Grappa

 In late April, I had lunch with a friend at Grappa, which opened in 2015 at the Hilton Garden Inn in College Town. Although I have previously reviewed Grappa, that was in 2015, so a revisit was long overdue. 

In my 2015 post, I wrote that Grappa offered six pizzas on the menu; this time there were five. Alas, I did not list all six varieties, so I'm not sure to what extent the menu has changed since then. One change I am sure of is that pepperoni pizza is no longer on the menu. That's too bad, as I rather liked the one I tried back then.

But they do still have Margherita pizza, and as I did in 2015, I ordered one this time around as well. There were some similarities to the 2015 version, but also some significant differences. 

Then as now, the crust was quite thin. Both were browned underneath. The 2026 pie had pronounced screen marks underneath, however, which were absent in 2015. I'm a little leery of screen marks, because I generally prefer the entire underside of the crust to come into direct contact with the hot oven deck, but itself I don't consider that a sine qua non of good pizza.

 Interestingly enough, the crust on this pizza was noticeably crisper than on the 2015 pie. I described that crust as "straddl[ing] the line between crisp and pliable," whereas this crust was crisp to the point of brittleness. Make of that what you will.

Moving on to the toppings, just as in 2015, this Margherita was somewhat unusual in employing both tomato sauce and fresh sliced tomatoes.  And based on what I wrote back then, I'd say the tomatoes were more prominent on this pizza. The sauce was more heavily applied, and judging from the 2015 photo, the tomato slices were thicker, as well as more visually appealing, with a vibrant red hue; the 2015 tomatoes were paler and yellow-white in the center.

The sauce on both pies was smooth, and I honestly couldn't say if or to what extent they tasted the same. In 2015, I wrote that the sauce was "not heavily seasoned," and had a slightly sweet flavor.  That roughly describes the 2025 version, but my friend and I agreed that it tasted like canned sauce. I don't mean that it tasted metallic, and I certainly don't have an issue with using canned sauce. Plenty--I daresay most--pizzerias use canned sauce; I use it myself. But there was a certain flatness to this sauce that I tend to associate with canned sauce. It was OK; it just didn't wow me.

That brings us to the cheese. I was pleased to see the pie dotted with slices of fresh mozzarella, rather than the blanket of processed mozzarella that Grappa used in 2015.

Again, nothing wrong with processed mozzarella, or with a uniform layer of cheese. But if you're calling it a Margherita, I think you should try to stick to the stylistic parameters, and one of those, to my mind, is the use of fresh mozzarella. A Margherita pizza is not simply a sauce and cheese pizza with basil added. So kudos on that score. The cheese was also nicely done, with just a touch of browning, and a smooth, not rubbery texture.

Before I wrap this up, I'll mention that we also shared a plate of garlic Parmesan fries, which were very good. On my list of foods I love, french fries are not far below pizza, and these were crisp, potatoey, and hard to resist.

So as with myself, there have been some changes over the years at Grappa, some for the better. I've stopped handing out grades, for a combination of reasons, but I will say that I would take this pizza over the one I got in 2015 (which I gave a B). The crust was crisper and I liked the use of fresh mozzarella. So while I might prefer the 2015 version of myself, I'll take the 2026 version of Grappa's Margherita pizza.

Grappa 

30 Celebration Drive
Rochester, NY 14620

585.445.5770

Lunch
Monday - Friday 
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM 

Happy Hour
Monday - Saturday 
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Dinner
Monday - Sunday: 
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Pat's Twice Baked

During my sabbatical from this blog, I tried to keep up on local pizza places that were opening and closing, for future reference.

A place that popped up on my radar recently is Pat's Twice Baked, which opened last year on Mount Hope Avenue. It's in the former location of OTR Woodfire Tavern, which sadly I never tried before its demise.

But I did get to Pat's recently for lunch with a friend. We agreed to share one pizza.

The brisket pizza (BBQ sauce, smoked brisket, onions & jalapenos) sounded interesting, as did the pickle pie (white sauce, dill pickles, chipotle ranch drizzle), but on a first visit I like to keep it simple, so we went with the pepperoni pizza.

The crust was quite thin, chewy but just firm enough to allow it to be picked up, folded and eaten out of hand. The cornicione was considerably thicker, with a bit of crunch and a chewy texture. 

If I'm nitpicking, the outer rim was noticeably more blackened on one side than the other. The underside was pretty uniform, so presumably one side of the pizza was nearer the flame for a little longer than the other. With a wood-fired oven, getting even charring along the edge requires turning and comes down to a matter of seconds. From what I say the pizzaiolo was attentive to his pies, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the pizza. At the least, it provided an interesting comparison.

 And yes, there was a wood fire in there. The pizzaiolo occasionally put a cover over the opening (as you can see in the photo), to keep the heat from escaping. But I did see a wood fire in the back, and an ample supply of fuel underneath.

All the toppings were very good, with stretchy, nicely melted, stretchy mozzarella atop a layer of red sauce. The sauce was applied a bit on the light side, but that was appropriate given the thinness of the crust. The cup and char pepperoni was crisp along the edges but not overdone, and quite tasty. Between the cheese and the pepperoni, there was a bit of oil as well, but not so much as to require sopping up. All in all, a very enjoyable pie.

Pat's offers a number of other items, as you can see from the menu, but pizza is the star of the show. On my next visit, though, I may just have to try their Twice Baked potato chips. 

And I expect there to be a next time. As I mentioned, several of the pizzas sounded good, and now that I've gotten a basic pepperoni pie literally under my belt, I'd like to explore some of the other choices.

Pat's Twice Baked Bar & Grill

1551 Mt Hope Ave 
Rochester, NY 14620

(585)-340-6419 

patstwicebaked@gmail.com 

Mon 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Wed 3:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Thur, Fri, Sat 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sun 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM 

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Fiorella

Just over ten years ago, I posted a review of Fiorella, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in Rochester's Public Market. I had some issues with the crust, which was unevenly baked underneath, but I otherwise enjoyed it. Since Fiorella had only recently opened I considered it "a work in progress," and worth checking out.

I guess ten years is enough time to allow for a revisit. So my wife and I recently went there for dinner.

We ordered a Margherita (plum tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil) and one of that night's specials, a white pizza with mortadella, basil, oregano, roasted onion, fresh and smoked mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, hot chili flakes, finished with grated Parmigiano cheese *whew* - there would've been still more had we not asked them to leave out the honey drizzle -- not a fan of honey on pizza.

Alas, while the flavor was good, the crust again disappointed. The problem this time wasn't so much an unevenly baked crust, but too ... what?

I want to say too soft, but that doesn't quite capture it. I've used "flabby" before, and that comes closer. But ultimately it just wasn't interesting. 

 As I've said before, I do not think that pizza necessarily needs an exceptionally crisp, crackly crust to be good. I've had terrific pizza that needed to be eaten with a knife and fork. But even a soft underside benefits from a contrast with a crusty cornicione. To me, it's that mix of flavors and textures that elevates pizza to greatness. This was just soft and chewy all the way around.

 Having said all that, I should add that I still enjoyed the pizza. The white pizza was flavorful, although I didn't detect the chili flakes.

The Margherita was pretty good, a bit heavy on the sauce perhaps, but the fresh mozzarella was softened just right. The fresh basil made a cameo appearance but I would've liked it to be a little more prominent. 

Fiorella's menu states that they make wood-fired pizza, with dough "made with 100% organic NY stone-ground wheat, water and sea salt only and naturally leavened for better health." All of which is great, but I was frankly hoping for more from this pizza. 

There were plenty of patrons at Fiorella eating pizza, seemingly happily, so maybe it's just me, but I was disappointed with our pies. That of course is a subjective judgment but my wife serves as a check on my idiosyncrasies and she pretty much agreed with me, so I don't think I'm too far off base. 

Baking pizza, like baking bread, involves a complex mixture of ingredients, time, handling and temperature. I've tried to describe objectively where this pizza fell short for me subjectively. To summarize, it was good. But I was hoping for better.

Fiorella

5 Public Market

Wed. - Sat. 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

 Sun. - Tue. Closed

Native

 On October 3, my wife and I had dinner at Native on South Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester. They describe themselves as offering "a casual upscale dining experience," and they do pizza, so here we go.

I quite liked the place, which is in 3 City Center, at the corner of South Clinton and Woodbury Boulevard. It was a warmish late afternoon and the patio doors were open. We ate inside, which had a very relaxed feel. Dark walls but not dim, high ceilings. Very nice.

The pizza options were limited, but I understand this is not a pizzeria, just a restaurant that offers pizza. We passed on the "Blu Mela" (apple compote, bacon, mozzarella, blue cheese and pearl onions), which sounds unappealing for a number of reasons that I may get into on my Facebook page, but the more options the better.

 We decided to split a "Rossa" with house red sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, and a "Senza Nome" (which translates to nameless or literally "without a name"), topped with white bean puree, leeks, NYS cheddar, shredded mozzarella, fried Brussels sprouts, and Gochujang sauce. I confess to having had to look up the latter, which AI tells me is a Korean chili sauce made from the fermented gochujang chili paste. "Chili sauce" on the description would've sufficed for me (or an explanation of what it means), but OK.

 Both pies had a thick, puffy corncione. The undersides were noticeably dusted with what I believe was cornmeal. 

The crust was chewy, and had some flavor; it wasn't just a vehicle for the toppings. For me, though, the graininess underneath diminished its impact somewhat. The Senza Nome was quite darkened, well beyond "spotting," but was still enjoyable. It also seemed puffy underneath, with visible dough bubbles.

The Rossa was, shall I say flatter underneath, had some dark spots and was crisp but more evenly browned.

 The cheese on both was melted quite nicely. Getting the cheese and the crust to come out right at the same time may be one of the trickiest aspects of making pizza, as so many variables are involved, but the cheese on both of these was right where I wanted it: melted just shy of being overdone.

I was also impressed with the toppings as a whole. The cheese melted beautifully and the tomato sauce was nicely balanced, with tomatoey sweetness and a hint of acidity. And although it would never occur to me to put a white bean puree on a pizza, this particular combination worked surprisingly well. It's not often I run across a pizza I prefer to a pepperoni pie, but I liked this one better. Kudos!

If I have a complaint, it would be about the crust.  The crusts were good but I'd like to see more consistency. And although I understand the use of cornmeal (or rice flour or whatever it was) underneath, there was a graininess on the bottom of this crust that got in the way of my enjoyment of it.

But I shouldn't end this on a bad note. It was good pizza and a good experience. Recommended.  

 

Gianni Mazia's, Clarence

 OK, so a bit out of the geographic scope for a Rochester, NY Pizza Blog, but really not all that far, and this is a blog, after all, meaning a web log of my personal pizza experiences, wherever they happen.

My wife and I recently drove to Clarence to hit some antique stores. If you're not familiar with it, Clarence, which is about 20 miles east of Buffalo, is for reasons unknown to me a center for antique shops. You'll find antique malls and individual shops. Well worth the drive if you're looking for vintage items.

We thought we should grab some lunch, and my maps app came up with Gianni Mazia's On Main. We arrived about !2:45.

I was intrigued to see that Gianni Mazia's offers two basic pizza options:  "traditional" and wood-fired. I was tempted to get one of each, but we were thinking of going out for dinner later, so we decided to share just one pizza for lunch.

But which? That was a tough call, but we settled on a wood-fired "Native New Yorker," described as "sliced tomatoes and fresh basil on top of red sauce and fresh mozzarella."

It took some time to arrive--I wasn't timing it, but it seemed like a long time, considering that they weren't busy and that wood-fired pizza typically bakes very quickly--but that gave me a chance to take a peek at the oven. 

I saw a gas flame, and a temperature reading of 744 degrees, which is certainly high though well below what wood-fired ovens are capable of. There was a large wood pile outside, so I don't doubt that they use wood, but I didn't see any, nor did I pick up any whiff of wood smoke. I can't say for certain that there was no wood flame at the time, as I didn't see the entire interior of the oven, just that I neither saw nor smelled any indication of one. I suppose I could've asked, probably should have, but I'm naturally reticent so I didn't. Something I need to work on.

It hardly mattered, though, as the pizza was quite good. My one complaint is that is was extremely thin. Paper thin. I like thin crust pizza, and I expect wood-fired pizza to be thin, but this was as thin as could be. A teeny bit of interior would've been welcome.

That aside, it was still good. The underside showed some "leopard spotting," meaning blistered but not burnt. The outer edge was also nicely charred, which gave it an added depth of flavor. While insubstantial in terms of its weight and volume, the crust made a nice base for the toppings. 

Which were very good. I always say that pizza is all about balance, meaning all the components must complement and balance each other. This pizza was unbalanced, in the sense that the toppings were far more substantial than the crust, but it was still good. That doesn't necessarily disprove my premise, as I think I would've liked this even better had the crust been a bit thicker, to add some chewy substance. But it was the fact that the crust was good that made me want more of it.

Oh yes, the toppings. I don't know why they decided to call this the Native New Yorker, as I didn't see much particularly New Yorkish about it, but I'm not going to get too hung about about labels.

I'm a tomato guy. Red over white pizza every time. Red sauce vs. Alfredo? No contest. I'm even one of the few who prefer Manhattan clam chowder over New England. 

So while the crust fell short of greatness by my standards, the toppings largely made up for it. The sauce and tomato slices and fresh mozzarella (baked just to the edge of rubbery), and basil, were very tasty. Was it a Platonic ideal of pizza? No. Was it good? Well, I gobbled it up, so yes.

In evaluating pizza, I have to remind myself once in a while to stop thinking in terms of categories. It's not all about "authenticity," or how close the pizza came to some predetermined standard. Bottom line, did you like it? Yes, and I hope I've described it well enough that others can decide whether they might like it. 

As we go antiquing pretty often, and we find ourselves in Clarence now and then. Next time I want to go back and try the "traditional" pizza. One of these days.

Gianni Mazia's on Main

10325 Main St, Clarence, NY 14031

Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sun. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. 

REDD

Even before I resumed writing blog posts, REDD had been on my to-do list.  I'd gotten more than one personal recommendation and it gets rave reviews online. After several attempts to book a table a few days out, I realized I was looking at at least a week, but I finally had the forethought to get a table for my wife and me on a Friday evening.

All that is by way of background. When I hear and read that much good about a place, part of me is thinking, "this is going to be great!," and part of me is thinking, "don't believe the hype." But I try to keep an open mind.

 We got seated and served promptly. I'd been here years ago when it was 2 Vine, and it seemed better laid out and less noisy, despite being busy. 

After sharing a beet salad, which was quite good, my wife and I shared two pizzas:  a mozzarella pizza, with tomato, basil and Parmesan, and a prosciutto pizza with fontina, arugula and Parmesan. So a red and a white pizza.

I knew that REDD uses a wood-fired oven for their pizza, and my immediate impression was that the cornicione (edge) didn't have the blackened blistering that I usually see with wood-fired pizza. A check of the underside showed it to be a little spotted but not much.

That in itself didn't raise alarm bells. I've had too many "wood-fired" pizzas where they just briefly expose the outer edge to a flame to get it blackened, but the crust still sucks. It's not all about blackening.

But wood-fired or otherwise, it starts with the crust. And this was, well ... hmm.

Quite thin, up until I reached the cornicione, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't enough to sustain or balance the toppings. It was floppy and more significantly, it wasn't interesting.

What I mean is, with great pizza, the crust should be so good that I'd be happy to eat it with no toppings at all. This wasn't that.

Nor did it improve as I worked my way to the cornicione. Again, with top-notch pizza, that's almost the best part, as you get to enjoy the texture and flavor, unadorned. This was reminiscent of supermarket Italian bread. Not "bad," exactly, but bland and lifeless.

I don't claim to be an expert baker, but to quote one of my favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I know a little," and my first reaction was that it goes back to the intitial fermentation process, i.e. the rise. Use enough yeast, rise at warm temperatures, and you can have pizza or bread dough ready in no time. But it won't be particularly good. Low and slow and (somewhat) cold is the way to go, to develop more complex flavors and an interior structure in the crust, with more gluten development. But that takes time. I got the sense this was a crust made from a dough that wasn't given enough time.

I also know that the best wood-fired pizzerias I've been to get their ovens to a very high temperature, often 800 or above. A thin-crust pizza can bake in 90 seconds or so. REDD's was at 655 degrees, hotter than a typical home oven but not what you want for getting the most out of a wood-fired oven.

 I also noticed that the crust of the prosciutto pizza had separated between the top and the bottom. When properly done, that shouldn't happen. There are reasons why that might happen, but I'm not diagnosing the problem, just identifying it.

 OK. Enough about the crust. Let's move on to the toppings.

 They were good, although I must say not great.

The mozzarella pizza was well-laden with tomato sauce, but to me the sauce was over-applied. Pizza is also about balance and there was too much sauce, for my taste, on such a thin crust.

Nor was the sauce especially interesting. It tasted like sauce you'd get out of a jar. Not that you can't get good sauce from a jar, but this wasn't it. It tasted to me like generic spaghetti sauce. 

I was expecting a salty kick from the prosciutto on the prosciutto pizza, and I didn't get it. The pie was bland. I like a nice white pizza now and then, but without tomato sauce I'd like a bit of a flavor boost from the toppings, and this didn't deliver.

Not to drag my wife into this, but she agreed with me on all these points, and I can assure you she is unafraid to disagree with me, so I am pretty sure she was being honest. Toward the end of our dinner, I mentioned to her a thought that had just occurred to me:  as a bcnchmark, could I make a better pizza at home? I have had the good fortune to have pizza at various pizzerias that I couldn't possibly hope to match, due to the limitations of my home oven and my pizza-making skills. But we both agreed that I can make and have made better pizza at home, than what we had here.

Now all this sounds as if I've been trashing and bashing REDD. I suppose I have, but that was not my intent. Despite all I've said, I liked the pizza.

Not too many years ago I would've been amazed to get pizza this good anywhere around here, much less at a restaurant, where pizza is just an add-on to the menu. But the bar has been raised. That's a good thing, as the general level of quality and the range of options have both gone up. 

But if you're running a high-end restaurant, and you want to include pizza on the menu, I think it's incumbent on you to make sure it's damn good pizza. I can't honestly say that this was.

REDD Rochester

24 Winthrop St.

Rochester, NY 14607 

 https://reddrochester.com/

Mon. - Thu. 5 pm - 10 pm

Fri. 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5 pm - 10 pm

Sun. closed 

Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

 At a reader's suggestion, I decided to check out Anatolia Mediterranean Grill, a Turkish restaurant across the street from Seabreeze Amusement Park. Not because they serve pizza, exactly, but something akin to pizza. 

The idea of flatbread with toppings is an ancient one that's found in many countries, especially around the Mediterranean, where wheat is the staple grain. In my highly subjective opinion, that concept reached its apotheosis with the development of what we know today as pizza. But in addition to the myriad forms that pizza itself has taken over the years, it also has many close relatives that are well worth exploring. 

Some of those can be found in Turkey. Lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey boasts a national cuisine as delicious as it is diverse, as I've written about in this blog, first in 2011, and again in 2016. 

On those occasions, I had tried lahmacun, which is sometimes referred to as "Turkish pizza," although in my opinion that's neither particularly accurate nor fair. It's a thin flatbread, usually topped with well-seasoned ground or minced meat, most commonly lamb.

I'm no lahmacun connoisseur, but Anatolia's was quite enjoyable. The crust (strictly speaking, I'm not sure if "crust" is the correct term for it, but for lack of a better term I'll go with that) was thin, chewy, and on the line between pliable and crunchy:  not as foldable as a wrap, but not brittle or crackly either. It provided a good base for the tasty lamb mixture on top, which was packed with flavor. 

 We also ordered another dish, pide ("pee-deh"), which is a closer relative of pizza, both etymologically and culinarily. We chose the "mixed" pide, topped with cheese, pastrami, Turkish sausage, and ground beef. 

The crust was thicker and chewier, and far more pizza-like than the lahmacun. The biggest differences between this and traditional pizza were the shape (sometimes described as a boat shape) and the toppings. I particularly enjoyed the pastrami, which added a burst of salty meaty flavor that made me wonder why it's not a more common pizza topping. I think I will try it next time I make pizza at home.

Oh yeah, the other food was good too. We got a chicken plate, with fried chicken, rice, bell peppers and salad. It was flavorful yet simple and there was a lot of it. We ended up taking some home, which made for a very nice lunch the next day.

Oh, and the dessert bar. That's a blog post in itself, but I'll just say that no trip to Anatolia should be considered complete without a visit to the dessert bar. 

 So ... to whoever recommended Anatolia, thank you.

To my readers, if you want pizza, this is not a pizzeria. They don't serve pizza, as such.

But if you like pizza and are interested in exploring the many variations and cousins of pizza, you should check out Anatolia. I don't think you will be disappointed.

For me, I intend to return and try some of their other dishes. If they are this good, there's a lot more worth exploring. 

 Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

4671 Culver Rd., Irondequoit, NY 14622 

585-226-7578 

Sun., Mon. Wed., Thu. 11 am - 9 pm

Fri., Sat. 11 am - 10 pm

Closed Tue. 

Pizza Stop Pub and Bistro, Pulteneyville

 On March 5, 2009, I posted a review of the Pizza Stop on State Street in Rochester.

A lot of water has passed over the bridge and under the dam since then. The Pizza Stop is still on State Street, despite suffering through a lengthy construction project, but it's also opened and closed some other locations.

One of which is in Pultneyville, a hamlet in the town of Williamson, on Lake Ontario about halfway between Webster and Sodus Point. I have an aversion to the term "underrated," but Pultneyville may be underrated. It's an off-the-beaten-path hamlet with a small inlet and a few historic buildings, and it was the site of a battle in the War of 1812, in 1814 (the result of which is disputed, but as far as I'm concerned, we won, dammit).

The Pizza Stop opened its first full-scale restaurant and bar in Pultneyville in 2020. You can read the story here. It also seems to go by the name of the Local on the Lake. I think they're trying to be known as more than just a pizza place. 

After many years of it being on my to-do list, I made it there recently,
with wife and 22-year-old in tow. 

It's in what I assume must be a very old building next to the inlet. There was a takeout counter on the first floor. We were dining in, so we made our way upstairs. We passed the small bar area, which was populated by what seemed like a few regulars, and got seated at a table near a window looking over the inlet and the lake in the distance.

We ordered three pizzas:  a small chicken/bacon/ranch, a medium Grandma's, and a medium NY style cheese pie. 

All were good; all tasty. But they were, I'm sorry to say, not as good as the original, i.e., the State Street location.

Why? The crust. To be fair, this pizza came to us straight out of the oven. When I've been to the Pizza Stop, it's often been for a slice, which gets a brief reheating, which crisps up the crust. New York "slice joints" do it that way on purpose--take the pie out a little short of doneness, so you can put slices back in for a quick heat-up.

But if you're serving a whole pie, maybe give it an extra minute or two. That would've helped here. With a thin crust, you're not going to get a lot of interior, so you really need that external crunch and char, and that was lacking here. Also, even a thin crust can have some complexity from a long, slow rise, and I didn't get that either. 

Now--we did take the leftovers home, and I reheated them in the oven, on a well-heated steel, and they were much better. So the potential was there. But that's the thing with pizza. Timing can be everything. 

It was an enjoyable experience and the pizza was good. I'd go back, but next time I might ask for the pizza "well done."

The Pizza Stop & The Local on the Lake

4135 Lake Rd., Williamson, NY  

 315-904-4407

Wednesday    4–10 PM
Thursday    4–10 PM
Friday    4 PM–midnight
Saturday    11 AM–midnight

 Read more about them here.  

Cristo's, Buffalo Road

Just twelve and a half short years ago, I published a post about a new wood-fired pizzeria on Buffalo Road, Fiamma. I l loved it, calling it "a great example of the pizzamaker's art."

In 2015, Fiamma opened a second location off University Avenue in Rochester (which I've been to, and it's every bit as good; I highly recommend it).

Eventually Fiamma closed the Buffalo Road location. For a while, the space housed a second location of Veneto, which is one of the first pizzerias I reviewed, in 2009.

In 2023, the Buffalo Road location re-opened as Cristo, under the ownership of a former Veneto chef. 

I added Cristo to my to-do list, but never got around to doing it until recently. I guess re-starting the blog finally gave me the impetus I needed.  I know that maintaining this blog is going to require some effort on my part, but if it got me to check out Cristo, then it's already been worth it.

Among the three of us, we ordered (the descriptions are from the menu) homemade fusilli pasta tossed in a vodka sauce with pancetta and red pepper flakes, and tagliatelle all'Amatriciana, described as homemade tagliatelle tossed in a red sauce with red onion, pancetta, and Calabrian peppers topped with Parmesan, Asiago and Romano cheeses.

And of course, the main reason for our trip:  pizza.

There are eight different pizzas on the menu, and though several of them sounded tempting, my default on a first visit to a place that does wood-fired or Neapolitan-style pizza is to go with a Margherita, as I did here.

When it arrived at our table, it looked good:  charred around the edge, topped with red sauce, fresh mozzarella and chopped basil.

When I took a bite, it got even better. Everything about it seemed right. So I took another bite, and another. I kept looking for something wrong with it, not because I wanted something to be wrong but because I thought, there has to be something wrong here; some flaw.

I didn't find one.

Let's start with the crust. Pliable, bready, chewy, charred. Not crackly like a NYC slice, but not soft or spongy, like, well, too many other places. And the charring was just right, for me. Not burnt, but not the kind of charring I've seen induced at some places for show, where they briefly expose the perimeter of the pizza to a gas flame to blacken it a bit. I confirmed with the pizzaiolo that their oven is 100% wood-fired, and this is how wood-fired pizza should be.

(By the way, I apologize for the relatively poor quality of the photos. The light in the restaurant was somewhat dim, and my attempts to improve the photos by editing them met with limited success. I need to work on that.)

The toppings shone both individually and in concert with each other. The sauce had a bright, fresh flavor, the cheese was melted juuust enough, and the basil, which had wilted a bit in the oven without browning, added the right herbal accent.

All three components worked beautifully together, and with the crust. I hate to overuse the phrase, but to me pizza is first and foremost about balance.  The crust, the sauce, the cheese, etc., everything has to work together in the right proportions and in harmony. And that was true of this pizza. 

Oh, and the pasta dishes? They were good too, or so I was told. I was too busy with the pizza.

As I said, some of the other pizzas on the menu sounded good, and I would like to go back to try them, although given my tastes it's hard to imagine I would like one of them better than this. For me, this was about as good as it gets.

Cristo's Wood Fired Pizza and Pasta

1308 Buffalo Road, Gates, New York 14624

585-622-9000

cristosrestaurant@gmail.com

Mon. - Wed. 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
    
Thu., Fri. noon – 9:00 pm
    
Sat.  3:30 pm – 9:00 pm
    
Sun. Closed (available for private parties and catering)

 

Roncone's reconceived

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

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

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

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

Capish!, Le Roy

My daughter and I had dinner the other night at Capish!, which opened earlier this year in Le Roy. It's in a handsome, century-old building on Main Street. (You can see some photos of the exterior and interior here.)
Capish (I'm going to drop the exclamation mark from here on) offers a full menu of Italian dishes, but pizza is the main focus. Interestingly, they do both thin crust pizza and sfincione. I got both. Let me take them one at a time.
The thin crust pies are baked in a combination wood/gas oven. On this visit, I didn't see any sign of a wood fire. But the temp was set at 725 degrees - pretty high - and the results were good.
I suppose you could call these Neapolitan, or maybe neo-Neapolitan pizzas. I got my usual Margherita, and my daughter ordered an a la carte equivalent of a meat lover's pizza, with pepperoni, chicken, ham and sausage.
Both pies had a thin crust with a puffy cornicione.
They were charred underneath. My pie had some "leopard spotting," with some air holes having burst, leaving a small hole in the bottom of the crust. The crust was chewy but not tough, and the charred bottom added some flavor complexity.
Speaking of which, my Margherita had good flavor. A bright tomato sauce, complemented by liquefied dollops of fresh mozzarella, and shredded fresh basil, which was wilted but still a vibrant green. Capish adds a bit of oregano to their Margherita, but not enough to overpower the subtle flavors of this pie.
I sampled my daughter's meat-laden pie, and although I typically avoid that style, it was tasty. The pepperoni was thick-cut, and the well-melted processed mozzarella provided a good base for the meat.
My 12-inch pie was more than adequate for a meal, but I couldn't resist trying a slice of Capish's sfincione. I'd been aware of this close cousin to (or maybe "ancestor of" would be more accurate) Sicilian-style pizza, but by coincidence I got a bit more of an education in the style just recently, as a result of a Facebook post. Google it and you'll find plenty of information and recipes, but here's as good a description as any.
Capish's version comes topped with tomato sauce, oregano, onions, bread crumbs, and Pecorino Romano. So pretty close to style, in that regard. In Sicily, sfincione often includes anchovies, which were left off here, probably in a concession to American palates, but they are available as a topping, if you want to stay traditional.
The pan-baked crust was medium brown underneath, with large air-hole craters. The interior had a spongy texture. Although I can't claim to be a connoisseur of sfincione, this seemed to come pretty close to hitting the mark.
I was too full for dessert, so with some regret I had to forgo trying Capish's tiramisu. Next time.
On my way out, though, I paused to take a look at the oven, and chatted for a moment with the pizzaiolo. If I'm not mistaken, he was the guy seen here, and according to his Facebook page he hails from Sicily, as does Capish's owner Giacomo (Jim) Frascati, so it should come as no surprise they know their stuff, particularly where sfincione's concerned.
I've reproduced here Capish's pizza menu, but their full menu is available on their Facebook page. They offer a variety of pizzas, pasta and meat dishes, almost entirely Italian, with a nod to local tastes (as in, they serve chicken French). Since seafood is so popular in Sicily, I'm a little surprised there isn't more of it on the menu, but then again, Sicily's a Mediterranean island with a lot of port cities, and Le Roy is in Western New York, hundreds of miles from the nearest coast (and no, Lake Ontario doesn't count).
At any rate, that's pretty much a moot point for me, as I think it would take many visits for me to get past the pizza. This is one of those places where I'd like to try every pizza on the list before I even think about branching out into the other parts of the menu. With any luck and a little effort, though, I think I can get there.
I know I've been on-again, off-again with the letter grade thing, but I was quite happy with the pizza here. Capish is well worth the drive west on 490. So I'm giving this an A.

Capish!
49 Main St., Le Roy
(585) 768-1000

Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fri. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Closed Sundays

L'Italia, Wellsville

On  a recent family trip to visit relatives, my wife and I stopped at L'Italia, in Wellsville. I've posted before about a place in Wellsville, more of a slice joint. L'Italia is a sit-down restaurant, with pizza on the menu.
I ordered a Margherita, with olive oil, fresh mozzarella, tomato and fresh basil.
It was, frankly, disappointing. The primary issue for me was the crust. It was soft and a bit oily underneath. The interior was OK, fairly bready, but the lack of a crisp exterior detracted from the overall effect.
The toppings were acceptable. The sliced tomatoes were fresh, but seemed like basic supermarket tomatoes. The cheese was well melted, but the basil was a bit on the skimpy side.
I noticed, while eating, that though the restaurant was pretty busy, I was the only person eating pizza. L'Italia offers pasta, seafood, chicken and steak, and I suspect they do a better job on those than on the pizza.
The service was fine, and the physical setting is attractive, with white tablecloths and high ceilings. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. And I don't mean to say that the pizza was bad. It just was less than I'd hoped for. I'd go back, but I'd be wary of trying the pizza again.

L'Italia, 105 N. Main St., Wellsville, NY
(585) 593-2223

Tue. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Rohrbach, Railroad Street

Rohrbach Brewing Company is best known as the granddaddy of Rochester's craft brewers, dating back to its original location in the German House, but their food is not to be overlooked. Their brewpub on Buffalo Road offers a full menu highlighted by beer-friendly German specialties, and it's also one of the few places in the Rochester area where you can get a decent beef on weck.
This past spring, Rohrbach opened its new Railroad Street Beer Hall at its primary production facility near the Rochester Public Market. The food menu at the Beer Hall is different from (and for now, at least, considerably shorter than) the brewpub's menu, but it does offer one thing you won't find at the brewpub:  wood-fired pizza.
I recently joined a friend there for dinner, and we each got a pizza. Our choices were:  the Rohrbach Classic, with red sauce, a three-cheese blend, and pepperoni; Sausage & Pepper (red sauce, sausage, pepper, red onion, and shredded mozzarella); Caprese (basil pesto sauce, fresh mozzarella, and sliced tomato); Jalapeno Bacon (garlic-Parmesan sauce, sliced jalapeno, bacon, and shredded mozzarella); and that evening's special, which had an Asian-sounding theme involving Sriracha and oranges. It sounded like it might be good, but I was looking for something a little more traditional, so I ordered the Sausage & Pepper, while my companion got the Classic.
Our dinner-plate-size pizzas had a very thin crust.  Mine was a little puffier around the edge. The undersides were browned in spots, but not charred, and the surface was uniformly smooth, with little sign of any bubbling in the dough.
The dough didn't seem to have risen much, and the crust, while not bad, was not terribly interesting either. It was on the chewy side, not particularly crisp, nor breadlike. It also lacked the toasty, smoky notes that I look for in a wood-fired crust. Just a guess, but I suspect that the oven wasn't quite as hot as it could've been. The pies were considerably browner along the edge than underneath, which further suggests that the oven deck wasn't terribly hot.
On the plus side, my Sausage and Pepper pie had good flavor overall, with a slightly sweet red sauce accented by small chunks of mild Italian sausage and peperoncini slices. The mozzarella cheese was browned but still appropriately gooey.
I tried a slice of my companion's pie, and it was indeed a classic pepperoni pizza, with a uniform blanket of cheese and crisp, spicy cup & char pepperoni slices. I liked my pizza well enough, but I actually preferred the Classic, which was a basic but tasty "bar" pie.
The food menu at the Beer Hall comprises four pizzas, three salads, warm pretzels, and wood-fired cookies (which sounds intriguing), as well as nightly specials. Aside from their extensive lineup of craft beer, Rohrbach also offers house-brewed root beer and orange cream soda, and Pepsi products. The space is attractive, with high ceilings, brick walls, and long communal tables; think German bierstube, but with an industrial-chic look.
Getting back to the pizza, I found a lot to like about these, but I wasn't crazy about the crust. It served well enough as a base for the toppings, which were quite good, and in general I enjoyed the pizza. With a little work on that crust, these could be truly outstanding pizzas. These, I'll give a B, on the strength of their overall flavor.

Rohrbach Railroad Street Beer Hall

97 Railroad St, Rochester

(585) 546-8020

Wed. & Thu. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Fri. 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Closed Sun. - Tue.

Brewery tours on Saturdays hourly from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.