The PIzza Shoppe

When I first read about "Detroit style" pizza a few years ago, I was skeptical. My gut instinct said, the pizza industry needs to keep coming up with new styles to sustain interest and drive business. And I wasn't sure whether Detroit pizza was genuinely a style unto itself, or just a marketing gimmick.

Since then, I've come around to realize that yeah, OK, it's a real thing. I've never been to Detroit, I've barely been to Michigan (and didn't have any pizza on my one brief foray), but I've read a fair amount about the parameters of the style, and I've had some versions of Detroit-style pizza locally. Some have been very good, and based on what I know, seem to come close to the definition of Detroit style. (I won't try to lay it all out here, but here and here are descriptions as good as any.)

So it was with some interest that I got around recently to trying The Pizza Shoppe in Penfield, which bills itself as "your casual neighborhood spot for Detroit-Style Pizza," "with that iconic thick, airy crust, crispy caramelized edges, and bold toppings." It opened in 2022, but I have had it on my to-do list since then.

I ordered a single (10"x14") pizza, half cup 'n' char pepperoni, half sweet peppers and onions, for pickup.

Upon inspection, in some respects it hit the mark, with a thick crust and toppings that extended to the edges. So far, so good.

In other respects, however ...

Let's talk about the crust. Detroit style pizza should have a thick, but light, crunchy crust.  The underside shouldn't be particularly oily, but should have an almost fried quality from baking in an oil-coated, dark steel pan.

This crust, I'm afraid, fell short in that department. If I didn't know what it was supposed to be, I would've said it was what around here we know as sheet pizza. I mean, it was okay, but it certainly wasn't crisp. Granted, it took me about 20 minutes to get it home, but even allowing for that, it just didn't have the crisp surface I expected. The creases evident in the photo also indicated that in spots, it wasn't making full contact with the pan.

Another marker of Detroit style pizza is that the crust should have a light texture:  thick, but not dense. The Pizza Shoppe's website itself references its "airy crust."

In that respect too, this pizza didn't fit that description. I wouldn't describe it as dense, but it was quite chewy, and lacked the multitudinous tiny air pockets that are associated with the style.

Moving on to the cheese, with Detroit-style pizza the cheese is typically laid directly on the dough, then sauce is layered over the cheese during or immediately after the bake. This allows the cheese to adhere to the crust, and also creates a barrier between the crust and the sauce, which helps keep the crust from getting soggy.

I was frankly not concentrating on that aspect while eating this, and with the additional toppings it's a little difficult to tell from the photos, but I believe that the cheese was applied on top of the sauce. Again, that's more typical of ordinary sheet pizza than Detroit-style pizza. 

Not to get nitpicky, but I'll mention that purists will also tell you that authentic Detroit-style pizza uses Wisconsin brick cheese. The Pizza Shoppe uses a mozzarella blend with a little Parmesan. I won't hold that against them, because brick cheese is hard to come by in these parts, although there may be a better substitute than straight mozzarella. (I could swear, by the way, than when I was growing up down in the Southern Tier, my dad, who always kept our fridge stocked with a variety of cheeses, would buy brick cheese on occasion. Where he bought it, I have no idea, but I can still remember what it looked and tasted like.)

Finally, and again to quote The Pizza Shoppe's website, Detroit-style pizza is also typified by "a crunchy, caramelized cheese edge," thanks to the application of cheese all the way to the edge. The cheese melts and essentially fries in its own fat as it comes into contact with the sides of the pan. If you've baked pizza on a baking sheet, you know that a little cheese often ends up on the sheet as it bakes, and if you're like me those bits are like a bonus treat when the pizza comes out of the oven. This pizza did display some of that caramelization along the edge. Not to a great extent perhaps, but it was there, certainly.

I realize I've dinged this pizza on a number of aspects, and it may sound as if I didn't much like it. That's not the case. I repeat that I have never had Detroit pizza at its namesake place of origin, but with that caveat I've tried to describe the extent to which this pizza measured up, or fell short of the parameters of the style. In short, it checked some boxes but not others. I liked it well enough; treating it as a sheet pizza, it was fine. I'm just not too sure that a Detroiter would consider it authentic.

The Pizza Shoppe

1601 Penfield Rd #19 (Panorama Plaza), Rochester, NY 14625

(585) 203-1122
 

Menu: tpsroc.com 

Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 7 pm
Sat. noon - 7 pm
Closed Sundays

Papa G's, Penfield

I saw an ad recently for a new pizzeria, Papa G’s, on Linden Avenue in Penfield. The site has been home to several pizza places over the years, including Bonafede’s and Gianna’s. I’ve also seen a reference to a place called Linden Hill Pizzeria & Deli at the same location, but if it ever existed, I wasn’t aware of it at the time. Most recently, this spot housed Lisa’s Quality Catering and Café, which I believe is still an ongoing enterprise, but which is now strictly a catering business. At any rate, I don’t think Lisa’s ever offered pizza. Point is, the site has seen a lot of businesses come and go.

Ordinarily, I’d have to wonder why somebody would plunge in where so many others have come and gone, but I’m not sure that all of those places literally failed. People can sell a business, retire, or otherwise move on, for all sorts of reasons. But if somebody else wants to go in and offer pizza, I’ll be there, eventually.

Sometimes, when a place changes hands, not much changes other than the name. Not so here. I reviewed Bonafede’s in 2010, and Gianna’s in 2011, and the pizza was qualitatively different both times.

That pattern continues to hold at Papa G’s. I got a single pepperoni slice (the only variety available during my lunchtime visit), and that was plenty for a satisfying lunch. The slice was quite thick, much more than at Bonafede’s or Gianna’s. The screen-marked underside was rather pale, but the interior had a pleasant, breadlike aroma, flavor and texture. The corncione had a good exterior crunch and that same bready interior. I liked it but I was wishing I'd asked for a cup of dipping sauce.

Topside, the crust was covered with a moderate layer of sauce. A few bits of dried herbs were visible, but this wasn’t a highly seasoned sauce. It had a good balance of saltiness and tomatoey sweetness.

Atop that lay the cheese, of mostly uniform thickness, with a few small pockets of sauce along the rim and near the tip. It was OK, but the texture wasn’t particularly smooth or “melty.” I can’t say for certain what it was, but I think a full-fat, whole-milk cheese would have improved things.

The pepperoni slices were thin and mildly spicy.

So, some pros (nice interior on the crust, toppings well balanced, sauce had a pleasant flavor) and a couple cons (pale bottom, cheese could’ve been better). But all in all, not a bad slice by any stretch, and an interesting contrast to the pizza that was served here by Papa G’s predecessors.

Papa G’s Catering & Café, 514 Linden Ave., Penfield (just off Rt. 441)

585-673-2949 (café) 585-203-2090 (catering)

Café open for lunch Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. (catering hours may differ, I don’t know)

New Pizzeria Report: Hoagies, Scottsville Road

Not a full-blown review here, just a quick report. There's a new pizzeria/deli on Scottsville Road, just north of Jefferson Road (252), Hoagies. It opened around the beginning of this month, so while I did wnnt to check it out, I think it's too early to do a full review.

I got two slices of pepperoni from a pie that had just emerged from the oven. The crust was quite thin, even along the outer edge. It was pale underneath, with some flour visible.
The slices were saucy, with a good tomatoey flavor, and a few scattered dried herbs. On top was a proportionate layer of well-melted, stringy mozzarella and a few slices of thin, chewy pepperoni. The overall flavor was good, and the components were well balanced.
I could see, during my few minutes there, that the staff and management were still working on getting everything right. Not that anything went wrong, but their communication showed that they were learning how to work together and how to get things right. And everybody seemed to be united in that goal.
Hoagies is a fairly small place, and they offer a basic but complete menu of pizza, subs, wings, grilled items, hot dogs, salads and sides. As of now, they have four specialty pizzas on the menu, including "Mama D's Favorite," which comes with anchovies, onions, mushrooms, olive oil, garlic and parsley. I hope the mushrooms aren't an integral part of that pie, because apart from them, that sounds very intriguing.
I'll certainly stop back at Hoagies at some point, and do a more comprehensive review, but for now I wanted to give readers a heads-up that it's there, and a rough idea of what the pizza is like. It's worth a stop if you're in the area. Long-term, it's got some competition - there's a Salvatore's and Sylvio's just down the road - but if they can turn out consistently good pizza, subs and wings, there's no reason they can't succeed, and here's hoping they do.
Hoagies, 1615 Scottsville Road
436-SUBS (7827)
Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Sonny's Deli Revisited

I sometimes get requests, or recommendations, to go back to a place after I've given it a less than stellar review, and Sonny's Deli is one of those places.
The last time I went there, I was less than impressed with my one cheese slice, which I found overcooked and dried out.
But some readers insisted that Sonny's made good pizza, so I figured maybe I just hit them on a bad day. I also decided that next time I'd order a pie, since part of the problem with my prior slice seemed to be that it simply sat in the warmer for too long. So on a recent visit, I ordered a 14-inch (medium) cheese pizza.
As before, the underside showed screen marks. No surprise there, and although I'm generally not a fan of pizza screens, no big deal. It was rather pale, though, especially compared to the very dark brown of the slice I got last time. I did show up about five minutes before they told me it would be ready, so maybe they took it out of the oven a bit sooner than they otherwise would have.
The slices were fairly soft and foldable, although the edge was crisp. They were not greasy, but there was just a bit of oven soot underneath. The crust was thin, also as before.
The pie had plenty of sauce, which had a cooked-tomato flavor, with some herbs as well. The sauce was not noticeably salty or sweet.  
The cheese was not particularly smooth, and the shreds had not melted together completely. It may just be that there wasn't enough of it to really blanket the pizza (which is fine with me - I don't mind some areas of sauce poking through), or maybe another minute or two in the oven would've helped it melt more, or maybe it was the cheese itself, as some cheeses do melt better than others. I wondered if this was part-skim mozzarella, which due to the lower fat content will not melt as well as the whole-milk variety.
The entire pie was lightly dusted with dried herbs. The thin lip along the edge was crisp and relatively dark, with some nice toastiness. The dough itself had a reasonably good texture and flavor.
This was not bad pizza, and in some ways it was better than my previous slice, but it had a few flaws. It was a decent thin crust pie, not exactly New York style, but kind of a thin-crust version of traditional "Rochester style" pizza. While the slice I had before was overdone and dry, this seemed a bit underdone, and the crust was too soft for my taste. The cheese also left a bit to be desired. So for somewhat different reasons, I'd say it was about the same as before, a bit below average for around here, and I'll again give it a C-minus.
Sonny's Deli, 494 N. Landing Rd.
Tel.: 288-7820
Mon. - Thu. 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Gianna's, Penfield

In March 2010, I posted a review of Bonafede's on Linden Avenue, giving it a very respectable B+ for well-balanced, tasty pizza on a pretty good crust.
I also mentioned that I had not been aware of Bonafede's existence until a short time prior to that post, partly because I've never had much occasion to travel on that stretch of Linden Avenue, which is mostly residential; not the kind of area where you'd expect to find a pizzeria. (I think I learned of Bonafede's by seeing it listed in the Yellow Pages.)
Well, I don't know how much the location had to do with it, but Bonafede's is gone. In its place is Gianna's NYC Italian Kitchen, which has a roughly similar menu, but a different style of pizza.
Given the name of the place, it will come as no surprise that Gianna's pizza is more in the New York style than Bonafede's had been. The crust on my cheese slice was very thin, and though it wasn't exactly what I would call bready (which is tough to achieve with a thin crust), the dough had risen somewhat; it wasn't dense or gummy inside.
The underside was lightly dusted with corn meal. It was fairly light-hued overall, with some scattered charred spots, and was crackly and nearly burnt along the edge.

The slice was topped with a light layer of tomato sauce. It was not a particularly saucy slice, and I didn't pick up much flavor from the sauce.
Atop the sauce lay a coating of oily, orangey cheese. If you've had it, you know what I mean by "orangey." I don't mind it, but it's not the greatest melting cheese in the world, and I frankly can't recall ever having seen that kind of cheese in all the times I've been to New York City. It does have a certain inexplicable appeal for me, though, and with its light sprinkling of Romano, the cheese was actually kind of good.
Gianna's pizzas come in 16" and 18" sized, plus a 14" x 24" Sicilian. There are four specialty pizzas, plus calzones, wings, pasta, "heroes" (hot subs), and three hot dog choices - Zweigles, Nathan's, and Sabrett's, for that authentic New York "dirty water dog" flavor. They also offer something called Nutella pockets, which I've never heard of before but which I'd love to try, as I consider Nutella one of the truly great culinary concoctions of our time.
Based on this slice, I'd say that Gianna's pizza is one of those that I would consider more of an approximation than an exact copy of New York style pizza. That's not a putdown, mind you, as this was rather tasty, and it would be easy to polish off a few Gianna's slices in one sitting. But the cheese and the crust didn't seem to quite nail it as far as New York style is concerned. Still, it was good enough to rate a B- from me.
Gianna's NYC Italian Kitchen, 514 Linden Ave. 14625. 248-5040
Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m., Sat.: 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Sun.

All Star Pizza Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Early on in the course of this blog, I was particularly keen to search out purveyors, actual or claimed, of New York style pizza. That led me to visit All Star Pizza in Penfield back in March 2009. The cheese pizza that I had on that occasion wasn't spectacular, but it was good enough to rate an above-average B-minus.
Lately I've been trying to sample Buffalo chicken pizzas, mostly because it's a very popular style in these parts. I'm not a huge fan of the style - I like wings, but I'd rather eat them separately from my pizza - but it's enjoyable now and again, and it is interesting to see different pizzerias' takes on this type of pizza.
Recently, I went back to All Star to check out their version. I ordered a small Buffalo chicken pie.
The crust was very thin, and as before, it was screen baked. The underside was dark brown overall, with some light char spots near the center, and paler near the edge. The bottom was slightly oily, nothing too bad though. The edge was considerably thicker, nice and bready, and nearly blackened in a few places.
The pie was topped with what appeared to be  ground chicken, rather than the chunks of chicken I've found at most other places. Naturally, then, the chicken wasn't breaded. The pizza had a vague aroma of frying oil, which is not such a bad thing in this case, since we are talking about Buffalo chicken.
The thin layer of sauce was spicy and a little oily. Visually, it could've passed for tomato sauce, and in fact I'd wager that there was some tomato sauce in there. I could be wrong, but it struck me as either a blend of hot and tomato sauces, or possibly tomato sauce topped with hot-sauce-laden chicken. There was some definite heat, but it tended to lurk in the background rather than assault the senses. (Interestingly, I seemed to notice the heat, and the distinctive Buffalo wing sauce flavor, more the next day when eating the cold leftover pizza.)
The mozzarella was also applied somewhat thinly, but in proportion to the crust; in fact, the cheese layer was probably about as thick as the crust itself. It, too, was on the oily side (you can see the oily sheen in the bottom photo), but that's typical of this style.
I didn't notice any blue cheese, making this more akin to a spicy chicken pizza than what I would expect of a Buffalo chicken pizza. Again, I'm guessing a bit here, but it seemed to me that a thin layer of tomato sauce had been applied, then the cheese, and finally sauteed ground chicken that had been tossed in wing sauce.
I'll reiterate that I am not rating Buffalo chicken pizzas. Ratings are only useful if the things being rated are at least broadly comparable, and there's such a wide variation among Buffalo chicken pizzas that I can't see how it would be of much help to rate them. I wouldn't just be rating the execution, but the concept, based inevitably on my subjective preferences (who's to say what's better - a pizza with a hot-sauce base, like this one, or with a blue cheese base, like Brandani's?).
But I will say that for what this was, it wasn't bad. You might prefer chunkier chicken, or the addition of blue cheese to give you a more authentic "wing" flavor, but that's a matter of taste. From as objective a standpoint as I can muster, this pizza was reasonably good, with no particular flaws to speak of. So if the idea of a spicy pizza topped with ground chicken appeals to you, this one's for you.
All Star Pizza, 1628 Penfield Rd. (across from Panorama Plaza) 385-2244
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Bernunzio's Deli, Penfield

When the new Yellow Pages come out, I always check the pizza listings, to see if there's anything new in there. There are always a number of places that have been out of business for years (how do they stay listed so long?), but often I also discover one or two places that are new or that I hadn't been aware of before.
This year's discovery was Bernunzio's, a deli just off Penfield Road. This is a very easy place to miss, as it's not that visible from Penfield Road, and until I saw the Yellow Pages listing I'd never heard of it, nor would I have expected it to serve pizza, had I driven by it. But the menu on their website says that they serve pizza, so I had to check it out.
On my weekday lunchtime visit, there were some plain cheese and pepperoni slices available, sitting in a warmer. I got one pepperoni slice, which was pretty good sized, a quarter of a pie, measuring about six and a half inches along the side.
The slice had a soft crust with a golden brown underside. It was well risen, with big air holes inside, and the dough was reminiscent of a soft dinner roll.
There wasn't much sauce on top, although it's possible that it simply seemed that way because some of the moisture in the sauce had evaporated or soaked into the crust. But there wasn't much cheese either, which can only mean that there wasn't much to begin with. Of all the toppings, it was the pepperoni that really stood out, not because there was so much of it or because it had a particularly strong flavor, but because of the relative absence of sauce and cheese. Paying close attention, I could detect some some concentrated tomatoey notes in the background, along with a faint touch of herbs, but the pepperoni was really front and center.
Finishing off the slice was the outer edge, which was formed into a thick, puffy lip. It too was pretty soft-textured, although it did have a little outer chewiness, if not crispness.
Bernunzio's is a deli, of course, and it offers a full range of hot and cold subs, salads, and baked goods, as well as some pasta, basic groceries, and ice cream in season. They also do catering.
As for the pizza, well, I really wanted to like this one, I mean I love running across these little mom-and-pop places, but this didn't really do it for me. I don't know what a fresh, made-to-order pie from Bernunzio's would be like, but on the basis of this one slice, I wouldn't be inclined to go back there for pizza. A sub, some pasta, or an ice cream cone? Sure. In fact a couple of their specialty subs (the "Alex's" and "Michele's") sound downright mouth-watering, and I'm a sucker for Perry's ice cream too. But this slice of pizza was just too soft for me, and it also needed more sauce and cheese to counterbalance the thick, doughy crust. It wasn't bad, mind you, but I'd say it was a notch below average, so I'm giving it a C-.
Bernunzio's Deli, 745 Penfield Road, Penfield 14625
(entrance is on Colonial Village Road - look for the sign with the American flag on Penfield Road)
248-0310
Mon. - Fri.: 7:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Bonafede's, Linden Ave.

Here's a place I never even knew existed until very recently: Bonafede's, which is on Linden Avenue, which is just off Rt. 441 in what I guess would be East Rochester. This particular stretch of road doesn't seem like a major artery, so I imagine Bonafede's is very much a neighborhood place.
My lunchtime pepperoni slice had a thin to medium crust with an attractively charred, non-greasy underside. The bottom crust and the outer edge had pretty good flavor, with some breadiness and a slightly chewy texture.
The cheese was melted without being browned. It seemed like basic mozzarella. The sauce was a tad sweet, with some herbs detectable in the background. Both were applied moderately, and in balance with the relatively thin crust.
Bonafede's has a decent list of pizza toppings - 17 by my count - and eight specialty pizzas, including a meatball parm pizza that may warrant a return trip. For some reason, their specialty pizzas are only available as a "large," so that will have to be a dinnertime visit.
In addition to pizza, Bonafede's has wings (five sauces, including a "Crazy Hot"), hot and cold subs, wraps, salad, grilled sandwiches, pasta, and fried fish and shrimp. (Fish fry is available on Fridays only, but fish & chips can be had anytime. I'm not quite sure that I get that, but I'm not that big on fish fry, so it doesn't matter.) Ice cream is also available in the summer months. There is some seating inside, though the atmosphere is pretty Spartan, just a basic fast-food type of setup, with a counter on one side, some tables on the other, and fluorescent lights above. Still, they had a reasonably good crowd on my workday visit.
All in all, this wasn't a bad slice of pizza. Bonafede's says on its menu that its "pizzas are hand tossed and cooked to perfection in (their) brick deck ovens," and while I'm not quite ready to say this was perfect, I did like the crust, the components were well balanced, and the flavor was pretty good. I'll give it a B+.
Bonafede's Pizzeria & Pasta Kitchen, 514 Linden Ave. 248-5040
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Closed Sundays.

Sonny's Deli, N. Landing Rd.

Sonny's Deli is a little neighborhood spot on North Landing Road, just south of Blossom Road. It's the kind of place that you don't see very much these days, a small, independent deli/grocery store sitting by itself on an otherwise residential street.
This was formerly, I think, Detello's Deli & Pizzeria. I can remember getting pizza from there a long time ago one summer when I lived in a house nearby. But I'd kind of forgotten about it until just recently when I was scanning the pizza listings in the 2010 yellow pages (which still list this address as Detello's).
At any rate - I stopped in the other day for a slice. The slices were in one of those glass-enclosed warmers, where they looked to have been sitting for a while.
I opted for a cheese slice this time. It was thin, with a very dark underside bearing screen marks. The crust was crunchy - downright brittle, in fact - and when I took a bite the underside separated completely from the thin top layer of the crust, which remained adhered to the cheese. The predominant flavor was that of burnt toast.
The sauce was visible, but dried out, making it hard to pick out its flavor. Likewise, I could see a few flecks of dried herbs, but didn't notice any herb flavor either.
The cheese wasn't bad - uniformly but moderately applied mozzarella. It had a bright orange color and was a tad greasy.
The thin lip at the edge was OK. It was pleasantly crunchy, if a little bland.
Sonny's has a standard lineup of toppings, and four specialty pizzas. They also serve wings, which come tossed with one of eight sauces (which includes three heat levels of Buffalo sauce), a wide variety of subs and unusually named sandwiches (I get most of the names, except for "The Vatican," which comes with turkey, ham, bacon and mozzarella), salads, sides, and Italian and seafood dinners. And since it's a grocery too, they carry all the basics - milk, beer, snacks, etc. Sonny's, which is near Ellison Park, also claims to have "Rochester's largest supply of discs and disc golf accessories."
I have to say I was disappointed with this pizza. First, although I don't remember much about the pizza I used to get here way back when, when this was still Detello's, I know I got pizza from there more than once, so I must've liked it to some extent. (I do seem to recall the pizza being thicker, which is neither here nor there as far as me liking it, but it does seem to have changed since then.)
Second, I can see where this pizza had the potential to be really good. It looks more or less like a New York style pizza (except for the screen marks - I don't think I've ever seen screen-baked pizza in NYC), and according to the menu it's baked in a brick oven.
I think the problem here was mostly one of execution. The crust was overcooked, for one thing. It was also too dried out, from spending too long in the oven and, I think, the warming rack. That essentially nullified the sauce component, so that all I could really taste was the nearly-burned crust and the congealed cheese.
Finally, one minor quibble - the service was friendly enough, but when I got my slice, I was a bit surprised when the guy just handed it to me on a paper plate. It was snowing outside, and I was obviously getting it to go, so one of those paper sleeves would've been nice, don't you think?
So - I wasn't too thrilled with this slice, but even so, I think there was a very good slice of pizza trapped in there somewhere, that just never had a chance to get out. In fact I'm somewhat tempted to order a pizza from Sonny's sometime, just to see if maybe getting a freshly made pie would avoid some of the issues I had with this one. Until then, I'm giving Sonny's a C-.
Sonny's Deli, 494 N. Landing Rd. 288-7820
Mon. - Thu. 7 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

All Star Pizza, Penfield

All Star Pizza, on Penfield Road across from Panorama Plaza, claims to "Specialize in New York Style Thin Crust Pizza," so this was high on my list of places to check out. The result was, well, pretty good, though I'm not sure it would make a City native feel as if he'd been transported back to the Big Apple.
I should note, first of all, that All Star does not just make thin crust. The flyer advertises a "Crust-O-Meter" with three options: "NY Style Thin," "Traditional Regular," and "Double Thick." Of course a lot of places will make the crust thicker or thinner on request, but since the flyer describes this as "New!" I'm guessing that thin crust was originally All Star's default or "regular" pizza, and that at some point they decided to explicitly offer three choices, though the emphasis remains on the thin version.
Anyway, I went with the thin crust, since that's my favorite and All Star's specialty. It certainly met the thinness criterion, not a bad looking pie. Checking the underside revealed that it had been baked on a screen (you can tell by the cross-hatching). I guess the theory behind a screen is that the the holes in the screen allow the bottom of the dough to cook by convection and radiant heat rather than by conduction as when the pizza lies directly on the oven floor. In theory that should result in a crisper crust, but it didn't here. Now I should point out that this pizza sat in the box in my car for a good 20-30 minutes before I opened the box, so maybe that had something to do with it, but the crust was not that crisp, and the slices were on the floppy side (ideally you should be able to fold a NY-style slice and have the pointy end stick out straight, without flopping down).


For all that floppiness, oddly, one slice cracked right down the middle when I folded it, but the rest passed the foldability test.
As might be expected, there was also no charring, which is not a huge deal to me, but the ideal NY-style pizza should have some char spots. The edge of the crust was on the crunchy side, in a way that a crust will get when it's got some grease on it or in it. In other words, a fried rather than baked kind of crunch. As you can see, the box also soaked up a fair amount of grease, which may be a good or bad sign depending on how you feel about grease. Frankly I think a little grease (I guess "oil" sounds better) isn't a bad thing, as fat helps convey flavor to your taste buds.
The toppings were pretty standard, with a moderate amount of sauce, and a fairly thick layer of mozzarella cheese that had a tendency to slide off the crust when you removed a slice from the pie or took a bite, unless you were careful to cut or bite cleanly through it. Maybe the fat in the cheese melted and created a barrier between the dough and the cheese, preventing the cheese from adhering to the crust.
I ordered this one half cheese, half pepperoni, although as the photo indicates, what I got was more like 2/3 cheese, 1/3 pepperoni. There's the usual list of available toppings, and some specialty pizzas, including chicken wing, "lasagna pizza," and Philly steak. They also do subs, wings (which are pretty decent), calzones, salads, and various fried sides. Takeout and delivery only. Ask about specials when you order; if I had, I could've saved myself a few bucks.
It may sound as if I really didn't like this pizza, but that's not the case. I enjoyed it. Most of what I said about it was intended only to describe it, not to criticize it. It had a good flavor and was thin enough that I could, and did, eat several slices without getting too full. It's just not, in my opinion, particularly close to what you would typically get at a pizza slice joint in NYC; I'd call it more of an interpretation than an exemplar of NY-style pizza. But measured on its own terms, it was enjoyable enough. I'll give it a B-.