Menezes', Revisited

Way back in 2010, I did a blog post about Menezes' Pizza on Chili Avenue.  I aptly described it as a true neighborhood pizzeria, that goes back to the 1980s.

I liked the pizza, I liked the owners, but I hadn't been back in a long time. Too long.

I recently learned that Menezes has changed ownership, and I had a chance to sit down for a half hour or so with the current owner, Greg Wolfe. Before our conversation began, I ordered a large pie, half pepperoni, bacon and sausage, half peppers and onions. Here's a summary of our conversation, and a bit about that pie.

Greg has had a lot of work experience, in an array of fields, which did not include the pizza business. But about four years ago, as Greg was looking to transition to more self-employment, on his way to eventual retirement, Menezes' came up for sale. That especially fit with Greg's desire to stay in Rochester, his native city.

At that time, the business had somewhat lost its way, due to a variety of issues. Despite his lack of experience with pizza, Greg knew that the product was good and that the business was fundamentally sound. As important, there remained a core of experienced, reliable employees, and Greg also knew from his business background that good employees are a key to success. So he took the leap.

Since then, Greg has taken strides toward righting the ship, without changing the course. The pizza is the same, and Menezes' other big seller, the steak sub, uses the same premium beef as before. That will not change. And the core team of employees remains as well. As Greg put it, he's found that in any business, "It's always about the people."

After taking over, and after consulting with his employees, Greg made some modest changes. Some items that weren't selling, like cold subs, were dropped, but others were added. Those include a "massive" salad topped with grilled chicken, and Menezes' "Messy Meal," otherwise known to Rochesterians as a "plate." You can see the full menu here.

As I was conversing with Greg, I was waiting for my pizza. I took it home in my insulated pizza bag and my family had it for dinner.

The crust was medium thick, well browned underneath with light screen marks. The cheese, sauce and toppings were in good balance. The crust was chewy but not tough, with a firm underside. Cheese was smoothly melted, and the toppings were done right. It can be tricky, I think, to balance vegetable and meat toppings, but they pulled it off here. In short, this was Menezes' pizza, which is good, Rochester-style pizza.

Since taking over the business, Greg has faced some challenges, but he is optimistic that Menezes' has a bright future ahead. I'm inclined to agree. I believe in the principle that if you sell a better product, you'll succeed, more often than not. Menezes' is making good pizza, and I expect it to remain a mainstay of its neighborhood for a long time to come.

If you'd like to learn more about Menezes' Pizzeria, go to:

https://www.rochesterpizza.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/menezespizza/

Or just go there. Menezes' is at 445 Chili Ave. and is open Mon. - Thu. 11 am - midnight, Fri. & Sat. 11 am - 1 am. and Sun. noon - midnight. It's at 445 Chili Ave. Pnone: 585-328-3010
info@rochesterpizza.com

P.S.  Next visit, I'm getting a steak sub.

Pizza Paul's, Reconsidered

Way back in 2009, I did a post pitting against each other two Geneseo pizzerias, Mama Mia's and Pizza Paul's. In that post, I gave Mama Mia's an A, and Pizza Paul's a B-minus.
Since then, I've generally considered Mama Mia's my go-to place in Geneseo. But on a recent Sunday afternoon, when I was in Geneseo with my wife and daughter, I decided it was time to stop back at Pizza Paul's. And I'm glad I did.
I got one pepperoni slice. It was markedly different from the slice that I got back in 2009. Or at least it seemed so to me.
That slice, at that time, seemed like a poorer version of Mia's pizza. This time around, it struck me as qualitatively different from Mia's, but equally good.
The crust was between thin and medium thick, with a big, puffy cornicione. It had the flavor and texture of freshly baked bread, right out of the oven, which is basically what it was. I tore the crust open to get a picture to show the interior.
The toppings well complemented the crust. The smooth layer of mozzarella was nearly covered by the thin slices of pepperoni,  and the medium-thick sauce was noticeably present.
The underside was more browned than charred (sorry, I neglected to get a photo), as was the cornicione. I know that at times I (and other reviewers) wax rhapsodic about charred undersides, but I do not think that every pizza needs to be charred underneath, anymore than I think that every loaf of bread should be charred or crackly on the outside.
What I don't like is pizza that's oily or flabby or lifeless. And this was none of those things. The uniformly browned crust allowed some of the nuances of the baked dough to come through, and made me realize, again, that pizza is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.
We also got an order of Nutella-dipped nuggets, which I think had a humorously suggestive name. If you like fried dough and/or Nutella, you'd like these.
Pizza Paul's pizzas come in 10, 13, 16 and 18 inch pies, as well as sheets. They offer 17 toppings and 7 gourmet pizzas. They also do regular and boneless wings (7 sauces), subs, "subzones" (a cross between a sub and a calzone), and a bunch of fried sides, including an interesting array of "gourmet fries," including Buffalo Blue, Greek and taco fries. Check out the full menu here.
Now I find myself in a bit of a quandary when I'm in Geneseo, wanting pizza. But it's a good quandary to be in. New York style at Mia's, or a breadier, WNY style at Paul's. Local residents and students should consider themselves fortunate that they have two A-rated pizzerias, across the street from each other.

Pizza Paul's, 110 Main St., Geneseo
(585) 243-3690
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight, till 3 a.m. while college is in session

Second location at 5808 Big Tree St. in Lakeville, (585) 346-2680

The Alley, Rochester

While the number of local pizzerias seems to be holding fairly steady, pizza as a menu item is popping up all the time. One recent example is The Alley, a restaurant/bar/nightclub in Rochester's East End.
The Alley, which opened in December 2015, is . It's at 1 Ryan Alley, near the corner of East and Alexander. After I spotted an ad for The Alley trumpeting its pizza, I made a mental note to get there, which I did a few weeks ago with my daughter.
We went on a Wednesday, arriving around 6 p.m. That's kind of early in the week, and early in the evening, for the East End, so unsurprisingly, things were pretty quiet when we walked in. In fact, it was empty, save for one employee behind the bar. But he assured me that they were open, and yes, they were serving food, including pizza. So we got a table near the window.
After handing us our menus, he explained that they were unexpectedly shorthanded that night, so at the moment, he constituted the entire staff -- bartender, waiter, and chef. Since we were the only customers, I didn't mind; if nothing else, this would truly be personalized service.
Pizzas at The Alley come in three sizes:  personal, regular and large. I got a regular Margherita, and my daughter ordered a personal meat lovers.
While we waited for our pizzas to arrive, we shared an appetizer of arancini. At The Alley, these fried rice balls are filled with Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese, and served with a side of marinara sauce. They were crisp on the outside, moist inside, tasty and enjoyable. So far, so good.
Our pizzas arrived in due course, and as I usually do, I first checked the underside. It was quite pale. Not a good sign.
Further inspection confirmed that the crust was rather underdone. Not raw, but flabby and a little gummy. "Lifeless" might best describe it.
I could've sent it back to bake a while longer, but the cheese was already well browned, so that didn't seem like a viable option. And I could've just sent it back, period. But I didn't, partly because I was intending to review it, so I figured I'd stick with what I had, and partly because it passed my "good enough to eat" threshold.
The overall flavor wasn't bad. This was really more of a cheese pizza than a Margherita, but as such, it was decent. The sauce had a thin consistency, but the chunks of tomato provided some acidity, sweetness and moisture. The cheese was ample, albeit rather browned, as I mentioned. My pie had also been given a sprinkling of what I'm guessing was Parmesan (the powdery kind you get from a cheese shaker, not freshly grated). Alas, the basil was of the dry variety, and didn't add much flavor, which is why I say this was more of a simple cheese pizza than a true Margherita.
The crust on my daughter's meat lover's pie was relatively thick, which is one reason I generally don't order personal-size pizza. Because of its smaller diameter, the cornicione on a personal pizza takes up a greater proportion of the overall pie than it would on a larger pie. I enjoy a good cornicione, but I like the thinner crust in the center of the pie too, and you often don't get much of that with a small pizza. This isn't a universal rule, by any means, but I've often found it to be the case, and it was here.
The crust on my daughter's pie was also on the underdone side, but that seemed less noticeable with hers, perhaps because of its more abundant toppings, which were pretty good. The pepperoni was crisp along the edges, and the meatball and sausage bits were thick and chunky. In contrast to my pizza, the mozzarella on hers was not browned, but was well melted and stretchy.
A few minutes after bringing out our pizzas, the waiter came by to check on us. I am sometimes susceptible in that situation to the American practice of smiling, nodding, and saying that everything's fine, even when it isn't, and I might've fallen prey to that this time, except that he specifically asked about the crusts on our pizza. So we did let him know that they were underdone. He seemed to have suspected as much, and after apologizing, he told us that he was taking 15% off our bill.
We didn't finish either pizza at this sitting, but I did take the leftovers home. I was able to salvage them for lunch, reheating individual slices in a toaster oven, with a layer of foil on top to prevent the cheese from getting overdone. That at least crisped up the bottoms a bit.
Obviously, something went wrong here. I'm no expert, but it seems likely to me that these were baked in an oven that was too cool on the bottom, but hot up above. I'm guessing the oven hadn't been on for very long, and was not sufficiently preheated.
So no, this was not very good pizza. But having said that, I did appreciate our waiter's concern. In hindsight, it might have been better if he had told us at the start that they weren't quite prepared to do pizza, but maybe he honestly didn't realize. I think he tried to do the best he could, under the circumstances.
Frankly, I debated with myself and a couple of other people, whose opinions I value, about whether to post this review, or whether to go back a second time, or to contact the establishment. Ultimately, I decided just to post the review, as is. In the end, this blog remains a record of my pizza experiences. If I describe those experiences accurately and objectively--and I think I have--the reader can decide what to make of it.
So I end this post with that caveat. This is a review of two pizzas, and one visit. Maybe on a different occasion--a different day of the week, or a different time of day, or with more people on staff--the pizza would have proved much better. But this was not too good. I have no complaints about our service, but I think I need to give this pizza a D.

The Alley,1 Ryan Alley, Rochester
(585) 546-1010

Tue. - Sat. 4 p.m. til ?

Mooney's, LeRoy: Beef on Weck Pizza

LeRoy is about at the outer limit of what I would consider the Rochester area, pizzawise. And upon my recent discovery that there were no less than three pizzerias in LeRoy that I hadn't been to, I knew I had to go there.
I'll get to the other two, at some later date, but we'll start with Mooney's. It's in a building just north of the railroad tracks, which I'm informed by a very helpful person at the LeRoy Historical Society was once owned by a company known as LeRoy Transfer and Storage. Presumably the building was basically a privately-owned freight depot. (LeRoy was quite the railroad town back in the day, I guess, with three roads passing through town.)
Many times I like me a good old, plain cheese pizza, or a simple Margherita. But on occasion, I have a taste for the unusual. On this occasion, I couldn't resist trying Mooney's beef on weck pizza. The menu describes it as topped with "roast beef, kosher salt, caraway seeds, au jus sauce and mozzarella cheese topped with a horseradish sauce."
I've seen references to Buffalo-area pizzerias that offer beef on weck pizza, but Mooney's is the nearest I've seen around Rochester. Probably that reflects the fact that Mooney's other five locations are all in suburban Buffalo.
Mooney's pizza only comes in two sizes, "huge" and PFO (pizza for one). Since my daughter didn't want pizza, I got a PFO.
My dinner-plate size pie had a very thin crust. It was browned, crisp and crunchy, though it retained some pliability toward the center. The underside was moderately browned, and dry to the touch, with just a hint of oil. The top side was likewise well cooked, with cheese that was considerably browned.
It was a tasty pie, but I must confess, it didn't remind me much of beef on weck. The shredded beef was good, as was the red sauce, but if the caraway seeds and horseradish sauce were there, they seemed to get lost in the mix. I'm not saying I didn't like it, just that I don't think I would've identified this as a beef on weck pizza.
What it did bring to mind, though, was what in some places is considered typical "bar pizza." Around these parts, pizza that you get in bars is apt to be a little on the thick side, and often prepared using a premade shell for the crust. But as you can see here, in some areas, "bar pizza" denotes a pie that's described as "very thin-crusted," in order to "leave plenty of room in the eater's stomach for beer."
Mooney's pizza menu includes eleven toppings, and five specialty pies, besides the beef on weck pizza. They also do "Eppie rolls," described as "sausage, onions & sweet peppers with mozzarella and sauce rolled and baked to perfection." (I'm always mildly amused by that phrase, "to perfection." First, because "to perfection" is so vague that it really tells me nothing, and second, does that imply that other dishes are not done to perfection?)
Aside from pizza, Mooney's has an extensive menu, with all the usual suspects -- burgers, wings, sandwiches, seafood, etc. But a couple things deserve particular mention.
One is Mooney's macaroni and cheese. It seems to be something of a Mooney's specialty, as it figures prominently on the menu, in nine varieties, including Buffalo chicken, lobster, and Philly cheese steak.
My daughter got a taste of it by ordering a mac & cheese burger, which is simply a burger piled high with regular mac & cheese. I'm not sold on that particular concept -- I prefer my mac & cheese on the side -- but I tried a forkful or two, and they were quite good, with a creamy cheese sauce and al dente pasta.
But that's far from the most unusual burger on the menu. I don't see it on Mooney's online menu, but on our table menus, I spotted a Jell-O burger, which is made with strawberry Jell-O mixed into the ground beef. I believe this is only available at the Mooney's in LeRoy, which of course is the birthplace of Jell-O.
Our server informed me that while she had never tried it herself, the Jell-O burger does have its fans, with some patrons ordering it on a regular basis.While I can't say it sounds good, exactly, I promised myself that next time I visit Mooney's, I will order it. It sounds just weird enough to be interesting, but not completely repulsive, so it's something I really would like to try, just once.
And I do hope to pay Mooney's another visit at some point. It was a casual, pleasant spot, with a home-town-friendly kind of feel. When I do, I will be sure to let you know what I think of the Jell-O burger.

Mooney's Bar & Grill, 65 Lake St., LeRoy
(585) 768-4949
11 a.m. - 2 a.m. daily

Matthews East End Grill

I'm always on the lookout for places that serve pizza, even if they're not pizzerias as such.
One that's been on my list for a while now is Matthew's East End Grill in downtown Rochester. I stopped in recently for lunch.
Pizza is not the main focus of the menu at Matthew's, so my expectations were tempered a bit. When I order pizza at a restaurant or bar that doesn't specialize in pizza, or that doesn't have a full-fledged pizza kitchen, I'm generally just hoping that it's decent. If it turns out to be very good, so much the better.
Matthews offers seven- and ten-inch pies. The choices are relatively few, but they cover the basics - pepperoni, white pizza, veggie, and a pizza of the day. The available toppings include onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese and pesto.
I got a seven-inch pepperoni pizza. As always, I first checke out the underside.
It was crisp and dry, and marked by browned concentric rings. The cornicione (the thick part along the edge) was deeply browned on top, but white along the sides, suggestive of direct, radiant heat from above. From there, the crust tapered to a thin center. The interior was a tad dry but had some chewiness, and a faint bready aroma. With its surface crunchiness and browning, the crust can best be described as toasty. 
The toppings were rather good. The sauce was a basic red, but had a rich tomatoey flavor. Despite the deeply browned cornicione, the generously applied mozzarella was not at all browned. It was nicely melted, smooth, stretchy and a little gooey, in a good way; it struck me as high-quality stuff. The wide, thinly-sliced pepperoni was flavorful, and the pie looked to have been given a light dusting of hard, grated cheese, although I didn't detect it on my tastebuds. All in all, the components were well balanced and worked well together.
Matthews is a laid-back place that should satisfy a variety of crowds. There are enough TVs for sports fans, and I'm sure it does a brisk business during games, but it's not overly sports-oriented. The bar and dining areas are well separated, and there's some outdoor seating in warm weather. Owner Carl Falk is often on hand, chatting with patrons and occasionally pitching in behind the bar.
Beyond pizza, Matthews' menu extends to burgers, sandwiches and wraps, wings, salads, soups and other pub grub. They offer a kid's menu and a few desserts, and free refills on soft drinks.
The pizza? Overall, it was reasonably good. I can't say Matthew's is a "must" destination for local pizza lovers, but I can say that if you're dining there, the pizza is worth considering. And that Matthews is worth a visit, whether for a casual workday lunch, family dinner, or drinks and socializing at the bar.

Matthew's East End Grill, 200 East Avenue, Rochester
(585) 454-4280

11:30 - 2 a.m. daily

Scotch House Pub Report and Giveaway

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Paul Smith, one owner of The Scotch House Pub on Goodman Street in Rochester.
Over the years, this location has housed several establishments, but the Scotch House just passed its two-year anniversary, which I think puts it over the hump in the bar and restaurant business, where most businesses fail 
But The Scotch House also had just passed what for me was a more significant anniversary:  two weeks of serving pizza.
The drink side of things seems pretty well established at this point. When I arrived at around 5 p.m., shortly after they opened, the place was quiet, but I was told that the Thursday crowd would begin to arrive soon for the "Mug Night" special ($1 beers, $2 wells).
But Paul, who's something of a foodie, would like to get more into the food side of things. And that's where the pizza comes in.
When I got there, Paul had just put a pepperoni pizza in the oven. After we chatted for a few minutes, he brought out the pie, which I was happy to sample.
The first thing I noticed, aside from its general appearance, was the fresh-bread aroma of the crust. The crust was on the thin side of medium in thickness, and a little browned underneath with some screen marks.
The underside was browned in spots, but a little pale. To his credit, though, before I could offer an opinion, Paul opined that he should've left the pie in the oven a minute or two later. As an avid home baker who's my own worst critic, this told me that he's striving never to be simply satisfied.
And truth be told, the crust was pretty good. When I folded my slice, it cracked on the surface, underneath, but did not break clean through, which to me is a good sign. Surface crackling, chewy interior - that, to me, is a hallmark of good pizza.
I could also tell from our conversation that Paul has, and continues to, put a lot of effort into the business. Prior to opening The Scotch House, Paul worked in the computer field, but eventually decided to get into business for himself. That led to The Scotch House, which he owns with a silent partner.
Having become pretty well established, Paul wanted to expand his scope and he settled on pizza as a focus of the menu. Local pizza lovers should be glad he did.
Again, I could see that he was not one to plunge into something casually or without putting in the time and effort.  I got a look at the kitchen, which houses a stainless steel-topped prep table and a Blodgett pizza oven.
They also make their own dough at The Scotch House, unlike a lot of bars and restaurants that buy their dough elsewhere or use premade pizza shells. Not that you can't make good pizza that way, but making it in-house shows a certain dedication to the craft of making pizza. And this is good dough.
After settling on pizza as a major addition to the menu, Paul went through a bunch of dough recipes before settling on what he uses now. The dough goes through cold-temperature retardation to bring out its flavor, before going into the oven. And Paul, who's very much a hands-on owner, is learning all about his oven, including how to deal with "hot spots." That's why our conversation was interrupted a couple of times, as he excused himself to go check on and rotate the pizza.
I asked Paul if he'd considered doing wood-fired pizza. I know, certainly, that wood-fired pizza is not inherently better than pizza made in a gas or electric oven. But wood-fired ovens are "hot" right now - pun intended - so I wondered if he'd given it any thought.
He had, but decided he wasn't ready to go that route, at least not yet. I was happy to hear that. It's all too tempting for an owner to jump on the wood-fired bandwagon without doing one's homework. And frankly, I think the local market for wood-fired pizza is pretty close to the saturation point. 
It had been a long time since I was inside this building - I think I came in once for lunch when it was an Asian noodle restaurant, and years before that, when it was a bar - but it was obvious that there'd been a lot of work done inside. Dark wood paneling, a well-appointed bar and dining area, and plenty of TVs make for an attractive, comfortable setting. Again, I got there shortly after they opened, but it seemed to me that the bar area was well set off from the tables, providing some separation between diners and the bar crowd.
Now back to that pizza ... it was well balanced, and topped with a straightforward red sauce, nicely melted mozzarella, and just-crisp slices of pepperoni. The sauce is not made in-house, although they do tweak the sauce a bit to customize it.
The Scotch House's pizza menu includes ten toppings, two sauces (red or white), and seven specialty pizzas, including Buffalo chicken, a "Scotch House Plate" pie, Philly cheesesteak, and mac 'n' cheese pizza. They also serve slices, as any bar/pizzeria should. Other menu items include wings, sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas, salads and sides.
If you'd like to check out The Scotch House for yourself, what better way to do it than with $25 to spend, on the house? I have a $25 gift certificate to give away to one lucky reader, courtesy of The Scotch House. This is good for anything they offer, food or drinks.
Because of the upcoming holidays, I'll run this a little longer than usual.  Email me your name and mailing address at ROCPizzaGuy@gmail.com by noon on Monday, January 4, and I'll pick a winner at random. Just make sure to include "Scotch House giveaway" in the subject line. As always, rest assured that I will not use your personal information for any other purposes, or give it to anyone else.

The Scotch House Pub, 373 S. Goodman St., Rochester 14607

Mon - Wed: 5 PM - 2 AM
Thurs & Fri: 4 PM - 2 AM
Sat & Sun: Noon - 2 AM

East End Pizza & Deli

As I noted in a late June post, Stromboli Express recently moved from its former location on East Avenue to a site across and down the street, and has become Stromboli's Restaurant.
While I can understand that move and change, I figured the area around its former location still needed a slice joint, especially one that's open late. Despite being in a bar-heavy area, Stromboli's has always closed relatively early, even on weekends. (And I can understand that too - I don't think I'd want to deal with people coming out of bars at 2 a.m. But if you're willing to tolerate those customers, there's money to be made.)
In Stromboli's former space  now comes East End Pizza & Deli. I stopped in the other day and got a slice.
At my noontime visit, they had just cheese or pepperoni slices available. I got one pepperoni slice.
My immediate reaction was a bit of shock at the price - $3.75. I can get a pretty good slice around town, or even in New York City, for well under that. So if you're charging $3.75 a slice, it had better be good.
And it was good, but not that good. I was told that they had a special, two slices & a 20 oz drink for $7,which isn't bad, but I didn't really want two slices, or a drink, or to spend $7, so I declined.
On to the slice: I was asked if I'd like it rewarmed - that should always be asked, so that's a plus - and I said yes. I've learned that in general, even when they say a pizza has just come out of the oven, it's usually a good idea to get your slice rewarmed. Mine spent maybe another minute in the oven.
This slice had a dry, crackly bottom, with some screen marks.There was a light dusting of either corn meal or semolina flour - it was very light, so I couldn't tell. I don't have a problem with that. The slice also held up to the "fold test," meaning that I could fold it and hold it out straight, without the tip flopping down.
The slice was extremely thin near the tip, i.e. the center of the pie. Some oil had seeped through, also near the tip, but as I said, the crust was mostly dry to the touch. It was considerably thicker and more breadlike near the outer edge. The cornicione was nicely formed, with some light bubbling and blistering on top.
On the negative side, the cheese was a little overdone - maybe that was the downside of having the slice rewarmed - and it didn't seem like the greatest cheese. It hadn't melted so much as separated, and I wondered if the oil separating from the cheese was the source of some of the oil on the bottom of the slice. The pock marks on the cheese indicated that the solids and liquids comprising the cheese had separated from each other.
The pepperoni was pretty good. It was thin, crisp and a little spicy.
The slice was light on the sauce. It was there, but it was lightly applied, and frankly I had a hard time identifying it on my palate. There was nothing wrong with it, as such, it was just so much in the background as to be almost undetectable.
I'll let you peruse East End's menu for yourself, but it is interesting. No wings, but they do offer sandwiches, including prime rib sandwiches, and, under the heading "comfort food," sausage rolls, mac & cheese, and grilled cheese.

As for the pizza, this was not bad, overall, but in my judgment this slice was not worth the price. Maybe their late-night customers won't mind, but during the day, I can get pizza at least as good, not far away, for less. That said, and price aside, there were things to like about this pizza, and I hope they do well.

East End Pizza & Deli, 113 East Ave.
585-434-4280

Sun. noon - 11 p.m.
Mon. & Tue. 11 - 11
Wed. & Thu. 11 - 2 a.m.
Fri. & Sat. 11 - 2:30 a.m.

The Beer Market

As anybody who's driven along Mt. Hope Avenue in the past year or two knows, there's been a lot of development along the corridor from Crittenden to Elmwood Avenues. The result is College Town, which depending on your point of view is either a great asset to U of R students and Rochester residents, or just a sign of the homogenization of America. Within a two-block stretch, you'll now find a mix of mostly national chains, from bookstores to coffee shops, restaurants and bars. Whether that's a good or a bad thing, you can decide for yourself.
With a name like College Town, you knew pizza and beer would figure into the mix, and you'll find them both at The Beer Market. The Beer Market is apparently a franchise operation, with five locations at this point:  three in Illinois, one in Pittsburgh, and now one in Rochester.
Besides offering a wide variety of beers (I saw the long tap line, but didn't examine it too closely, but I assume they offer a good mix of beers), TBM gives pizza a prominent place on its food menu, which is what brought me here for lunch recently, with two friends.
I ordered "The Queen," an apparent reference to Queen Margherita, the namesake of Margherita pizza. It's topped with fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil. My friends ordered a "Goodfella," with mild sausage, pepperoni, bacon, tomato sauce and herbs, and a simple pepperoni pie.
These companions have accompanied me on past excursions, and we don't always see eye to eye on pizza, but this time we were mostly in agreement. We found the pizzas very tasty (by which I mean they tasted good), thanks mostly to the toppings, but the crust left something to be desired. So I'll start with the latter.
The pizzas arrived at our table on pans, and it appeared they had been baked on those pans. The undersides had the golden-brown, bubbly look of pan-baked pies.
I'm OK with that; I've had many a fine pizza that was baked in a pan. I'm more concerned about the end result.
And the end result here was acceptable, especially given the overall flavor of the pies, but these were not great crusts. They weren't bad; they just weren't particularly good.
Why? Well, the crusts were medium thick and pliable. They didn't have the typical faults --  they weren't greasy, brittle or spongy -- but neither were they crisp or bready.
To me, the crust should be the shining star of the pizza. After all, it's the first thing to hit your tongue.
But these crusts were little more than vehicles to deliver the toppings. As such, they were OK, but it seemed that the preparation and baking had not really maximized the potential flavor and texture of the dough. I hate to resort to trendy linguistic cliches, but my reaction was, "meh." A little chewy, a little firm, but not memorable.
As I said, though, the toppings were good, and they elevated the pizzas overall. My "Queen" was abundantly topped with mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. This certainly wasn't a minimalist, less-is-more pizza, but the toppings were appropriate and in balance with the crust. A little more basil would've been welcome, but there was enough to add some flavor.
I took a slice from each of my friends' pizzas, and again I liked the toppings, as did my friends. The meats were crisp and flavorful, the cheese was stretchy, and the sauce was tomatoey with some mild herbal accents.
That brings me to the rating, which is where things get a little difficult. Without getting into a lengthy discussion, I'll go back to my standards, which involve whether I'd avoid this pizza, or whether I'd go out of my way to get it.
Measured by that standard, I'd put this pizza in the middle. It's OK; it's just not great, in my opinion. It's more about the toppings than the crust, but the toppings are pretty good. So I'll give it a C. 

The Beer Market, 1401 Mt. Hope Ave.

Mon-Wed: 11:00 a.m. - Midnight
Thursday: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Fri-Sat: 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sun: Noon - Midnight

Alloco's, Long Pond Road

I've done several reviews of Martino's on Long Pond Road, some good, some not so good. But Martino's is no more (there is an unrelated pizzeria named Martino's in Webster, which remains in business).
In its stead comes Alloco's, which opened a few months ago. I stopped in the other day for a couple of slices.
One initial pet peeve - the pies for slices weren't out where I could see them. I always like to see what I'm ordering when I get a slice. That way I can see how fresh they look, or maybe one pie will just look more appealing than another on that particular day.
This visit provides another example. I asked for pepperoni, and that's what I got, but it appeared to me that these were cooked cheese slices that had some pepperoni slices added, prior to reheating in the oven.That's not the worst thing, but had I known that, I probably would've just ordered plain cheese. Adding toppings to a cooked slice and then reheating it simply doesn't allow the added toppings to integrate into the rest of the pizza, plus in the case of pepperoni, it doesn't get properly crisp.
But OK, this wasn't the end of the world. Aside from that, how was the pizza?
The crust was rather thick - if memory serves, thicker than Martino's - though pies can be ordered thick, thin, or "traditional." I assume this was traditional.
It had a dry, crackly bottom that was nicely browned, with a smattering of corn meal visible. Not the even, shiny golden brown you get with overly oiled pizza, but the shade that bread or pizza dough turns when it's in contact with a hot oven deck. I wouldn't exactly call it charred, but a thicker crust shouldn't necessarily be charred anyway, as it needs time to bake fully through.
While I found this crust fully baked, it was, unfortunately, a little gummy on top. Maybe it had sat a little too long with its toppings before going into the oven. There have been lengthy online discussions of the "gum line" phenomenon; Some folks have suggested that the act of slicing the pizza may itself create the appearance of a gum line. I don't think that was the culprit here, though.
I've probably made more of this than it deserves, and I won't speculate further. I will say that I've seen a lot worse than this, as far as gumminess is concerned, but I mention it in the interests of accuracy and thoroughness.  The outer edge, though, I'm happy to say, was nice and crisp, with a breadlike interior.
The cheese was fairly thick, and seemed to be 100% processed mozzarella. I removed the pepperoni from one of the slices (which was easy to do) to give you a better look at the cheese. It wasn't particularly smooth or stretchy, but neither was it mealy or overly chewy; pretty basic pizza cheese.
As was the sauce. It had a slightly sweet flavor, with just a hint of herbs in the background. Overall, the slices were well balanced among the various components.
So kind of a mixed bag here. The underside of the crust was well baked, but the gumminess up top detracted from things a bit. The toppings were certainly adequate, and were applied in good proportion to each other, but again I wasn't crazy about the pepperoni apparently having been added after the pie was baked.
Alloco's offers a wide variety of pizza toppings, and some interesting specialty pizzas, like a cheeseburger pie and a tater tot pizza. They also do subs, wings, breakfast items all day, seafood, pasta, and more. Download the full menu here.
Since Alloco's has been open for only a short time, I won't rate this pizza. It showed promise. The crust seemed fundamentally good, though the execution could've been a bit better. But the bottom line is, it was good enough to go back, and I hope to do so before too long.

Alloco's, 1742 Long Pond Rd.
585-426-8646 (426-TOGO)

Mon. - Thu. 8 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. 8 - 1 a.m., Sat. 10 - 1 a.m., Sun. 11 - 10

City Grill, Rochester

With a couple of friends, I recently had lunch at City Grill, which opened some months ago at the corner of East Avenue and Alexander Street. I've lost count of how many restaurants have been in and out of this location in recent years, but this one might stick for a while.
What drew me there, of course, was pizza, in this case wood-fired pizza. I don't want to go into a long digression here, but before I go further, I should say a word or two about wood-fired pizza.
I have mixed feelings about the recent proliferation of local restaurants offering wood-fired pizza. Wood-fired pizza is not inherently better than pizza baked in other types of ovens. There are many factors going into any given pizza, from the ingredients to the preparation, to the attention paid to it while it's in the oven. The type of oven will certainly affect the end result, but a wood-fired oven does not by any means guarantee a better end result than a standard gas-fired pizza oven. In fact, if the pizzaiolo doesn't utilize it to its best advantage, a wood-fired oven can very easily yield a worse pizza than a more conventional oven.
But: the wood-fired trend has led to a lot more places around here offering pizza, and that's not a bad thing, from my perspective. So if I seem to be focusing recently on wood-fired pizza, it's mostly because I'm always looking for new places, and that's where most of the growth seems to be coming from lately.
OK. Back to City Grill. I don't think I'd ever been there before, under any of the restaurant's previous incarnations, because I was surprised to discover how large a space the restaurant occupies. There are two dining rooms (and an outdoor patio), and my friends were waiting for me in the back room. It's an attractive space, with a fireplace (not in use on this warm sunny day) and an open kitchen.
I ordered my usual Margherita (correctly spelled on the menu), while my two companions ordered a five-cheese pie and a "classic" pepperoni.
All three were nicely done, with some char spots underneath and a pliable crust that had some surface crispness.  There was some noticeable corn meal on mine, which was a bit unusual for a wood-fired pizza, in my experience. Some of the corn meal had carbonized, in other words, blackened, which I find a little off-putting, but it wasn't too bad.
To quibble a bit more, the crusts were a tad unevenly done, with some areas along the edge quite blackened, while others were only browned. But I know that's tricky with a wood-fired oven, and none of them were over- or underdone overall. So again, not a big deal, but I bring a critical eye to my pizza, and in the interests of giving a complete description I thought it worth mentioning.
Aside from those minor issues, I liked the crust, which had a bready aroma and a chewy but not tough texture. It was thin and pliable but not floppy, and was dry underneath.
We all enjoyed our toppings. The sauce seemed to be the same on all three, and had a basic tomatoey flavor with some herbs in the background. The toppings on my pie were  a little unevenly distributed, with the cheese and sauce coming close to the edge in some spots and other areas where there was a wide swath of naked crust, but this was no major cause for complaint. I would, however, have liked a bit more basil than just the few sprinkles that I got. What basil there was, though, was good, and had been added at the end, so it wasn't burnt, browned or dried out.
Pepperoni pizza is about as basic as American pizza gets, but this was a good one. The toppings were well balanced, and the pepperoni was especially tasty, with a good, meaty/spicy flavor, and just the right combination of crispness and chewiness.
The five-cheese pie was topped with mozzarella, aged provolone, Asiago, Fontina and Gruyere cheeses. While it wasn't overloaded with cheese, they combined to give it a sharp, pungent flavor and aroma. I liked it, but you've definitely got to be a cheese lover to appreciate this one.
In addition to these three pies, City Grill offers an "Italian," topped with crumbled meatballs, onions, tomatoes, cheese and parsley, a chicken-and-pesto pie with ricotta cheese and cherry tomatoes, a Greek pizza with shredded eggplant, kalamata olives, goat cheese, spinach, artichokes & roasted peppers, and the only one I would take a pass on, a wild mushroom pizza with shitake, portobello, crimini & porcinni, topped with a truffle sauce. All pies come in two sizes, which are priced at $11 and $15. The menu also features a variety of other dishes, including a wood-fired s'mores pizza with Belgian chocolate and marshmallows on a graham cracker crust. There's a full bar to boot.
So will City Grill succeed where so many others have tried and failed? I suspect that it might. I can't say what went wrong with the other establishments, but on this visit the food and service were good, business was brisk, and the atmosphere was comfortable yet - to use a word that I dislike, but that seems apt - sophisticated.
I'm not prepared to give City Grill's pizza an "A," at least not yet. (Maybe with the proliferation of wood-fired pizzas, I'm becoming more demanding, and I should probably revisit and re-rate some of the places I reviewed months or years ago.) But it's well worth a stop. For now, I'll give it a B, and I look forward to my next visit.

City Grill, 384 East Ave.
222-2489

Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m. - midnight
Thu. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
Sun. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Branca, Bushnells Basin

If nothing else, the current trend of wood-fired pizza is giving local pizza lovers more options to choose from, and it's giving me more and more places to check out; sometimes more than I can keep up with. One such is Branca in Bushnells Basin, which opened this summer in what had been a Great Northern Pizza Kitchen location.
It’s funny how some new places get so much more buzz than others, but I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when on a recent Sunday around 5:30 my wife and I showed up and were told that Branca could “not accommodate walk-ins until 8:30.” Branca was opened by the owners of The Revelry, a Rochester hotspot, and it’s in Bushnells Basin, which I described to my wife as “Pittsford on steroids.” Put those together and you’re talking about a place where you don’t just walk in and expect to get a table right away, even on what’s an off-night for many places. (We left and went to another place not too far away, which I’ll report on soon.)
Several days later, the opportunity again arose for use to go out for dinner, and this time I made a reservation. So with some smugness on my part, we sauntered past the ignorant masses waiting for a table and were quickly ushered to our seats.

We were seated not too far from Branca’s oven. I didn’t take a photo, since you can see several good views of the oven on Branca’s Facebook page. But the fire was blazing, and pizzas were steadily going in and out.
There was no question that I was going to get a pizza; it was only a matter of which one. Aside from the Tartufata (it’s got mushrooms - a no-go, for me), they all sounded good, but I went with my usual Margherita.
Initial impressions:  thick, blistered cornicione, very thin interior, some spotty charring on an otherwise pale underside. The cornicione was chewy, pleasant enough but a bit bland, and I found it a little wide and thick, relative to the overall size of the pizza. I like a good outer crust, but this was a little much for me.
The interior crust was supple, thin, and chewy. I understand that Neapolitan pizza is typically not crisp and crackly, like New York style pizza, but I found this pie just a bit soupy. Branca’s oven runs at about 900 degrees, which can evaporate some of the water in a sauce, but the sauce here was a little more liquid than I would’ve liked. 
But the sauce, which is made from San Marzano tomatoes, was flavorful, and the dollops of fresh mozzarella were nicely melted. I could’ve used a little more basil, but what basil there was had been added at the right time to wilt it and bring out some flavor, without drying it out or browning it.
I should mention that the rest of our meal was very good. I started with a Panzanella Toscana salad, with heirloom tomatoes, bread, cucumber, red onion, and red wine vinaigrette, which made for a nice combination. I think I may have set a personal record for carb consumption, between the pizza, that bread-based salad, and the crusty complimentary bread that we were given for starters. My wife enjoyed her salad with goat cheese, and her vegetarian, farro-based main course proved to be an excellent choice as well.
As long as this is turning into a full-blown review, I’ll say a bit more about the place in general. No complaints about the service; the staff did a good job at keeping up with the crowd, and our server checked in on us from time to time. The feel was upscale casual, but don’t go here for an intimate dinner. Tables are close together, and although my wife and I didn’t find conversation difficult, the noise level was fairly high. Branca claims to evoke the spirit of "Old Hollywood watering holes," but I'm not sure if I even know what that entails, much less whether it's an accurate description.
So is Branca worth the hype? Hard to say, after just one meal, but it’s certainly worth a visit.  I tend to avoid rating pizzas until a place has had some time to sort itself out, so let’s just say that at this point, I’d recommend checking it out, even if I’m not yet putting Branca on my must-do list. Just make a reservation first.

Branca, 683 Pittsford-Victor Rd., Bushnells Basin
585-310-7415

Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - midnight
Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
Sun. 11 a.m. - 9 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

Mangia, Allegany, NY

I occasionally get down to the Southern Tier, where I grew up, and wherever I go, I'm on the lookout for pizza. The village of Allegany, in Cattaraugus County, is pretty far afield for a Rochester pizza blog, but in the absence of a Southern Tier pizza blog, I'll offer an occasional review of pizzas from that part of the state.
Allegany is something of a college town, as it's right next door to St. Bonaventure University. That usually bodes well for pizza, especially in upstate New York, where you'll find a lot of students from the NYC area. So I wasn't surprised to find a pizzeria in Allegany serving "real NY pizza" (according to their logo).
Mangia, on Main St. (and yeah, pretty much all the businesses in Allegany are on Main St.), is a small place, with just a few tables by the front window. I got a couple of cheese slices around midday.
They weren't bad, but if I had gotten these in New York City, I would've been disappointed. They were thin, but the underside was a mottled brown, not particularly crisp, and had a bit of oven soot stuck to it. The mozzarella was OK, but a bit bland. It had been melted enough to liquefy but not enough to develop much flavor. The sauce was a basic red tomato sauce, good enough but not particularly memorable.
The components were well balanced, and with a bit of tweaking these could've been very good slices. As it was, they were just kind of, meh.
Mangia has a fairly extensive menu, with 18 specialty pizzas, calzones and strombolis, wings, tacos, subs, sandwiches and wraps, salads and sides. And they're open late, as any college town pizzeria should be.
I had no major complaints about these slices, really, but I can't say they lived up to their billing of "real NY pizza." Again, a little more attention to detail, and these could've been the real item. But I can only give them a C.
Mangia, 65 W. Main St., Allegany, NY
(716) 373-2754
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 3 a.m., Sun. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m.

The Filling Station, Webster

Little by little, I'm chipping away at my list of restaurants and bars that serve pizza. A couple of weeks ago I knocked one more off the list, The Filling Station in Webster.
Pizzas here come in two sizes, personal and large. There are 13 available toppings, and four specialty pizzas. I wasn't in the mood for meat, but I wanted more than just cheese, so I opted for banana peppers and onions on my large pie.
I was surprised, then, on opening the box after I got it out to my car to see pepperoni. I don't think I was charged for it, and I didn't feel like making a stink about it, so I let it go. If it had been something I can't stand, like mushrooms, I would've gone back. But this was no big deal.
I was less than thrilled with the crust, though. It was dry underneath, which is a good thing insofar as it wasn't greasy, but beyond that this was just plain dry, and not particularly crisp. On the thin side of medium, the crust was uniformly docked with pinprick holes. It struck me as a premade crust that had sat in a freezer for too long.
That's the bad news. The good news is that the toppings were good, and to some extent saved this pizza.
The sauce was ladled on generously, though not to the point of sloppiness (I like sauce, but I don't want it squeezing out on the sides every time I take a bite). I picked up a distinct flavor of oregano. That was topped with a nicely melted, chewy layer of mozzarella, as well as the aforesaid toppings.
Speaking of which, they were pretty good too. The pepperoni was of the basic, thin-sliced variety, uniformly applied, the rings of pepperoncini added some hot/vinegary punch, and the chopped red onion rounded things out.
Aside from pizza, The Filling Station's menu runs from standard bar food (burgers, wings, quesadillas, and such) to more substantial entrees like New York strip steak, pasta, chicken parm, and several seafood dishes. They also do prime rib on weekends, and there's a kid's menu as well.  The pub itself is a cross between a sports bar and a casual, neighborhood restaurant, and there's a spacious deck.
To sum up the pizza, I can't say much for the crust, but overall the pie was partially redeemed by the tasty toppings, even if one of them was something I hadn't ordered. All in all, this was decent, basic pizza, so I'll give it a C.
The Filling Station Pub & Grill, 1839 Ridge Road, Webster 14580
265-9282
Mon. 2 - 11 p.m., Tue. 11 - 11, Wed. & Thu. 11 - 1 a.m., Fri. 11 a.m. "till", Sat. noon till, Sun. noon - 10 p.m.