Compané: Italian Tradition in Fairport

In connection with my current giveaway for Compané Bistro in Fairport, I had a conversation with Mario Cristofori, the controller/manager of Compané. While I was already sold on Compané's pizza, by the end of our discussion I was even more eager to return for a meal. And it might not even include pizza.
Compané (pronounced com-PAH-nay) got its start in August 2010. As with many good pizzerias and restaurants, it's a family affair. Mario's father Guido is from the Abruzzi region of Italy, and he opened Compané with the aim of replicating the food he knew and loved back home.
Compané is the family's third venture into the restaurant business, which started with a pizzeria/deli in Henrietta, followed by Grappa, a former Fairport establishment in a location that is now the site of a Chinese restaurant.
Despite this history, Guido's primary work background was not in the pizza business, but in masonry. That's proved helpful, though, because Guido put those skills to good use in building Compané's impressive wood-fired oven, as well as its very comfortable back patio.
An electrical fire on the restaurant's first New Year's Eve resulted in Compané closing for several months, mostly to cope with water damage. But reopen they did, and that's fortunate, because the pizza here is very good indeed.
Maybe it's a stereotype to characterize Italians as having some special cooking skills, but Mario told me that his family has "always had a knack for the kitchen." That starts with "Nana," who, well into her eighties, still comes in regularly to make gnocchi. Once I've reviewed a restaurant, I enjoy going back and not feeling obligated to try the pizza. Next time I go to Compané, I'm ordering gnocchi.
But let's get back to the pizza. Compané's oven is a work of art, although much of what you see is a facade. That's not to say that the oven is some sort of fake. It's a serious wood-burning oven. But the actual cooking space is relatively small, as it has to be; you want to trap the heat from the wood fire, not just let it go up the chimney.
And that oven is 100% wood fired. No gas flames there, it's wood from the get-go. Compané uses various woods, but they are all "neutral" hardwoods - no aromatic fruit woods. Fruit woods are fine for barbeque, but for pizza you are generally not looking for a distinctive smoke.
To be ready in time for dinner, somebody generally gets the fire started between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon. And again, it might be Mario's dad Guido, who's there daily to monitor the oven.
But starting the fire is the easy part. The fire has to be maintained throughout the evening, holding the temperature at between 600 and 700 degrees. That's a good temperature not only for pizza, but for some of the other dishes that Compané uses the oven for, like wings, ribs and roasts.
Another tricky aspect to using this oven is that Compané's oven is big; it can hold seven to eight pizzas at a time. That's good, in a way, when they've got several pizza orders coming in at once, but it also means that a lot of skill, and close attention, are required to keep an eye on the pizzas and make sure that they're all getting properly done, each at the right time.
Fortunately, Compané can count on an experienced set of employees to keep things running smoothly. I'm sure there are the usual hiccups and crises that you find in any restaurant, but based on my visit and their continued success, Compané seems to be managing rather well.
And while Compané turns out very traditional Italian food, I should mention that they offer gluten-free and whole-wheat pizzas as well.
Compané exhibits a lot of the characteristics that I find common to good pizzerias. It's family based (Mario's mom and sister are also involved), and everything is made from scratch. It's also locally based - Mario grew up in Fairport - but its roots go back to Italy.
Whether you win a gift card or not, you'd do well to give Compané a try. I enjoyed it and I think you will too.

Compané, 80 N. Main St., Fairport
678-4013

Mon. - Sat. 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Vicari's, Ontario

In researching the new, second location of Empire Pizza in Ontario, I ran across a reference to Vicari's Pizzeria, which I'd never heard of before, on Ridge Road in Ontario.
For the time being, the Ontario Empire location opens at 4:00, so I made the trek to check out Vicari's. It's a small pizzeria on Ridge Road (which is not the same as 104, it's an older road parallel to and just south of 104), between Ontario Center Road (Rt. 350) and Furnace Road (County Road 110).
I got there about 11:45 a.m., and was pleasantly surprised to see several pies available for slices. I chose a pepperoni slice and a Buffalo chicken slice.
Both were thin (about an eighth of an inch thick), New York style slices. Each came sliced into two. The undersides had a dusting of corn meal and were lightly charred. They were pliable but firm, with some chewy breadiness in the interior.
The pepperoni slice was topped with a moderate amount of mildly flavored tomato sauce, a thin layer of mozzarella, and a generous helping of thin pepperoni slices. It was a well balanced slice, and the overall flavor was good.
The Buffalo chicken slice was done with small chunks of breaded chicken (think a diced chicken finger), "Cajun sauce," and mozzarella. "Cajun" seems like an odd name for Buffalo chicken sauce, but the flavor was that of a basic hot sauce, with enough heat to add a little kick, though toward the mild end of the scale. Blue cheese is served on the side here, not on the pizza.
Vicari's menu is available online, but I'll give a brief rundown.
Pizzas come in 10-, 14- and 16-inch pie sizes (which are available thin, thick, or "regular" - I assume these were "thin"), as well as 16" pan pizza, and sheets. A 9-inch gluten-free pizza is also available. There are 22 toppings and ten specialty pizzas, plus calzones, "twists" and "knots." They also do wings (fried or char-broiled), subs, salads, burgers and pasta. Next time I'm out that way I may get a "Bambino" sub, named in honor of Babe Ruth, I'm sure - one wall of Vicari's is devoted to the New York Yankees (a customer in a Red Sox cap did his best not to notice, or at least not to let it bother him).
I should mention that despite the image of a wood-burning pizza oven on the front of the menu, Vicari's uses regular pizza ovens. Nothing wrong with that - the pizzas are brick-lined, and they don't use screens - but to avoid confusion it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to switch out the photo at some point.
This was some pretty good thin-crust pizza. It didn't have quite the crackle of superb New York style pizza, and some of the corn meal had burned a bit, turning into soot. To get a little nitpicky, the cheese was all right, but not as delectably creamy as I've had on some slices. So I'm not prepared to give it an A. But it was well balanced and tasty, with a good crust. It was certainly above average, and I'm adding it to my mental go-to list for the area, so it easily rates a B from me.
Vicari's Pizzeria, 1795 Ridge Road, Ontario, NY 14519
315-524-4500
Mon. - Sat. 10 - 10, Sun. noon  - 9

Hooligans, Webster

Slowly but surely, pizza seems to be catching on as an addition to bar food menus around town. Some places do it on the cheap, with preformed crusts they simply add toppings to and throw in the oven. But other bars have gone the extra mile, with hand-stretched dough (which may be made off premises) and serious pizza ovens.
Count Hooligans in Webster among the latter group. I ran across a reference to its wood-fired oven some time ago, and decided to check it out.
I noticed, by the way, that the Hooligans in Greece - which I haven't reviewed yet - also serves pizza, but does not have a wood-fired oven. Also, the Greece Hooligans website doesn't even mention the place in Webster. So I'm not sure how much of a connection there is between the two.
I visited the Webster Hooligans on a Monday at lunch time. The place was pretty dead, and I was the only patron when I arrived, although a handful of guys showed up before I left.
Be that as it may, I ordered a Margherita pizza. I thought about getting a basic pepperoni pizza, but Margheritas have become my benchmark for wood-fired pizzas.
Had I noticed it sooner, I would've taken a seat near Hooligans' oven. I had thought this was a Doughpro oven, based on Hooligans' listing on the Doughpro website, but I'm informed that it's not (see the comments below).
At any rate, I sat some distance from the oven, and I was too lazy to move closer, but I did take a look at it on my way out. Somewhat to my surprise, I did not see any wood in the oven. (I say "somewhat" because I didn't smell any wood smoke either, so I wasn't totally surprised.) There was nothing but a gas flame emanating from inside the oven.
Well, I don't get too worked up over the equipment, it's the final product that counts, so I wasn't particularly miffed about that. At least the dough here is hand-stretched - no frozen shells - although my guess is that it's actually made off premises, as few restaurants or bars have the means to prepare large batches of pizza dough. Again, I really should have sat near the oven, so I could've peppered the pizzaiolo with these questions, but I didn't think of them until later, I'm afraid.
But back to the pizza - it arrived hot, with a thin crust that was fairly crisp and well browned underneath, with a few small charred spots. The coating of corn meal on the bottom was a bit of a surprise, as I just haven't seen that much on wood-fired pizzas, but it was not objectionable (and of course, this was not truly a wood-fired pizza). The crust had a decent texture, not exceptionally crisp but with a bit of bite, and some internal breadinesess, particularly in the thin but puffy lip, or cornicione, along the edge.
The pie had an unmistakable aroma of garlic, and visually was dominated by a thin layer of creamy, almost liquid fresh mozzarella. A few shreds of fresh basil added some flavor, and the slices of pale bland tomatoes - which I've unfortunately come to expect around here - provided some color but not much else.
This may not have been the best Margherita I've ever eaten, but it was reasonably good. The pie as a whole wasn't on a par with top-notch wood-fired pizzas, but the gas-powered oven did a pretty good job, and for a pizza at a sports bar, this was better than you might expect. I wouldn't mind trying Hooligans' pizza again sometime, and I wonder whether on a busy weekend night they might actually throw some wood in the oven, which could give the pizza a slightly smoky edge and perhaps a bit more crispy, charred crust. Right now, I wouldn't say that the pizza is a clear choice over more traditional bar food like wings, but this was good enough to pique my curiosity about some of Hooligans' other pizza varieties. I'll give it a B.
TC Hooligan's, 809 Rdge Rd., Webster 671-7180
11 a.m. - 2 a.m. daily

Krony's Spencerport: pepperoni and sausage pie

Lately I've been catching up on some places I visited previously for a slice or two, and going back to try a full pie. One of those is Krony's in Spencerport. Last January, I gave them a B based on a pepperoni slice and a cheese slice. Recently I went back and got a large pie with pepperoni and sausage.
The crust on this pie was pretty thin, with a dark brown, dry underside. It was just faintly charred and had a bit of exterior crunch. The slices were rather floppy, but that was partly because this pie had been cut into 12 slices, resulting in relatively narrow slices; wider slices, I think, tend not to be as floppy because you can bend or fold them a little in the middle, which gives the slice a little more rigidity.
These slices were also weighted down a little by the toppings, which were generously applied. This pizza was rather saucy, with a medium-thick, tomatoey sauce. I wouldn't call it a sweet sauce, but it wasn't as sharply tangy as some, so there may have been a little sugar in there to take the edge off the acidity of the tomatoes.
The mozzarella was applied in good balance with the sauce, forming a nearly uniform blanket of stringy, well-melted cheese. The pepperoni and sausage were not particularly remarkable, though again, they were quite generously applied, covering every square inch of the pizza's surface.
Only the outer edge of this pizza was thick enough to really get much of a sense of the crust's flavor and texture. It was crunchy, with a pleasant, white-bread flavor. Although I'm mostly a thin-crust guy, I think I actually would've preferred a slightly thicker crust on this pizza, just to stand up to, and balance out the abundant toppings.
Not too much has changed since my prior visit to Krony's. I'll direct you to their website for a look at their menu. One thing I will mention is that they're one of the few pizzerias I've seen serving draft beer, and although there are only a handful of taps, they included Rohrbach Scotch Ale and Sam Adams Octoberfest.
At some pizzerias, ordering by the slice is the way to go. For example, although many of the more famous New York City pizzerias only sell whole pies, I've always thought that your average New York style pizza improves when it's put back in the oven for reheating. It comes out crisper that way.
And at some pizzerias, it's best to get a fresh pie. I think Krony's may be one such place. Although the slices I got last time were OK, this pie was better. That may have something to do with the relatively heavy toppings, which are best eaten fresh out of the oven, while the cheese is still gooey, and before the sauce has had a chance to dry out or seep into the crust. So I'm bumping this one up a notch over last time, and giving it a B+.
Krony’s Pizza Etc., 2139 N. Union St., Spencerport 14559 (in Barefoot Landing Plaza, next to Pineway Ponds Park) 352-1199 Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. (closes at 10 p.m. Mon. - Thu. in winter) Hamlin location: 500 Hamlin-Clarkson Townline Rd. 964-7111

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.

Krony's, Spencerport

Krony’s Pizza, established in 1975, currently has two locations, in Spencerport and Hamlin (I think there was briefly a third in Chili or somewhere, but no longer). I stopped by the Spencerport Krony’s a while ago for a couple of lunchtime slices.
They were pretty thin, with a dry, browned underside that was dusted with a fair amount of cornmeal. The flavor and texture were not exceptional, though the narrow lip had some welcome breadiness to it.
The moderately applied, homemade sauce had a sweetish flavor, although I also picked up a hint of basil or some other “Italian” herbs. The cheese - 100% mozzarella, according to the menu - was also applied in moderation, in good balance with the other components, and was just nearly browned. The slices appeared to have been dusted with a grated cheese of some kind, parmesan perhaps, and there did seem to be some cheesy tanginess in there somewhere. The pepperoni seemed rather spicy, although that may have just been because of the generous helping of pepperoni on my slice.
Krony’s has a decent list of pizza toppings, and just three specialty pizzas - white, pink, and Buffalo chicken. They also serve wings, “stromboni” (I’m not exactly sure what that is, but I assume it’s along the lines of a stromboli or calzone), hot and cold subs, “bombers” and other sandwiches, munchies, wraps and salads. They also offer chicken, fish and seafood dinners, and on my visit the blackboard menu advertised a few daily specials, including blackened tilapia. Desserts, soft drinks, beer and wine are available as well. I haven’t made it to the Hamlin location yet, but in Spencerport, it’s a counter-service operation with a fairly good-sized adjacent dining area.
This was pretty good pizza. If you read this blog much, you know that the crust is the main thing with me, and this one was, well, OK. It avoided the most common crust problems, like being too soft or greasy, but by the same token it lacked the crispness and toasty, bready complexity of the best crusts. Still, it had no real defects, and the pizza was well made, with some good flavor and the components in appropriate balance with each other. All in all, a nice job, and I’ll give Krony’s a B.
Krony’s Pizza Etc., 2139 N. Union St., Spencerport (in Barefoot Landing Plaza, next to Pineway Ponds Park) 352-1199
Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. (closes at 10 p.m. Mon. - Thu. in winter)
Hamlin location: 500 Hamlin-Clarkson Townline Rd. 964-7111

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.

Cobbs Hill Pizza, Park Ave.

Quick, what do the following places around Rochester have in common?
Park Avenue Bike Shop
Park Avenue Bakery
Pittsford Seafood Market
Midtown Athletic Club
Irondequoit Country Club
Bay Goodman Pizza
Cobbs Hill Pizza
Answer: none of them are in the places they're named after. I don’t know what it is around here, but if you go looking for a business in the area it’s named for, you’re apt to end up miles away from its actual location.
In the case of Cobbs Hill Pizza, the explanation lies in the fact that it started in Cobbs Hill, and at some point moved to Park Avenue, but kept the same name. It’s currently on Park Avenue, in the plaza next to the laundromat near Berkeley St., in the epicenter of the Park Ave. neighborhood.
I have a vague recollection of eating Cobbs Hill pizza when it really was in Cobbs Hill, and I remember it being kind of thick, but it’s been too long to be sure. If it was thick, then it’s changed a great deal since then, because it’s quite thin now.
I got one cheese and one pepperoni slice. I’ll get to the details in a second, but the best short way to describe them is that they were like very greasy New York style slices. I mean, your average NY slice will have some grease on top, but these were particularly greasy.
The crust was thin, as I said, and the slices were quite foldable. The underside was a uniform dark brown, though not at all charred. It was a little bit crisp, at least until the grease soaked in completely. There was a definite bready flavor in there somewhere, but it was effectively camouflaged behind the dominant flavor of grease. (I don’t want to get into the debate again over whether it’s “grease” or “oil.” Grease. Oil. Whatever.)
Likewise, I detected a slightly sweet, herbal flavor of the sauce, but it, too, was difficult to pick out. I thought I might’ve noticed a slight garlicky aftertaste, but if I did, I’m not sure where it originated.
The slices were topped with a thin, even layer of browned cheese. The pepperoni slice was very generously loaded with wide, thin slices of pepperoni, more than you would probably get at a lot of places even if you ordered extra pepperoni. The pepperoni was a little crisp, and seemed a bit spicy, although maybe that’s just because there was so much of it that the spices in the pepperoni collectively made more of an impression on my palate. The edge was thin, crunchy and toasty.
Cobbs Hill’s menu describes it as an “Italian Bistro” and “not just a pizza stop,” and it does have a pretty extensive menu. There’s a long list of hot subs, including “egg subs” (which sounds sort of like an omelet on a roll), panini sandwiches, pasta and other Italian entrees, plus more typical pizzeria-type items like wings (advertised as jumbo “roaster” wings), burgers, stromboli, wraps, salads and sides.
With a few artificial plants about, the atmosphere is a little more, well, “bistrolike,” perhaps, than your typical pizzeria, although it’s hardly what you’d call chic or hip, especially in this neighborhood. I was a little surprised to see that they’re not open very late, even on weekends. There aren’t too many bars on Park Avenue, but I imagine a lot of people in the neighborhood might want a pizza when they head home from Alexander Street or Monroe Avenue. Maybe the owner(s) figured that late-night drunk customers are more trouble than they’re worth.
This is another tough call. In some ways, I liked this pizza. As I said, it’s roughly like NY-style pizza, and that’s my favorite. And at $4 for my two slices, it was a pretty good deal.
It was just so damn greasy, and I couldn’t figure out why. If I’d just gotten the pepperoni slice - which was loaded with toppings - I would’ve said that it was from all the fat melting out of the pepperoni. But the cheese slice was greasy too, so I don’t know. The menu claims that the pizza is baked on a stone hearth, and if so, that makes it even harder to figure, since you really shouldn’t need much, if any oil; dough is not going to stick to a stone oven floor the way that it might stick to an ungreased metal pizza pan.
[10-01-09: I've since been informed by an emailer that the likely reason for the oil is the use of whole-milk mozzarella, which has a higher fat content than the part-skim stuff that most places use. I probably should have known that; some months ago, after I complained that another local pizzeria's product was greasy, a reader posted a comment essentially calling me an idiot for not realizing that what I called grease was actually oil from the "high quality" cheese they used.
My emailer states that there are steps the pizzeria can take to reduce the amount of oil/grease on the pizza after baking, like sopping it up with a paper towel, though I don't think I've ever seen that done other than by the consumer. At any rate, while I can appreciate the use of "better" cheese, and I can certainly tolerate some oil on top of the pizza, I do have a problem when the oil from the cheese ends up seeping into the crust. When I bite into the crust, I want my palate to be met by the flavor and texture of good bread, not of grease. If they can't find a way to avoid that, then I for one would prefer that they use the part-skim cheese. Just my opinion.]
If they could make this without all the grease, I think I'd really like it. As it was, I still liked it, but I couldn’t help thinking how much better it could’ve been. I’ll give it a B-.
Cobbs Hill Pizza & Pasta, 630 Park Ave., 442-6730
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Rochester Pizza Guy note:  see my June 2010 review of a Cobbs Hill pie here.

General Hoock's All American Pizzera, Buffalo Road

NOTE: As of this writing in August 2012, General Hoock's is no longer at this location. A new pizza place is going in here and although I have seen talk about General Hoock relocating, I have no definite information about that. - Rochester Pizza Guy
General Hoock's is one of the more interesting pizzerias I've been to. For one, that's not its full name. Its full name is "General Hoock's (& Sons) All American Tailgate U.S.A., an All American Pizzeria." At least that's according to the takeout menu, which is interesting in itself. The menu, that is - it's color-copied from an original that was hand-printed in the owner's distinctive style of calligraphy, looking something like a medieval manuscript that was lettered by Dr. Seuss.
As for the pizza, I've now stopped by twice around lunchtime, during which General Hoock's (I'll stick to the short name) offers a limited selection of slices to choose from. I got a pepperoni slice on my first visit, and on my second time around the slice of the day was cut from a pepperoni/sausage/hot pepper pizza (not pictured).
This was fairly thick pizza, with a stone hearth-baked crust that was lightly browned underneath, and more firm than crisp. There was some oil from the toppings, but the crust itself was not greasy at all. It had a bit of crunch toward the edge, and a pleasant bready flavor, although the texture was not quite as gluteny-bready-chewy as I like.
On both visits, my slices were topped with a healthy layer of sauce and cheese that balanced out the relatively thick crust, giving the pizza something of a "wet" mouthfeel. The sauce had a pronounced herbal/spicy flavor, and the generous helpings of pepperoni and other toppings added to the complex, overall flavor profile of this pizza. The mozzarella hit the mark between melted and toasted, contributing both chewiness and flavor.
If you choose to dine in, there is a little counter seating, and a handful of tables. Though they only serve soft drinks (unless you count the Genny Cream Ale in the fish fry batter), it has something of a bar-like feel, with a TV in the corner tuned to ESPN, and the owner (a/k/a the "general," from a childhood nickname) behind the counter bantering with the customers, some of whom are clearly regulars.
All American has a pretty long list of pizza toppings - nothing too bizarre - and also offers wings, "Bronx Tale Bombers" and "Grand Slamwiches" (there's kind of a baseball/Yankees theme going on here), "Tailgate Plates," the aforementioned fish fry on Fridays, and a number of sides and items from the grill. There's also a kid's menu, as well as breakfast starting at 6 a.m. (7 on Sundays).
This was formerly DiCimino's, but the current owner, who's been in business here for a little under a year, changed both the name and the pizza recipe. I never tried DiCimino's, so I don't know how General Hoock's pizza compares, but this is pretty good stuff. It's assertive, but not to the point of assaulting your senses. The crust is substantial without being overly thick, the sauce has an unmistakable, though not overpowering presence, and the cheese and other toppings are likewise added proportionately, so that no one component takes center stage here. Like the lettering on the menu, it's distinctive, and I give it a solid B+.
General Hoock's (& Sons) All American Tailgate U.S.A., 1308 Buffalo Rd. 247-5000
Tue. - Thu. 6 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 6 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Chester Cab, Park Ave.

According to its menu, Chester Cab traces its roots back to 1982, when the owner opened The Pizza Station in Seabreeze. At some point he moved his operation to Park Ave. and renamed it Chester Cab.
Chester Cab's specialty is "Chicago Stuffed Pizza," which the owner learned how to make at "Glorandono's" (I think he means "Giordano's") in Chicago. But they also offer "regular pizza" that is advertised as "baked on the hearth." A slice - billed as a "Slice of Heaven" - is described on the menu as a "Crispy New York style pizza Ray would be proud of." I presume that's a reference to the mysterious "Ray" whose name adorns many New York City pizzerias.
On this lunchtime occasion, I had to break my own rule about ordering whatever a pizzeria's "standard" pizza is, and opted for a thin slice instead of the stuffed pizza. For one thing, the menu says that they need 45 minutes to an hour to make a stuffed pizza. For another, I didn't want that much for lunch, nor did I want a lot of leftovers. Plus, to me, the stuffed/deep dish/pan stuff isn't exactly pizza. It's more like lasagna made with dough instead of pasta. I'm not saying it's bad, mind you; I just don't think "pizza" is the right word for it. (Which is not to say that Chicago has no "true" pizza, as you can see here.)
Anyway, that's a long introduction to my cheese slice (from what I could tell, Chester Cab's slices all start out as plain cheese, and if you want a topping, it is added to the slice, which is then reheated in the oven). Size-wise, it fell somewhere between an "ordinary" slice and a "mega" slice.
The first thing I noticed about it was the paleness of the cheese. No brown spots at all, and it was fairly thick, with a resemblance to the just-melted cheese you might get on a restaurant cheeseburger.
The crust was thin-to-medium, but the slice itself seemed thicker because of the thick layer of cheese and sauce. The underside bore a fair amount of charring, which was kind of surprising given the barely-melted appearance of the cheese. That indicates that the floor of the oven is pretty hot, but not too much of that heat seemed to make it to the top surface, where the cheese is. As is often the case with "hearth baked" pizza, it wasn't greasy at all.
Though fairly thin, the crust wasn't really foldable. It was more crunchy/crackly than pliable.
Biting into it, the first thing I noticed - aside from the crunchiness - was the sauce. That was also kind of unusual, since sauce tends to stay in the background at most pizzerias. This sauce was laid on rather thickly, and had a sweet, herb-infused flavor. The crust, on the other hand, was on the bland side, as was the cheese, which seemed to be straight mozzarella.
If the sauce provided the dominant flavor, the crust and cheese provided the two contrasting textural elements. Each bite brought a crunch-crunch-crunch of the crust, as well as the offsetting texture of melted mozzarella (I can think of no perfect adjective for the texture of melted cheese - if you know of one, please leave a comment). Surprisingly, the cheese was actually the least dominant of the three components.
Chester Cab also offers subs, wings, salads and a few other hot and cold items. Seating is pretty much limited to some outdoor picnic tables. They have a pretty wide delivery area, though the $2 delivery charge is on the steep side for this area. On the other hand, my $2.50 slice was pretty reasonable, and their online menu has several printable coupon deals.
All in all, this wasn't bad pizza, and it was certainly distinctive. It was one of those pizzas where each of the three main components - crust, sauce and cheese - stands out individually, rather than melding into a unified whole. I would definitely not call this NY style pizza, though; for starters, there was just a little too much of everything - crust, sauce, and cheese, as if betraying its "stuffed" roots. But on its own merits, though, it was pretty decent. I'll give it a B-.
Pizza Guy note:  see my review of Chester Cab's Chicago stuffed pizza here.

Pizzeria Americana (Greece)

Pizzeria Americana has two locations, one on Long Pond Road in Greece, near the Lake Ontario Parkway, and another on Monroe Ave. in Brighton. The Greece location is officially "Kip's Pizzeria Americana" and the Brighton one is "Pizzeria Americana Ohana." ("Ohana" means "family" in Hawaiian, but I have no idea if there is actually a Hawaiian connection there.) But I digress. Today's pizza comes from the Greece location, which shares Carriage Stop Plaza with a convenience store and a couple of bars. It's pretty much a takeout and delivery place only.
P.A.'s Yellow Pages ad proclaims "Stone Hearth Baked Pizza" and "Over a Million Possibilities!"
As to the former, I do think the use of a stone hearth makes a noticeable difference compared to some pizzerias that use an oven with a metal floor. Stone, like brick, tends to draw away moisture from the dough, and there's no need to oil it. The result is a firm crust that's not soggy, with a slightly charred, non-greasy underside.
The crust at P.A. is about a half inch thick, I guess about average for the Rochester area. Although I'm more of a thin-crust guy, I've found that if a place doesn't typically make thin crust or NY-style pizza, don't ask them to make it thin. If medium is what they typically do, then it's probably what they do best. This crust had a pleasant bready flavor, with a nicely chewy interior.
I'm not sure about the "million possibilities" claim, but they do offer quite a few toppings (I went with fresh basil), including "cup and char" pepperoni (the fat little pepperoni slices that form a "cup" when baked), prosciutto, spinach, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, roasted garlic and clams, to name a few. They also do a number of "gourmet pizzas," such as a grilled-steak pizza, seafood alfredo (doesn't sound good to me, but that's just me) and a "garbage pie" that's basically a garbage plate on a pizza (minus the baked beans, thankfully). I doubt I'll be trying that one anytime soon, but it might be a "bucket list" kind of thing.
The sauce was, well, sauce, and the cheese was applied fairly liberally but was not gloppy, and was pleasingly browned in spots.
Pizzas here come in small (10") and medium (14") pies, and half and full sheets. I've never been a fan of sheet pizza, so if I had a lot of mouths to feed, I'd go with two or more pies rather than a sheet. With the medium-thick crust it is pretty filling stuff though.
The menu also includes a number of appetizers, subs, salads (does anybody actually order salad from a pizza place?) and wings. The wings were OK, but their version of Buffalo sauce was kind of odd - dark, tangy and vinegary. Not bad, necessarily, but not what I would call a Buffalo wing either.
Given my preference for NY-style pizza, Pizzeria Americana would probably be more of an occasional than a regular choice for me, but for a medium-crust pie, I thought it was actually quite good, with a distinctive taste that rates it a cut above the average for the Rochester area. I'll give it a B+.