Rabbit Hole Tavern

So my wife and I had dinner at the Rabbit Hole Tavern in Rochester. I had it on my to-do list, since they offer "'12' Pizzas prepared in our stone deck oven, baked to perfection." 

When I see "to perfection," that's generally a red flag for me, as it's meaningless and overused, but okay. Let's check it out.

We ate in the dining room, not far from the bar. I didn't realize when I made the reservation that the Bills game would be on at the time (they went on to lose to the Broncos), so it was rather loud. But that's on me.

We shared two pizzas:  the "Pipin Hot" (described as "Louisiana style red pizza sauce (spicy), Grande mozzarella, crushed red pepper, jalapenos and pepperoni"), and the "Simply Cheese" (tomato sauce base, melted Grande mozzarella and Romano cheese). 

The crust didn't wow me. The cornicione was rather dry, and not particularly interesting. The underside showed a bit of browning here and there but I didn't pick up much in the way of gluten development or flavor. I would describe the crust as dull. 

There was no lack of cheese. And they use Grande mozzarella, which is a good brand, but that didn't help matters. If anything, these were overloaded with cheese. It was stretchy, but to my taste too gloppy. That's a subjective opinion, but that's my opinion.

 I didn't see a whole lot of difference between the two pizzas. My "Pipin Hot" was not all that hot. I put hot sauce on almost anything but ice cream, and I occasionally eat raw hot peppers as a snack, so I admit I have developed a tolerance for the stuff, but I was expecting more heat. 

I wish I could say more about this pizza. Thick, stretchy cheese, a serviceable but soft and uninteresting crust, and okay toppings. It was all right, but about what I would expect from a bar where the pizza is a menu item more than the focus.

 Which is fine. It is a bar. And if you're out with friends or on a date and you want some drinks and pizza, it was okay. But based on this visit, it seemed like more of a bar that serves pizza than a pizza restaurant that serves alcohol.

 Rabbit Hole Tavern

284 Exchange Boulevard
Rochester, NY
14608

 Hours
Closed Mondays
Tuesday - Thursday 11:00am - 10:00pm
Friday 11:00am - 12:00am
Saturday 12:00pm - 12:00am
Sunday 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Kitchen closes 1 hour before closing 

 https://rabbitholetavern.com/

Roncone's reconceived

I recently ran across a news story about Roncone's, the long-time Italian restaurant on Lyell Avenue, saying that after a change of ownership, they now serve pizza. I was particularly intrigued by this as Roncone's building still displays a sign for the old Veltre's bakery, which I posted about back in 2011. Veltre's made pizza, which in the early days they would sell at local bars, probably including Roncone's.

So a few weeks ago, when my wife and I had a chance for a "date night," we headed to Roncone's for dinner. On this Friday evening at around 7:30, it was quite busy and we were told that without reservations, we were looking at maybe a 40-minute wait. That's a bit beyond my usual tolerance for waiting time, but there was ample room at the bar, so I asked if we could eat there, which was no problem.
Pizza is such a recent addition to the menu that it wasn't yet on the printed menu.There is a separate pizza station, with sliced pies out, and the pizza ovens in back. The pizza menu is printed on a chalkboard above.
My wife an I shared a medium cheese pie, and some garlic knots. The pie had a thin-to-medium crust, with a well-formed, crisp but not brittle cornicione. The crust had an enjoyably bready flavor and a chewy but not tough texture. The underside was charred here and there, with some corn meal visible, some of it a little burnt or sooty. Individual slices passed the "fold test" - no drooping when held in one hand, folded.
The toppings were simple of course, but good. Sauce had a touch of tomatoey sweetness, and the slightly browned mozzarella was nice and stretchy but not gooey. My wife declared it the best pizza she'd ever had at a restaurant, which might sound like damning by faint praise, but I know what she meant. Restaurant pizza often disappoints. This did not.
A week or two later, I returned for lunch with a couple friends. This time I got a pepperoni slice and a tomato pie slice.
Before the Utican purists jump on me, I guess this was not a traditional tomato pie, in the sense that it had sausage and peppers, in addition to the usual bread crumbs and grated cheese, plus some shredded basil. If that makes it not a tomato pie, then let's just call it pan pizza, or Sicilian, or square pizza. By any name, it was good, with a crunchy underside and an open crumb. The toppings had soaked in on top a bit, but the crust was not soggy.
The pepperoni slice was marked by the same bready, crisp crust as my prior cheese pie, with meaty slices of pepperoni.
So two successful pizza visits, but I should give a nod to Roncone's other options. As before, they still have a wide variety of Italian-American foods to offer. You can see their menu on their website, as well as more information about the head chef, Jimmy, and their background. I'll also post some additional photos on my Facebook page.
On my dinner visit, I met and chatted very briefly with the pizzaiolo, Franco. With a name like Franco he had me half-sold on their pizza already.

Roncone's, 232 Lyell Ave., Rochester
(585) 458-3090

Tue. & Wed., 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Thu. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

1872 Cafe, West Main Street

I stopped the other day at the 1872 Cafe on West Main Street. If you don't know the story, earlier this year Sam Fantauzzo, the owner of Salvatore's, bought this place, which had housed a cafe owned by Spiritus Christi Church. The site, if not the building, is historic, as it's where Susan B. Anthony famously tried to vote in 1872.
I interviewed "Soccer Sam" Fantauzzo in October 2013, and he impressed me not only as a nice guy, but with his dedication to with his commitment to this area. He bought and kept going the Donuts Delite building on Empire Boulevard, a local treasure. He also bought and reopened the Garage Door on East Ridge Road. So for all the suburban locations that he's opened, Sam seems to want to maintain a presence in the city, and he seems to have a particular fondness for historic locations and local institutions (eventually I need to try his resurrected Arthur Treacher's fish and chips, which I fondly remember from years ago).
Sure, pizza slices are not hard to find in Rochester. Nearly every convenience store sells them. But in poorer neighborhoods, most of it sucks. Premade pizza shells, topped with cheap ingredients. I don't mean to tar them all with the same brush. But, most of it sucks. And it's rare to find a place where you can sit down and eat your slice, at all, much less in pleasant surroundings.
So going into the 1872 Cafe was like taking a breath of fresh air. The space was airy and bright. A few customers were gathered around some of the tables facing East Main Street.
1872 Cafe offers a "Speedy Slice," as opposed, I guess, to Salvatore's usual "Super Slice." They had several sliced pies available, and I got a pepperoni, banana pepper and red onion slice.  It was thin and wide. I didn't measure it, but I'd say it was about a quarter of a large pie. A plain cheese slice is $2; this was $3.
The underside was browned, with just a faint trace of surface oil. It was supple but not limp, and firm to the touch. The edge was well formed and breadlike.
The toppings were moderately added, but not skimpy, and they were added in good proportion to the thin crust. The basic tomato sauce was topped with a uniform but thin layer of mozzarella. The cup and char pepperoni was crisp, and the scattered peppers and red onion added some complementary notes.
I won't run through the whole menu, which you can find online, but in addition to various permutations of pizza, 1872 Cafe offers specialty coffee and doughnuts. They also serve "boneless wings" and soup.
So how do I rate this pizza? Objectively, looking at the pizza in a vacuum, I'd rate it a C. That's not a bad grade, it just means it was average pizza, overall. If you're looking for a big, thick, heavy slice of pizza, loaded with toppings, this wasn't it. But it was enjoyable, and I'd have it again.
Beyond that, I like what they're doing here. Good pizza at a reasonable price, in a comfortable and attractive setting. I'd like to see 1872 Cafe become an anchor and gathering spot for residents and workers in the neighborhood, and I hope you'll check it out for yourself.

1872 Cafe, 431 W. Main St. Rochester
(585) 323-1872
Open daily 7 - 7

Return to Panzari's

One of my earliest blog posts was a review of Panzari's in Corn Hill, in April 2009. I gave them a pretty scathing review, and a D-minus to go along with it. Part of that was due to my chagrin that a place that advertised wood-fired pizza would serve me a pizza made in something akin to a waffle iron.
But I've wondered, since then, if I just caught them on a bad day, and I figured that now that they've got some increased competition, in the form of Tony D's across the street, maybe they've stepped up their game. So I went back.
I ordered the same pizza as last time, the "Margarita" (still misspelled), not just because I like that style but because I figured it would make for a fair comparison with what I had last time.
Interestingly, Panzari's website now advertises "Brick Oven-Fired Pizza," not wood-fired pizza as before. "Brick oven-fired pizza" doesn't really make any sense to me; "brick oven pizza," or "wood-fired pizza," I get, but "brick oven-fired pizza" is meaningless.
Semantics aside, though, OK, I get that they are not doing, or claiming to make, wood-fired pizza these days, just pizza baked in a brick oven. Fair enough, and certainly a brick oven can produce excellent pizza, regardless of the heat source.
But to my disappointment, if less than complete surprise, my pizza was about the same as before. The thin-to-medium crust was soft, with a lot - and I mean a lot - of corn meal adhering to the bottom. Much of the corn meal was blackened. Now I like corn meal well enough, in some contexts (polenta, for example), and I use it myself sometimes to keep my pizza dough from sticking to the peel, but every bite here included a gritty dose of the stuff. Not good.
Aside from that sooty corn meal, and a little browning along parts of the edge, the crust was pale and uninteresting. It had a pleasant enough flavor, but texturally, it was dull. Whatever advantages might be gained by the use of a brick oven weren't apparent here.
The toppings didn't help much. Granted, I could've opted for bolder, more flavorful toppings, but there's no reason that a Margherita can't have an interesting, complex flavor profile. This pie had a thick layer of melted mozzarella (which in itself wasn't bad, or wouldn't have been, in combination with the right other toppings), fresh but bland tomato slices, a smattering of shredded basil, and a bit of garlic. As I've said before, better to use good, canned tomatoes (like San Marzano tomatoes from Italy) than flavorless fresh tomatoes. And to me, the basil on a Margherita should do more than just supply the third color of the Italian flag. It should add flavor and aroma. The few shreds on this pizza may have added up to a single basil leaf, and were barely noticeable on my palate. The garlic was a welcome addition, but wasn't able to rescue this pizza from mediocrity.
Once again, then, a very disappointing pizza from Panzari's, and undoubtedly my last, barring word of significant changes there. Thanks to my dropping pluses and minuses from my grades, this gets a half-step bump up from Panzari's previous D-minus, but the letter grade remains stuck at D.
Panzari's Italian Bistro, 321 Exchange Blvd., Rochester 14608
546-7990
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sat. 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m., Sun., 4:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

Corn Hill Exchange Market, Revisited

In April 2011, I did a post on the Corn Hill Exchange Market, where I had picked up one of their large slices. I thought the crust was less than tremendoust, but that the pizza tasted good, and that there was "real potential here." I didn't assign it a grade, since they had just recently begun serving pizza.
I was at this year's Corn Hill Festival, and since I didn't see any pizza at the festival itself (I'm sure there was pizza there, I just didn't see any), and I was walking by the market on the way back to my car, I stopped in for a slice.
The pizzas that day were in what appeared to be cast iron pans, some ready to go, others in various stages of preparation. Cast iron is not a bad way to make a pizza - you can get some excellent results, as evidenced by the rave reviews for the Lodge cast iron pizza pan on Amazon - but this wasn't great. I think the pizza had simply sat too long in the pan after coming out of the oven, so that the moisture from the crust had nowhere to go.
The result was a wet, soggy underside, which is never a good thing on a pizza. I can handle a little oil, but water doesn't belong on the bottom of a pizza.
The underside also had a "pancake" bottom, with medium-brown areas interspersed with bubbly areas. Why the difference between this pizza and the pizza turned out by this blogger? Well, she preheated the pan in the oven, then slid the pizza onto it when the pan was at 539 degrees. The result was a crisp crust that was, in her words, "about as good as it gets."
These pizzas, I think, were stretched out in the pan, then the whole thing went into the oven, at room temperature. The result was a slower baking process, and a bottom that was anything but crisp. Things got worse when the pizza was left to sit in the pan long after it came out of the oven. Only along parts of the edge was the crust anything like crisp, but that was more burnt than charred. I'm not really sure what led to that. Again, I didn't see the baking process, so I don't know for sure if this is what happened, but that's my best guess.
As to the pizza's other attributes, the crust was thin and floppy, and well covered in a bright tomatoey sauce. The cheese seemed to be all mozzarella and was had congealed to a chewy consistency. The overall flavor wasn't bad, but was more than offset by the poor crust.
Based on this visit, I'd say that the pizza at the Corn Hill Exchange Market hasn't lived up to that early potential that I alluded to last year. Maybe during the Corn Hill Festival wasn't the best time to go there; maybe they made a lot of pizzas in anticipation of a big demand, and they sat there for too long. But they shouldn't have sat in their own moisture. I'm afraid I have to give these a D.
Corn Hill Exchange Market, 315 Exchange Blvd. 14608. 454-6333
Open daily 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Tony D's Tomato Pie

During my recent mini-tour of Rochester pizzerias with fellow pizza blogger "Lapp" from WorstPizza.com, one of our stops was Tony D's in Corn Hill.
I've done a couple of posts now about Tony D's, the most recent being this past April. But I knew there were more pizzas on the menu that I wanted to try, so when Lapp mentioned that somebody had recommended Tony D's to him, I happily seconded the idea.
As things turned out, I made no further progress on the menu, though. As I was perusing said menu while sitting at the bar overlooking the open kitchen, a freshly made pie was briefly placed on a tray next to me, before being whisked off to a customer's table.
Sometimes when you're eating out, you see a dish, and you think, "That's what I'm getting." (Which is far preferable to seeing it after you've already gotten your food, and you think, "That's what I should have ordered.") This was one of those times. This pie looked simple but delicious.
I was able to corral a nearby server and found out that the pizza in question was that night's special, a tomato pie with sun-dried tomatoes, Romano and basil. It had sounded promising when our own server told us about it, but seeing one up close clinched it.
Lapp chose a 10-inch pie for his dinner (check out his review of his pie here), but I went with the large, which is 14 inches in diameter. But I didn't have to fly home the next day, so I knew I could take any leftovers home without much difficulty.
My pie tasted as good as I expected. It wasn't all that much different from Tony D's Margherita pizza, perhaps a bit more tomatoey, with a sharper cheese flavor, but overall there was a good balance among the tomatoes, cheese, basil and crust.
As for that crust - visually, it bore all the hallmarks of a great, crisp crust from a super-hot oven, with charring along the edge and underneath. In fact, in some spots on the bottom, the outer surface of the crust was charred right through (see bottom photo). And it did have a certain smokiness to it.
So it was a surprise to find that the crust was really quite soft. It wasn't mushy or spongy or anything like that, it was just not at all crisp.
Now before I go criticizing Tony D's about things I don't really understand, let me say that I have read that pizzas in Naples typically have a soft, pliable crust. It mostly has to do with the flour they use, which is relatively low in protein. Clearly heat wasn't the issue here, so it seems to me that it must indeed be the dough that resulted in this soft, pliable crust.
Technical matters aside, then, this crust may not be far off from "authentic" Neapolitan pizza. But for me there was still a bit of a disconnect between the appearance of the crust and its texture.
I must admit, though, that I prefer a crisp crust. And I guess I also expect to get a crisp crust from a place with a coal-fired oven (actually they were using both coal and wood on my visit, but no matter), which conjures up images of old-time pizzerias in New York City, with crusts that crackle a bit when you bite into them.
So that's where rating a pizza gets tough. I don't want to downgrade this pizza purely because of my subjective preferences, but it's hard to completely put those preferences aside.
I've given Tony D's an A-minus before, and I think I'll stick with that. As I've said in the past, the grades are no more than a rough guideline, and readers should focus on my descriptions to decide if they think they'd like the pizza at a given establishment. If I thought that Tony D's had been striving for something else here, but fell short of the mark, I'd lower the grade, but as far as I can tell, they simply use a dough that bakes up rather soft. I've downgraded places for soft crusts before, but generally only if the crust was greasy, spongy, or had some other defects. So with the caveat that Tony D's serves up a soft-crusted, but well-charred pizza, I'll again give it an A-minus rating.
I do have one thing to add, though.This 14-inch pie cost $18, while Lapp's 10-inch pie, with custom-ordered toppings, was less than half that amount, at $8. If you're going by surface area, his pie was a little over half the size of mine, and unless sun-dried tomatoes are more expensive than I thought, mine seemed pretty pricey. Cost doesn't figure into my grades, but I think it's worth making readers aware that if cost is an issue, ordering your toppings a la carte may save you a dollar or two.
Tony D's, 288 Exchange Blvd. 14608
Tel. 340-6200
Hours:  Sun.  4 - 10 p.m., Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sat. 4 - 11 p.m.

Return to Tony D's - Vongole Pizza

It's been a long time since I reviewed Tony D's in Corn Hill Landing. Over two years, in fact (have I really been doing this for that long?).
It's certainly not because I didn't like it - I gave it an A-minus, after all. But I've had a lot of pizzerias to investigate since then, and Tony D's isn't exactly the kind of place where you can just go in and grab a slice.
No, Tony D's is a full-service restaurant and bar, and it doesn't serve slices. Its signature item is its pizza, which remains Rochester's only commercially available pizza cooked in a coal-fired oven.
That oven, by the way, I've learned was manufactured by Doughpro, which sells commercial ovens to restaurants nationwide. According to the map on their website, Doughpro is also the maker of the ovens you'll find at RIT, Hooligans in Webster (check this blog for an upcoming review of that establishment), and Bocaccini's in Perinton. Tony D's is "gas assisted," which means that it does use coal, but they're not exactly building a fire from scratch. The gas flame helps to start it up and maintain a more or less constant temperature.
Purists may consider that cheating, I suppose, but I'm not so much interested in the technical side of things as in the finished product. If the pizza's good, I don't care if it came out of an Easy Bake Oven.
This time around, I thought I'd try something a little different, and Tony D's vongole (clam) pizza caught my eye. It's topped with clams, sausage, parsley, oregano, chilies, Asiago and Parmesan cheeses.
Before my pizza came out, I was served a small basket of very good bread with dipping oil, which is always a nice touch, even if it did seem a bit superfluous with pizza.
The danger with bread, of course, is that you'll fill up on it before your entree arrives, but I didn't have to wait long for my pizza. It arrived on a wooden peel, hot and fresh out of the oven.
The crust was very thin - so thin that I was able to fold the slices twice. It was charred but except in a spot or two, I wouldn't call it burned, and it displayed a good balance between charring and pliability. There was one spot along the edge where the crust had bubbled up and was more burned through than charred, but it didn't detract from the pizza overall. Mostly the charring consisted of some small, spotty black blisters underneath, and it was a little less charred than last time. The crust was not dried out, and it remained pliable and bready tasting. It wasn't particularly crisp, but it was firm.
As for the toppings, clams and sausage wouldn't have struck me as a natural combination, but they worked surprisingly well together, with the distinctive, savory clam flavor playing off that of the spicy, peppery sausage. The addition of chilies added a little more kick, but it was not overdone; this was a spicy pizza, but not so much as to leave you panting for relief.
The sausage, I thought, tended to predominate over the clams, but all in all the flavors here were pretty well balanced. The herbs and cheeses blended into the background, but everything together melded into a very flavorful, satisfying pie. And while this wasn't overly spicy, I was surprised at how the chilies and the pepper in the sausage enhanced the flavor of the clams.
There was a little oil on top of this pizza, but it was by no means greasy. A little oil can be a good thing, as fat helps transmit flavor to your tastebuds. Kudos on the crust as well. The cheese on this pizza went right up to the edge of the pie, and combined with the slightly salty, bready flavor of the dough, this was a crust worth finishing.
Tony D's recently expanded into some adjoining space, adding a new seating area and a second bar. They've also gotten a full liquor license. With outdoor seating in the summer, Tony D's is clearly out to offer people multiple reasons and occasions to stop in, whether for a business lunch, drinks before or after a downtown show or event, or a leisurely dinner.
As for this pizza, it was very, very good. In terms of a rating, here's where subjectivity comes in. This was a very enjoyable crust, but it was not very crisp on the outside. The texture was reminiscent of a freshly-baked pita - firm and chewy, but not crisp.
In general, I like my crusts crisp, meaning that there's just a bit of crunch on the outside when you take a bite. I know that's a personal preference, and some people may not share it. But particularly with a thin crust pizza, I think that the added dimension of that exterior crispness, contrasting with the interior chewiness, elevates a pizza to sublime levels. That was missing here.
So while I really liked this pizza, and I think Tony D's deserves a spot on any local pizza lover's to-do list, I'm going to stick with my previous grade, and give it a just-short-of-perfection A-minus.
Tony D's, 288 Exchange Blvd. 14608, 340-6200
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sat. 4 p.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Corn Hill Exchange Market

In December 2009, I reviewed the pizza sold by Corn Hill Market, which was in the plaza across from Corn Hill Landing on Exchange Boulevard. It wasn't that great, but the market closed some time ago, and a new grocery store/deli, the Corn Hill Exchange Market, has opened in its place.
Initially, the new market didn't offer pizza, but recently I noticed a handmade sign out in front with "PIZZA" prominently featured. The sign indicated that pizza was only available during lunch hours, so a few days ago I stopped by to check it out.
For now, at least, Corn Hill (I was going to go with the acronym "CHEM", but that seemed rather unappetizing) offers either full or half pies, in what amounts to a "medium" size. They're baked in a conveyor oven, and the whole operation is right there behind the counter for customers to behold.
Maybe somewhere in the world, great pizzas are emerging out of conveyor ovens, but I have yet to find one. I'm not going to come down on Corn Hill, I mean they're just starting out with pizza, but I think a conveyor oven limits what you can achieve with pizza.
This one - a half-pie "slice" - was super thin, but not very crisp, with a lightly browned underside. With a fairly generous helping of cheese and sauce, it made for pretty sloppy eating. The overall flavor was good, though, as the rich tomatoey sauce combined with the gooey, melted mozzarella and the thin, greasy slices of pepperoni adhering to the cheese.
Corn Hill is not primarily a pizzeria, it's a neighborhood grocery store that happens to serve pizza. It's also in the process of expanding its offerings; on a recent visit, minestrone soup, burritos and tacos were available, and a deli case stood waiting for what at some point should be a selection of meats.
A new pizza place is always welcome news, particularly in a neighborhood that, like Corn Hill, inexplicably has lacked many choices in that department. True, there's excellent pizza to be had at Tony D's in Corn Hill Landing, but that's more of an eat-in place. Sometimes you want a quick slice or a pie to go, and the Corn Hill Exchange Market is well positioned to fill that need.
And so far, so good. Again, this was not a tremendous crust, by my standards, but the pizza tasted good, and there's real potential here. Because Corn Hill has only been doing pizza for a very brief time, I'm going to refrain from assigning it a grade at this point - I think it's fair to give a place a little time to work on things before I do that - but I will say that Corn Hill residents and local office workers in need of a pizza fix should check it out.
Corn Hill Exchange Market, 315 Exchange Blvd. 14608. 454-6333
Open daily 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. (for now, pizza is only available at lunchtime)

Paradiso, Lyell Ave. - CLOSED

Note: this establishment is now closed.
One of my very first blog posts was about Paradiso Pizza at RIT, in February 2009. Although my posts back then were considerably shorter than they are now, I think I accurately summed up that pizza as a "decent approximation," though not a perfect copy, of NYC-style pizza, and I gave it a B.
Paradiso very recently opened a second location in the area, in the site of a former Mark's Pizzeria on Lyell Ave.
The pizza here was indeed similar to what I got at RIT. On my lunchtime visit, they had about a half dozen varieties of slices available, and $5.40 will get you two of those, plus a 12 oz. can of pop. I got one cheese and one pepperoni.
These were clearly NY-style slices, quite thin, and easily foldable. The cheese slice was browned, and not quite charred, underneath, while the pepperoni slice was a bit more well-done, with some nice dotted char spots. Both were just slightly crisp underneath, with a chewy texture.
The slices were topped with a moderate layer of mozzarella cheese. The cheese had melted, but hadn't really melded together, and the individual strands of cheese were still easily visible. My guess is that they use part-skim mozzarella, which with its lower fat content doesn't melt as well as the whole milk variety.
The sauce was applied relatively thinly. It had a tomatoey flavor with some herbal notes.
The pepperoni was of the wide and thin variety, and rather spicy. Usually pepperoni doesn't get my attention much, but this had a very noticeable peppery kick to it.
The outer edge on these slices was pretty good. It was formed into a medium-size lip, which was crisp and toasty (particularly on the pepperoni slice), and had a slightly salty, bready flavor. Somewhere in there among the crust, cheese and sauce, I also thought I detected a hint of garlic powder, as I was left with a faint, garlicky aftertaste after finishing these slices.
Pies here come in 14", 16", and sheet sizes. There are 16 available toppings, and five specialty pizzas ("Meat Worshippers," Philly cheese steak, chicken wing, veggie, and "Mediterranean Dream," which is more or less a Greek pizza). Other items include calzones, wings, hot subs, plates, and Italian, chicken, rib, and fish fry dinners. They offer free delivery, though I'm not sure how wide their delivery area is.
This was not bad pizza at all, and like its sister operation in Henrietta, not too far off from typical NYC pizza. It may have simply been due to the fact that these slices were reheated in the pizza oven just before I got them, but I'd say that they were a smidgen more crisp and toasty than the pie I got last year at the RIT location.
Paradiso may just give Cam’s, which is just down the street, a run for its money, though at this point I'd give the edge to Cam’s for its consistently crisp, charred crust. But I wouldn't complain if you set down a Paradiso pie in front of me, and I'll give these a B+.
Paradiso Pizza, 1074 Lyell Ave., 647-6777
(hours not available as of this writing)

A Genuine Neighborhood Pizzeria in the 19th Ward: Menezes Pizza

Menezes Pizza on Chili Avenue has been in business for 24 years, all under the ownership of Freddy and Jill Menezes (pronounced "men-EZZ-ez"). In a business in which both pizzerias and their owners come and go with some frequency, that's pretty impressive.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with both Jill and Freddy about what's kept them going all these years, and about how the pizza business has changed since they started out in 1986.
I'll refer you to Menezes' website for the story of how Menezes Pizza got started on Genesee Street and how it ended up at its current location, in the former site of a Pizza Hut carryout franchise (score one for the little guys!).
When I read that story prior to my visit, I was impressed by the Menezes' commitment to their 19th Ward neighborhood, and that very much came out during my conversation with Jill. With obvious affection for the area, she termed it a "very special neighborhood," both in its diversity of residents and because it is a very real neighborhood, where people still talk to each other.
That neighborliness has been a factor in the success of Menezes, which, without the kind of advertising budget that its larger competitors have, has had to rely to a great extent on word of mouth. Jill recalled that the day that Menezes opened after relocating from Genesee Street, they had 300 orders, despite almost no advance advertising, simply because word had spread among the customers and local residents. Clearly there's a symbiotic relationship at work here between Menezes and the neighborhood, many of whose residents found their first jobs at the pizzeria.
But it's unlikely that Menezes would have stayed in business for this long had they not turned out good pizza, and provided good service. And what was also apparent from talking to both Freddy and Jill is their commitment to both. She described Fred - who oversees most of the pizzamaking operations - as someone who has always striven to make the best product he can, adding that they were both determined from day one to "treat people the right way."
What has also benefited Menezes over the years is the contrasting yet complementary personalities of Freddy and Jill. He's a people person who takes a hands-on approach and is able to roll with the punches, while Jill, with an academic background in both art and economics, tends to look more at the big picture, trying to keep up with the latest technology and coming up with innovative approaches to business issues and marketing.
Freddy's passion for quality was evident in the frustration he expressed over some changes in the pizza business since he started out. Back in the day, he told me, the cheese and pepperoni were all hand-sliced. Today, workers' comp issues and customers' expectations of a fast turnaround time have made that impracticable. Even the sauce has changed over the years; as Freddy explained, cooking helps bring out the flavor of tomatoes, but these days the idea has taken hold that fresher always means better, so now tomatoes go from the vine to the can with minimal processing.
And while it's not exactly news that the government can make life more difficult, here's one that never would have occurred to me:  sauce is best kept at room temperature before it's spread on the pizza, so that it can cook in the oven; if it's cold when it's applied, precious minutes will go by in the oven just warming it up. But keeping sauce out at room temperature doesn't sit right with the Department of Health, whose inspectors insist that it be kept refrigerated when not in use.
There have been more serious challenges too, not the least of which is the recession and the continued sluggish economy. The deep-pocketed chain pizzerias have responded by slashing prices and spending heavily on advertising, neither of which small independent shops like Menezes can afford without going into debt, something that Freddy and Jill have always tried to avoid.
On top of that, there was a snafu earlier this year when the phone company printed the wrong phone number for Menezes in the phone book. That was eventually straightened out, but in a business that relies heavily on phone orders, that's more than just an inconvenience.
Clearly, then, running a successful pizza business is not as simple as one might think. With all the obstacles that are out there, the pizza had better be good, and consistent, and Menezes' pizza is both. I got a quick walk-through of the process, starting with the massive mixer (think KitchenAid on steroids), and moving on to the dough retarder, where the dough is chilled to allow for a slow fermentation. Eighteen-year veteran Jay Trudeau (seen in photo) was busy pressing out the dough and topping it with Menezes' house-made sauce and other toppings, and from there it was on to the ovens. Pizzas at Menezes typically go in to the oven on a tray (screens are  no longer used), then finished directly on the oven's stone deck. If  you, like me, prefer your pizza to be baked without the tray, just let them know when ordering, and they'll accommodate you.
Talking with Freddy and Jill gave me newfound respect not just for the real-life "moms and pops" out there who run our neighborhood pizzerias, but for small business owners in general. It takes both brains and heart, to understand the business but also to genuinely care about taking good care of your customers. At one point in our conversation, Jill made the comment that she and Fred "try our hardest every day to serve people the best we can." I think that as much as anything else, that sums up why Menezes has been in business now for 24 years and counting.
Menezes Pizza, 445 Chili Ave., 328-3010
Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m. - midnight, Thu. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m., Sun. noon - midnight
Note:  Menezes Pizza will be participating in the Second Annual Taste of Chili Avenue Festival from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 24. The event will take place along Chili Avenue near Thurston Road. Other features include two stages of entertainment, a basketball competition, face painting and activities for kids. Parking will be available at HSBC, the Progressive Cathedral Church of God in Christ, and the Gardiner Recreation Center. Admission is free.

DiPaolo's

As I’ve mentioned before, Rochester is blessed with some great old Italian bakeries, and one of the oldest is Di Paolo. Its roots go back to 1910, when an Italian immigrant couple set up shop on Ontario Street, just north of where the Inner Loop is today. Ten years later, the bakery moved into an old church building on North Plymouth Avenue, then known as Frank Street. The original building was torn down in the 1950s and replaced by a new, modern facility (which sadly did not include the original’s coal-fired ovens - *sigh*), where it remains today, still owned by descendants of the founders.
In addition to a full range of breads and rolls, Di Paolo makes pizza, slices of which are available at lunchtime. On a recent visit, there were two types available: plain cheese, and pepperoni with sausage. I got a cheese slice.
The crust was medium thick, with a cratered, browned underside. It was a bit crisp underneath, and the outer edge was very crunchy, but it was not quite the kind of crunch you’d find on a loaf of crusty Italian bread. It seemed to me more reminiscent of a bread or roll made with an enriched dough, in other words a dough made with oil or some other fats, which tends to produce a softer crust.
The dough had clearly risen some, but the interior was not especially bready. The air holes were tiny, and the crust lacked the subtle yet complex flavors you’ll typically find in doughs that have gone through a long, low-temperature fermentation.
(Let me pause here for a second and say that I don’t pretend to know how Di Paolo or anybody else actually makes their dough. Nor do I claim to have anywhere near the experience or knowledge that the professionals do, where baking is concerned. These are just the impressions and speculations of an amateur baker who’s eaten a lot of bread and pizza over the years.)
The slice was topped with a heavy layer of browned cheese. It was a bit overcooked for my taste. I wondered if Di Paolo’s had used part-skim mozzarella, as it lacked any creaminess or smooth texture, and had hardened along the outer edge, not so much, it seemed, from burning as from losing liquid through evaporation during the baking process.
The sauce was moderately applied. It was a basic tomato sauce, and was thick and concentrated.
My overall impression of this pizza was that, well, it was OK for a quick lunchtime slice, but that’s about all. The flavor and texture just weren’t quite there, and the crust, cheese and sauce weren’t what I would call great, any individually or collectively. It wasn't bad, exactly, just kind of disappointing coming from a good Italian bakery.
Now don’t get me wrong - Di Paolo’s is a fine bakery, with a proud history, and they produce some excellent breads. If you haven’t been there, I can honestly recommend that you check it out sometime and pick up a loaf. I just wasn’t crazy about the pizza.
Funny thing is, Di Paolo is not the first Italian bakery where I’ve been let down by the pizza. You’d think it would be a no-brainer: good bakery, good bread, good pizza. But for some reason it doesn’t always seem to work that way. I don’t want to speculate on why that is, and after all, just because I’m not crazy about it doesn’t mean that somebody else might not think it’s the best stuff they’ve ever eaten. But for me, the pizza at Di Paolo rates a respectable, if disappointing, C.
Di Paolo Baking, 598 N. Plymouth Ave. 232-3510
Mon. - Fri. 6 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 6 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Corn Hill Market

I always like to get pizzeria suggestions, and some time ago a reader mentioned Corn Hill Market. I followed up and tried their pizza, but the other day I realized that I’d never posted a review. I mention that to explain the presence of green grass in the photos, and to make clear that the lag time between my visit and review is typically not nearly that long.
Anyway - Corn Hill Market is not strictly a pizzeria, rather more of a grocery store and deli, but they do serve pizza made on the premises, you do see a fair number of people getting pizza there at lunchtime, and it’s also noteworthy as one of three places selling pizza within a stone’s throw of each other, the other two being Panzari’s next door and Tony D’s across the street.
I got a couple of pepperoni slices, which were fairly thick. The crust had a soft texture, though the underside had a bit of oily crunch. The outer edge was particularly crunchy, almost like fried dough. The slices weren’t exactly dripping with oil, but there was enough that it left my fingertips somewhat greasy. The dough had clearly risen a bit, as there were visible air holes in the interior, but it wasn’t particularly bready in character.
The cheese seemed to be straight mozzarella. It was a little browned on the surface, and separated easily from the crust. The sauce was lightly applied, and pretty much got lost between the crust and the cheese. From what I could tell, it seemed to have a mild, tomatoey flavor. The pepperoni was moderately applied, averaging about 3½ slices per slice of pizza, but was nicely crisp. The slices appeared to have been lightly dusted with dried herbs, though they didn’t impart much flavor that I could detect.
There is a little seating in the market, but this is mostly a place to grab something to go. CHM also offers everything you’d expect at a deli - sandwiches and such, self-serve coffee, and a range of grocery items, plus convenience store staples like Lotto, beer, and an ATM.
If you’re in the area, have a hankering for pizza, and not much time and/or money to spend, this’ll do. It wasn’t great, but it was okay overall. And I got two slices and a 20 oz. soft drink for five dollars, which makes it a pretty good value. I’ll give it a C-.
Corn Hill Market, 319 Exchange Blvd. 454-2708
Mon. - Fri. 7 a.m. - 8 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Closed Sun.
Update 12/17/09: according to this week's edition of City, Corn Hill Market closed earlier this month, so I guess I could've saved myself the trouble of posting this review. Though the pizza wasn't the best, Corn Hill could use a decent grocery/deli, it seems to me, so this comes as a bit of a surprise.

Meneze's, Chili Ave.

Menezes Pizza is on Chili Avenue in Rochester’s 19th Ward. They’ve been in business, at one location or another, since 1986, and at their current location since 1996 (there’s an extensive history of the pizzeria on their website).
I ordered a large pie, half pepperoni, half plain. It was a 16" pie, cut into square slices.
The crust was medium-to-thick, and appeared to have been baked on a screen, although the website describes Menezes pizza as stone-baked. I asked one of the owners about that afterwards and was told that the pizzas do start out on a screen and then are moved to the oven floor about halfway through baking, for reasons having to do with the high volume of orders they have to deal with. But if a customer asks for the pizza to be cooked on the oven floor throughout, Menezes will accommodate that request.
Getting back to the crust, it did have some exterior crispness. It was a relatively light shade of brown underneath, but had a darker, pretzel-like hue along the thick, slightly crunchy lip. Overall, the dough had a reasonably bready flavor and texture, which is especially important for a thicker-crust pizza.
Topside, the cheese was well browned, especially on the cheese-only half. It was fairly thick, and was baked to the point of coagulation - in other words, it wasn’t stringy, which was fine by me.
The sauce had a mild, tomatoey flavor. It wasn’t unnoticeable, but stayed very much in the background. The pepperoni was of the wide and thin variety, and had good flavor.
Menezes has a basic menu, with a modest list of pizza toppings and two specialty pizzas (Buffalo chicken and steak). They also offer wings and chicken fingers, hot and cold subs, burgers, fries, and salads. The wings, by the way, are nice and meaty, and although I ordered mild (to suit my six-year-old’s more delicate palate), they packed some heat.
Menezes is a takeout and delivery place, with a wide delivery area covering just about all of Southwest Rochester. The delivery map is on their website, which also features on online ordering service.
If you peruse Menezes’ menu and website, I think you’ll also sense a commitment by the owners both to turning out a good product, and to their neighborhood. That dedication to their craft is evident in the pizza as well, which had good flavor and texture, was well made, and, to me, typified that hard-to-describe, yet unmistakable “Rochester” style of pizza. For my taste, it would’ve benefited from just a bit of charring underneath to give the crust a nice, toasty flavor, and next time I’ll be sure to ask that it be cooked sans screen. But that one quibble aside, I enjoyed this one, and I’ll give it a B+.
Menezes Pizza, 445 Chili Ave. 328-3010
Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m. - noon, Thu. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m., Sun. noon - midnight
Pizza Guy note:  for a profile of Menezes and discussion with the owners, go here.

Panzari's Italian Bistro, Exchange Blvd.

Well, this has to rank as my most disappointing stop since I started this blog. Panzari's is advertised as offering pizzas cooked in a wood-burning brick oven. It opened in 2002, ahead of the wood-fired, brick-oven trend in these parts. So I figured these people know a thing or two about good pizza, and I was wondering how they were doing, pizzawise, now that's Panzari's has some nearby competition in the form of Tony D's in Corn Hill Landing across the street.
The answer, I'm afraid, is not well. I ordered a margherita pizza to go, at lunchtime. When I arrived to pick it up, there was the oven, but it was dark inside. Right next to the oven, however, was something emblazoned with the ominous words, "Pizza Press." It looked like a big round waffle iron. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh indeed. Upon opening the pizza box, there I saw - well, let's start from the bottom up, as I usually do. The bottom crust had a lot of cornmeal on it, and though it had a few dark brown spots, which were concentrated along one side of the pizza, it was not crisp at all, and was very pliable.
The edge of the crust was a little greasy, and the dark brown spots had more of a fried-to-the-point-of-burnt flavor than baked-to-the-point-of-charred.
There was no sauce, which is OK in itself, as margherita pizza often has only fresh tomatoes, not tomato sauce. On top of the dough was a thick layer of melted cheese, which was not browned at all, slices of fresh (but not especially good) tomato, and a sprinkling of dried (!) basil. Look, dried herbs have their place, even on pizza (like in the sauce, where some of the herbal flavor can seep into the surrounding liquid), but not just sprinkled on top.
Taking a bite, I got - well, not much. Bland. No detectable breadiness, either in flavor or in texture (the top and bottom of the dough has separated slightly but there were no yeasty air holes). Mild, melted cheese flavor, and kind of an unpleasant flavor of dry herbs. It was really more reminiscent of, if not as good as, a grilled-cheese-and-tomato sandwich.
As I tossed out the box that it came in, I couldn't help noticing the mocking words on the boxtop: "Baked Oven Fresh." Sorry, but a "pizza press" is not an oven. And "pressing" a pizza is not the same as baking it.
Panzari's doesn't just do pizza. They offer various pasta dishes and other Italian entrees, which may be quite good for all I know. They're open for lunch and dinner, and they serve beer and wine.
If I had never heard of pizza before and had no preconceptions about what it was supposed to taste like, I wouldn't say this was horrible, so I won't give it an F. But judged as a pizza, especially from a place that advertises pizza baked in a wood-fired, brick oven, I have to give it a D-.

Tony D's, Corn Hill, Rochester

Although there are by now several places around Rochester making pizza in wood-fired ovens, Tony D's in Corn Hill Landing is the first and so far only local pizza restaurant with a coal-fired oven. Why is that a big deal? Well, some of the most renowned pizzas in NYC and elsewhere have been made in coal ovens, which burn at very high temperatures, generally without producing as much smoke as wood.
A quick aside: in Naples, considered the birthplace of modern pizza, wood was the traditional fuel; coal was used in the old days by Italian immigrants in New York because it was readily available. As with many pizza-related topics, there's a whole debate about what's better, coal or wood, and natural gas has its adherents too, but that's beyond the scope of this review. Just take it from me: a pizzeria with a coal-fired oven in Rochester is a big deal to pizza aficionados.
Tony D's is a full-service restaurant, with table service as well as a counter in front of the open kitchen, where you can sit and see your pizza, or other food order, being prepared. In the corner of the back wall is the cobblestone-faced oven, with a stack of wooden pizza peels standing nearby. I should've turned the flash off on my camera because the flash tends to drown out the orange glow of the coals, which is much more visible than the picture would indicate. The aroma from the fire is noticeable but not strong, and not really smoky, since coal burns pretty cleanly.
(The D&C, incidentally, describes the oven at Tony D's as "gas assisted," which I assume means that it uses a combination of gas and coal, but unless you're a real purist, it's a legitimate coal-fired oven, and is clearly hotter than the average pizza oven.)
I ordered a margherita, which was razor thin except for the puffy edges. It was charred and blistered underneath and along the edge, to the point of being burnt in spots, but thanks to the heat of the oven it retained some bready chewiness and the pieces were foldable, meaning that they hadn't dried out to the point of becoming crackly. Clearly, though, this is pizza that needs to be watched and tended to carefully in the oven; a minute or two one way or the other, or a failure to rotate the pizza when needed for even cooking, can make all the difference.
I had read that at one point Tony D's had turned down the heat in the ovens because patrons were complaining that their pizza was "burnt," but that they had since gone back to the high temps. I'm glad they did. What would be the point of a coal-fired oven if you're not going to crank up the heat? The menu, by the way, warns that Tony D's pizzas are "well done" - you want golden-brown pizza, there are plenty of other places you can go to.
The sauce was applied thinly - heavy toppings won' t do on thin pizza - and had a nice, sharp tomatoey flavor. The sauce was topped with a thin layer of shredded cheese, browned on top, and applied sparsely enough to allow pockets of sauce and the occasional tomato chunk to poke through. In the center of each of the four slices was a creamy, melted island of fresh mozzarella, and scattered throughout were wilted shreds of fresh basil. (It struck me while eating that one benefit of folding a thin slice is that it squeezes the toppings together, so that you still get a healthy dose of toppings with each bite.)
The overall impression was of a mix of diverse flavors rather than a homogeneous blend. With each bite, the crust, tomatoes, cheeses and basil each came through individually, unlike your basic corner pizza joint slice, in which the flavors tend to meld together.
As I've said before, that very corner-pizza-joint style is, to me, the ideal pizza, so it wouldn't be fair to measure Tony D's against that standard. The basic approach here is different, whether you want to call it high-end, artisanal, rustic, authentic, etc. Simply approaching it on its own terms, I thought it was quite good, with a range of contrasting, yet complementary flavors and textures that made it easy to finish off my 9" pie. I'll give it an A-.