz? Whaddaya, from Noo Haven or sumpin?")
Next digression. When I went to New Haven a few years ago I had a serious dilemma about how to pronounce the word when I got there. Say "pizza" and you sound like a tourist (which I was, but that doesn't mean I want to sound like one). Say "ah-beetz" and you seem like you're trying too hard to sound like a local. My solution was to avoid saying the word at all ("I'd like a clam pie"). Not once did "pizza" or anything close to it come out of my mouth.
I also got a look at Pizza NOTA's oven. I saw flames, but I couldn't directly see the source of them. It didn't directly resemble a coal-fired oven like those I'd seen at some of New Haven's oldest pizzerias, where there's a pile of burning coal in the back of the oven chamber. The flames were coming up from some hidden source at the back of but beneath the oven deck.
I wanted to ask questions, but they were getting busy, so I didn't, but I was left with some questions. Like, is the oven "gas-assisted"? How is the coal used? Coal or charcoal? If coal, what kind? And not least, what kind of legal and regulatory hoops do you have to jump through to use coal as a heat source these days? I'm guessing one cannot have an old-style coal oven anymore, and that you're looking at quite an expense to meet current standards.
Questions for another day. Which there will be. This was very good pizza, and I can't say I've had another in our area that quite compares to it. One of the most heartening things over the years since I started this blog is how the range of choices in our area has expanded. Pizza NOTA offers something genuinely different, and it was no one-and-done kind of place for me. I plan to go back to try some other varieties, and to learn more about their pizza.
Pizza NOTA
192 Anderson Ave.
Rochester, NY 14607
Thu. 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Fri. 12:00 pm – 08:00 pm
Sat. 12:00 pm – 08:00 pm
Sun. 3:00 pm – 08:00 pm
Closed Mon. - Wed.
