Little Italy, Hornell

Another hiking trip, another pizzeria.
Using this book by William Ehling, I went on a hike last weekend near Hornell, mostly along the Finger Lakes Trail. If you're a hiker, and you'd like to find some places around here for day hikes, Bill Ehling (who died earlier this year at age 93) should  be your first go-to guy, and you should pick up his books. I also can't say enough about CNY Hiking and the Finger Lakes Trail Conference.
At any rate, while I was down that way, I stopped by Little Italy in Hornell. I liked the name, the building looked good, and so did the pizza.
Forttunately, the pizza proved to be as good as it looked. I got one cheese and one pepperoni slice. Underneath, there were some faint screen marks - which in my experience too often means a soft, oily crust - but the underside was dry to the touch, with some surface crackling. As you can see in one of the photos, when the cheese slice was folded, it cracked but didn't break.That's what I mean by "crackling."
If I may digress for a moment, let me explain that in general, I like that sort of crackling, but I don't view it as essential. I've tremendously enjoyed Neapolitan-style pizzas that are wet in the middle and need to be eaten with a knife and fork. I generally don't like crusts that are crunchy but soaked through with oil and essentially pan fried.
But I do appreciate a crust that strikes a balance between a chewy interior and a crackly bottom. It's very similar to a good loaf of bread with a crisp crust. A pizza crust needs to be just a little thick to make that work, and this crust did just that.
The crust also had a pleasant, breadlike aroma. Thickness-wise, it was thin to medium, aside from the outer edge, which was thick and chewy.
The slices were topped with a tomatoey sauce, which had a thick consistency, and some subtle herbal notes. The layer of processed mozzarella cheese was thin and pretty uniform, and rather well browned on the cheese slice - a tad too well browned for me. The pepperoni was thin-sliced and OK but not exceptional.
Little Italy offers pizza in five sizes, with 13 toppings to choose from. They also do four specialty pizzas:  white garlic, chicken wing, "meat craze," and veggie.
The menu is available here, so I won't go through it completely, but I'm intrigued by the "pizza crust sandwich," which is described as "An individual dough baked with butter garlic sauce, loaded with chipotle mayonnaise, your choice of steak (with sweet & tangy), chicken (with Little Italy sauce), or cheeseburger with bacon. Topped with lettuce, tomato, and onion." Next time I'm down that way I think I'll check that out.
I liked Little Italy, and I liked their pizza. It strikes me as a fine hometown pizzeria. These slices were very good, if basic pizza, a cut above average, so I'll give them a B.

Little Italy Pizzeria, 7498 Seneca Rd., Hornell
607-324-6740
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Cosmic Patty's, Hornell

Up until recently, I couldn't say that I'd ever been to a (Grateful) Deadhead-themed pizzeria. And I never expected to find one in Hornell in Steuben County, in the central Southern Tier. Ithaca, maybe. But not Hornell.
But that's exactly what I found on a recent trek down that way. Following some hiking in the nearby Phillips Creek State Forest, I stopped by Hornell to check out Cosmic Patty's, a self-described "counter-culture pizza epierience [sic]." That's a quote from the menu. (The photo at left, by the way, is the result of some editing on my part, that I thought fit in well with the overall feel of the place.)
After a brief glance at the myriad photos and posters adorning the walls, I considered my pizza options. The selection was small but varied, and I went with a pepperoni slice and a white slice.
The crust on both these slices was very thin, in fact translucent, as seen in the photo. Now I'm aware of the saying, "You can never be too thin," but that doesn't always apply with pizza. Yes, I have pointed out the translucency of Fiamma's pizza, which I love, but it's a fine line.This pizza skirted that line. There still needs to be some interior, so that you're not just eating a tortilla. That's why, in that post, I said that "the proof of the pizza is in the eating. If the crust were overly dry, or floppy, or flavorless, then its translucence would be no more than an impressive, but purely technical achievement."
Well, opinions can differ, but to me this pizza was balancing on that line, like a tightrope walker. It wasn't just flour and water, but there was very little to chew on. Not entirely to my liking, but if you view the crust as little more than a platform for toppings, then this was that.
The undersides of these slices were faintly marked by screen indentations, and were a blotchy golden brown. They were reasonably crisp. The slices as a whole were a little floppy, but given their thinness and size (they weren't enormous, but pretty big, I'm guessing from a 16-18" pie, and narrow relative to their length), that was probably inevitable. A decent crust, then, but I wouldn't say it was great.
The red sauce on my pepperoni slice was a tad on the sweet side, and a bit heavily applied, considering the thinness of the crust. But I like a good sauce, and I prefer a bit too much over too little, "painted on" sauces. 
As for the other toppings, the cheese and pepperoni were unremarkable but perfectly acceptable, and reminiscent of a basic NYC slice. I did like the toppings on the white slice, which included sliced plum tomatoes (far preferable to pale, hard-as-a-rock beefsteak tomatoes at this time of year), spinach that was wilted but not burned, and feta cheese, which added some nice tanginess. This pie was also made using Cosmic Patty's "cosmic seed crust," which means sesame seeds baked into the dough. They didn't add a whole lot to the slice, as far as I could tell, and I tend to be a purist where crusts are concerned, but they didn't detract from it either.
Cosmic Patty's doesn't offer much in the way of specialty pizzas, though they do have a 12-topping "Patty Boy Special." If you want a pie, it's mostly a create-your-own place, and there are 19 toppings to pick from. You can choose a "honey crust" or the aforementioned cosmic seed crust. They also do wings, pasta, hot subs, calzones, salads, and a few fried sides.
And yes, it's a very laid-back atmosphere; when's the last time you went to a pizzeria with a motorcycle (think Easy Rider) in the dining room? And the various posters and other ephemera on the walls of Cosmic Patty's seem to belong there, as opposed to the stuff you see in chain restaurants that looks as if it was just shipped in from some central warehouse to give the place an "authentic" feel.
Overall, I liked Cosmic Patty's, and I liked their pizza. It wasn't among the very best I've had, and I know I've pointed out a few of what I would consider faults with these slices, but in fact I enjoyed them. It's always easier to find fault than to say what's good about something. These did have good flavor, and although the crust wasn't crackly-crisp, it was reasonably crisp underneath. And sometimes you just want a big, thin slice that tastes good and that's easy to gulp down.
I try to keep the letter grades to places around Rochester, so I won't assign one to Cosmic Patty's. And this would be a tough one anyway. If you like big, super-thin slices, you'll like this. If not, you won't. I didn't love everything about it, but for what it was, it was pretty good.

Cosmic Patty's, 104 Loder St., Hornell
(607) 382-5465
Mon - Thu: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm, Fri - Sat: 11:00 am - 3:00 am, Sun: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Pizza King, Hornell

As regular readers of this blog may know, I've been spending some time in the Southern Tier lately, meaning roughly along the southern reaches of 390 and Rt. 17/86, from Steuben County in the east to Cattaraugus County in the west. Partly that's been for hiking in some of the abundant state forest land in that area, but I've also been visiting family.
So I hope you'll forgive me if I stray a bit outside the Rochester area for the time being. I know this is the Rochester NY Pizza Blog, but by its nature a blog is an online journal of one's experiences, and my experiences at the moment include a lot of time to our near south. And since a lot of Rochester-area residents do have occasion to drive to, or through, the Southern Tier from time to time, it may be helpful to learn about a few of the pizza places you'll find along the way.
All of which is a leadup to Pizza King in Hornell. As I reported last month, Pizza King was started in the mid '70s by Bill Giovanniello, who currently owns and operates Giovanni's in Hornell. Bill, a native of Italy, is something of a Johnny (or should I say Gianni) Appleseed for NY style pizza in Western New York; as that prior post explains, Bill and Pizza King led, in one way or another, to the opening of several other pizzerias in WNY, including several in the Rochester area.
Though Bill sold Pizza King some years ago to concentrate on his current establishment, Pizza King - now owned and operated by a former employee of Bill - remains in business. (A related establishment of the same name, which was started by Bill's brother, also exists in nearby Wellsville, as explained here.)
On a recent visit to Pizza King, I got a cheese slice, and a Buffalo chicken slice. I'm pretty sure Pizza King wasn't serving Buffalo chicken pizza when it opened back in the '70s, but it's popular now, and I like to check out the different permutations of that style when I can.
These slices were thin near the tip (which means that the center of the pie was relatively thin), and slightly thicker near the outer edge. The cornicione was fairly wide and thick, and the crust as a whole was nice and bready. The underside was crackly and medium brown, with some nearly charred spots.
The cheese slice was topped with a slightly sweet / slightly herbal sauce. The cheese - all mozzarella I think, although there could've been some Provolone mixed in there - was not abundant, and seemed to have migrated a bit toward the center of the pie, leaving a fairly wide cheeseless band around the outer edge.
The Buffalo chicken slice had the same good, crisp crust, topped with cheese, chunks of spicy breaded chicken, and a healthy dose of hot sauce. It wasn't mouth-blisteringly hot, but if you like your Buffalo chicken pizza on the spicy side, you'd like this one. The Hornell Pizza King offers a range of pizzas, including thicker pan pizzas, wings, subs and pasta. I'm not sure how up to date it is, but you can see their menu here. Perhaps in a nod to Atkins dieters, it includes the first crustless pizza that I've ever seen on a menu:  the Meat Feast Pizza On A Plate, which is described as "all your favorite Pizza King pizza toppings covered with cheese and served on a very hot plate." Now there's a subject for philosophical debate:  is a crustless pizza still pizza?
Fortunately for me, I don't think I'll ever have to decide the answer to that one. I love a good crust, and Pizza King makes a good crust. Considering its proximity to Giovanni's (which makes for an easy twofer in a single trip) and its historical significance, this is a spot to add to your pizza "bucket" list.
Pizza King, 194 Main St., Hornell
(607) 324-2215
Noon - 11 p.m. daily (unconfirmed - call ahead to make sure)

Southern Tier Tour, Part I: Giovanni's, Hornell

After my recent visit to Billy's in Belmont, I knew I had to get to Giovanni's in Hornell, which is owned by Bill Giovanniello, who came to the Southern Tier from Long Island, and trained Joe Staffieri, the owner of Joe's Brooklyn Pizza, and the brother of Jim Staffieri, the owner of The Pizza Stop. Which is a long-winded way of saying that this guy is practically the grandfather of New York style pizza in Rochester.
So I took advantage of a recent drive south to meet up with Bill. He was hard at work making pizzas, but he did take a few minutes to chat with me.
Bill was born in Avellino, Italy, a town just northeast of Naples, which is the ancestral home of American pizza in general, and New York style pizza in particular. As a child, he often ate pizza prepared by his mamma at home, which at that time is where most Italians got their pizza - from a home kitchen. Only later would the pizza craze hit the U.S., then cross back to Italy via American tourists, who gave rise to the pizzerias you'll find all over Italy today.
When Bill was in his early teens, his family immigrated to the U.S., initially making a home for themselves in Brooklyn. Bill later moved a bit further out on Long Island. During much of his adult life downstate, Bill owned or worked in one pizzeria or another.
Eventually, Bill's older brother migrated upstate, to Wellsville, where he opened a pizzeria, Pizza King. Three years later, Bill followed suit, and decided to settle in Hornell. The verdant hills and open fields of New York's Southern Tier, which are apparently reminiscent of the countryside around Naples (hence its namesake village here), were much of the attraction for both of them.
Bill opened his own pizza place in Hornell, also named Pizza King. He later sold it to a former employee, and moved into a bigger space about a half mile away, which he named Giovanni's.
The extra room makes Giovanni's something of a hybrid between a pizza joint and a restaurant. In addition to pizza, they serve the usual pizza partners like wings, subs, and quesadillas, as well as pasta, chicken, eggplant and veal parm, and eat-in customers can avail themselves of the salad bar.
But my focus was, of course, the pizza. Giovanni's does thin (Neapolitan), thick (Sicilian) and stuffed pizzas, plus calzones and stromboli. The thin is quite thin, with a crust that's maybe an eighth of an inch thick. It's broadly in the New York style, but, despite its thinness, perhaps a little breadier than a typical New York slice. My slices, fresh out of the oven, were more brown than charred underneath, but dry and medium-crisp, firm but not crunchy.
These were also on the cheesy side, with a cheese layer that's about as thick as the crust. The sauce was moderately applied and had a middle-of-the-road, tomatoey flavor.
Now on a prior occasion (Bill wasn't around at the time), I did stop in and grab a Sicilian slice as well. The crust on this one measured just under an inch thick, and unlike some pan-baked pizza, it had a dry, not oily underside. The interior was airy yet substantial, with some heft to it. The overall flavor was about the same as the thin slices, the biggest difference being the thicker, more breadlike crust, which had a pleasant crunchiness along the edge.
During my talk with Bill, I was able to watch some of the process involved in making their pies. I particularly noticed one Sicilian pie in the oven, covered with sauce, but no cheese. I asked Bill about that, thinking that perhaps it was a "tomato pie" in the Utica style, but he told me that no, it was simply a Sicilian pizza. As he explained it, and I quote, they "prebake" their Sicilian pizzas with just sauce, to give them a chance to firm up a little bit and lose some moisture before adding the cheese. Smart idea, and reminiscent of an episode of Tyler's Ultimate that I saw a couple of years ago in which he watched a southern Italian woman prepare pizza in her home kitchen, in which she did the same thing, applying the cheese about halfway through the baking process.
I've made it a practice not to grade pizzas outside the Rochester metro area, and I won't assign these a letter grade, but this was very good pizza. It was well worth stopping for in its own right, but also because of its broader significance. I don't want to overstate things, but it seems to me that without Bill (and let's not forget his brother), you've got no Joe's Brooklyn Pizza in Henrietta, and no Pizza Stop downtown. And the ripple effect goes beyond that. Those establishments have led to others around town, either directly (such as Empire Pizza in Penfield, which started as an offshoot of The Pizza Stop), or indirectly, by helping popularize thin-crust, New York style pizza in this area.
If you're a Rochester pizza aficionado, then, well ... I'm not suggesting that you need to hop in your car right away and drive the 70 or so miles south to Hornell, but Giovanni's should be on your mental list of pizza pilgrimages to make someday (what, you don't have a mental to-do list of pizza pilgrimages? Shame on you). Chances are, Bill will be there, along with his daughter Cindy and veteran employees, and if you can avoid the lunchtime rush, he'll be more than happy to talk to you.
Giovanni's Pizza Restaurant, 119 Seneca Rd., Hornell NY 14843
Tel.: (607) 324-6000
Hours: Sun. noon - 11 p.m., Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight