Bella Pasta Review and $25 Gift Card Giveaway

I learned a few weeks ago that Romeo's on Ridgeway Avenue, a wood-fired place that I've reviewed before, had closed, and that Bella Pasta had moved into its space.
Bella Pasta is not new; it opened in March 2009 on West Ridge Road in Greece, and its roots go back to the fondly remembered Portico restaurant on St. Paul Boulevard in Rochester. I reviewed Bella Pasta's pizza in December 2009, giving it "a solid B+."
This move does give Bella Pasta more room, with a large dining room on one side and additional seating adjacent to the spacious bar on the other. More importantly from my perspective, Bella Pasta is now using the wood-fired oven for its pizza.
I had lunch there recently with two friends, and was able to sample three pies. I was not in a carnivorous mood that day, so I went with a "veggie" pie. I opted out of the mushrooms, which left artichokes, onions, peppers, and broccoli, along with garlic sauce and mozzarella. One of my companions got a "meat lovers," with meatballs, pepperoni, and sausage, and the other got a pepperoni pie.
The crusts were dotted underneath with dark brown spots, indicating a quick bake at a high, but not super-high temperature. So these weren't quite charred, in the way you'd get from an extremely hot oven (which not everybody likes), but neither were they burnt or pale, two faults I've run across at some wood-fired places. The crusts were pliable, with a chewy but not tough texture and a pleasantly bready flavor.
I found my veggie pizza quite flavorful and satisfying, thanks to the tasty mix of vegetables, which were fresh tasting and not overcooked. Where a red sauce might've overwhelmed the flavor of the toppings, the garlic sauce on this pie complimented the toppings nicely.
At the other end of the spectrum, the meat lovers' pie offered plenty of meaty flavor. While the toppings were certainly not skimpy, the pie was - wisely - not overloaded either. Like most wood-fired pizza, Bella Pasta's pies are thin-crusted, and the toppings here were added in good proportion to the crust - enough for flavor, but not so much as to throw the pizza out of balance.
I also tried a slice of my friend's pepperoni pie, which was likewise tasty, with a scattering of crisp pepperoni slices and a light dusting of grated Parmesan. Both it and the meat lovers' pie were also topped with a tomatoey red sauce, and the mozzarella on all three pizzas was nicely melted, with a good balance of stringy and chewy.

So yes, these were three good pizzas. But don't just take my word for it, see for yourself, on the house. I've got one $25 gift card, compliments of Bella Pasta, to give away to one lucky reader.

In the past, I've had readers enter by leaving a comment on the blog, but there have been some problems with winners not realizing that they'd won. So to ensure that the winner gets notified, I'm going to try something a little different this time. To enter, email me at RocPizzaGuy@gmail.com. Leaving a comment here will NOT get you entered; you must email me. One entry per person, please. The deadline to enter is next Friday, January 30, at noon. I'll pick a winner at random shortly after that, and email the winner directly. If you win, I'll need your full name and mailing address, but I will not publish those or use them for any other purpose but to mail you your gift card.

Thanks to Bella Pasta for this generous donation. Whether you win or not, do check them out sometime, for pizza or otherwise. And when you do, please be sure to mention the Rochester NY Pizza Blog. Now send me those emails!

Tantalo's

A reader advised me last October to check out Tantalo's, which opened last year in the former site of a Pontillo's pizzeria in Greece.
I went there at lunchtime shortly after it opened, and the only slices they had available were Buffalo chicken slices. I got one (pictured in the bottom photo), which was OK, but not great. The crust was rather soft, and while the toppings were tasty enough, the chicken seemed a bit overcooked and the toppings just didn't come together that well.
But as I said, this was not long after they opened, so I figured I'd wait a while and go back.
Which I did, recently. And to judge by the two slices I got on this occasion, things had indeed improved.
This time, there were four selections, from which I chose a pepperoni slice and a white slice with broccoli, ricotta and tomatoes (the other choices were plain cheese and another white pizza with banana peppers and black olives).
These were a definite improvement over the time before, in my opinion. The crusts were on the thick side of medium, and after a brief rewarming, they were crisp and crackly underneath, yet still pliable and not brittle. I should point out that I don't think my earlier Buffalo chicken slice had been rewarmed, which
The undersides were browned,in a mottled pattern, with a light dusting of corn meal. The interior of the crust was chewy, well risen and well baked.
As for the toppings, the pepperoni slice was topped with nicely crisped cup & char pepperoni. The cheese was a bit overly browned, but it's always going to be a challenge to strike the balance between the cheese and pepperoni (might I suggest par-cooking the pepperoni before it's added to the pizza?). The sauce was a basic tomato sauce, with a good balance of sweet and salty. 
The white slice was flavorful, with a light coating of olive oil, topped with small chunks of broccoli and sliced tomatoes, overlaid by mozzarella and a few bits of ricotta cheese. The veggies were added before the cheese, which was a smart move, as it kept them moist. Pepperoni, I like crisp; veggies should retain most of their moisture.
Tantalo's offers 17 pizza toppings, and 13 specialty pizzas. Among the most interesting of the latter are the "Mama Mary's Greens & Beans Pizza," with sauteed greens, cannelini beans, sausage, mozzarella and Parmesan.
Beyond pizza, Tantalo's offers wings, which can be ordered with any one of some 13 sauces, and mac & cheese - which seems to be a trendy dish of late, although even as a kid I was never crazy about it - in a variety of combinations.
Tantalo's also offers an interesting lineup of hot and cold subs, and salads that go beyond the usual "chef's salad." For example, there's a beet salad with blue cheese, candied walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. I've never been able to decide if I like beets or not, but that's intriguing. I'm waiting for someone to put them on pizza. I may even try that at home, much, I'm sure, to the dismay of my wife and daughter, who are decidedly in the anti-beet camp. And Tantalo's menu is the first I've seen since I don't know when to offer Waldorf salad, which immediately brings to mind an episode of the funniest sitcom ever made, Fawlty Towers.
If you've got room left after your pizza, sub or salad, Tantalo's has also got some decadent sweets, like deep-fried Twinkies or Oreos, or simple, freshly baked cookies.
My primary focus, of course, is the pizza. And this was good. Not so head-and-shoulders above other area pizzerias that I'd give it an A rating, but better than average. Nice crust, good toppings. So I'll give it a B.

Tantalo's Pizzeria, 3366 Latta Rd.
(585) 227-0080

Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. noon - 6 p.m.

Delivery available (min. order $12)

Bee Hive, Canandaigua

In addition to watching for new pizzerias, I'm always on the lookout for pizza popping up on restaurant menus. Recently I learned of one such example, the Bee Hive Brew Pub in Canandaigua. It's located in a converted train station, which it shares with Twisted Rail Brewing Co. My understanding is that there's no direct connection between the two, but Twisted Rail does make some house beers for Bee Hive.
While Bee Hive does carry an impressive lineup of beer, my sights were set on the pizza. There were several interesting selections to choose from, but I opted for "Ann's Favorite Pizza," which is topped with tomatoes, artichokes, mozzarella and garlic aioli, which is a fancy way of saying sauce. It sounded good to me to begin with, and its identification as a house favorite tipped the balance for me.
This was a personal-size pie, about 12 inches across. The medium-thick crust was dark brown underneath, and slightly oily to the touch. It was firm but not crisp, and the interior was likewise right down the middle, texturewise: not dense, but not puffy, with a moderate chewiness.
Aside from the diced tomatoes, this was a white pizza, in other words, no tomato sauce. As with most white pizza, the cheese played a prominent role, and played it well. It was nicely melted and stretchy, smooth but slightly chewy, with just a bit of lactic tanginess.
The cheese was well complemented by the toppings. I'm guessing that there are people out there who don't like the taste of artichokes, but I'm not among them. Their sharp, almost citrusy flavor works well with cheese, and here it was also well balanced by the background of garlic and olive oil, making for a tasty combination. By comparison, the tomatoes were, if not quite an afterthought, less important. They weren't the rock-hard, flavorless chunks that you often find, but they weren't particularly sweet, and their contribution was comparatively minimal.
As I mentioned, Bee Hive has an interesting pizza menu, with options for both carnivores and herbivores. That's in addition to the rest of their menu, which includes salads, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and various sides and appetizers. From what I've read, they're particularly renowned for their burgers.
Getting back to this pizza, I enjoyed it, but rating it is a tough call. It was tasty and distinctive, but I can't say it was so good that I'd drive out of my way to get it. I'd have no problem ordering this again, or trying another of Bee Hive's pizzas, but if I'm holding them to the same standard as I would any pizzeria, I'd have to say that this pizza was somewhat, but not a lot, better than average. So I'll break my own rule about not using pluses and minuses, and give this one a B-minus.

Bee Hive Brew Pub, 20 Pleasant St., Canandaigua

(585) 919-2471

Open 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. daily

A Revisit to Two Ton Tony's

One of the challenges of writing this blog is keeping up with developments in the local pizza scene while still returning to old favorites. 
One old favorite of mine is 2 Ton Tony's in Irondequoit. The pizza's consistently good, and owner Tony Proietti is always a pleasure to converse with. He's passionate about his pizza, and he's always got a story or two to share, often involving his family's long history in the pizza business.
I stopped by 2TT's the other day at lunchtime. From among the several slices available, I got a pepperoni & banana pepper slice. These are big slices, and Tony sliced mine in half, down the middle, although that proved to be unnecessary, as I ate them both in one sitting.
Tony's slice-ready pies start out on a screen, but are baked in a stone deck oven. Unlike a lot of screen-baked and "mega" slices I've had, this one was crisp and dry on the bottom, not floppy, soft or oily. Upon folding, the surface cracked, but the crust remained intact. The interior of the medium-thick crust had a soft texture and a fresh-bread aroma.
Tony takes pride in using top-notch ingredients, which showed in the toppings. The cheese was nicely melted and silky smooth, and the sauce had a good balance of salt and tomatoey sweetness. I love the combination of pepperoni and banana peppers, and they made for one very tasty slice of pizza.
I'm also going to mention here a slice I got a couple of months ago or so that I never got around to reporting on until now. This was a slice of "Eileen's Dream," a white pizza topped with spinach, artichokes and ricotta. My go-to pizza will always be a red pizza, but I like a good white slice now and then, and this one caught my eye.
Without tomatoes, a white pizza needs a little something to give it some oomph, and this slice accomplished that, with tangy artichokes that nicely complemented the slightly bitter shredded spinach, and nuggets of ricotta adding some additional flavor and textural interest.
I don't know if I could ever go to 2 Ton Tony's and not have pizza, but there are other options (you can view and download the entire menu here). Tony has added a very popular Friday fish fry, which includes battered haddock, potato wedges, cole slaw, hush puppies and tartar sauce There are also several new choices in the sweets department, including a s'mores calzone filled with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. They're also now serving Perry's ice cream, which I've been a major fan of for years. After I finished my pizza, I had barely enough room for a sample of Perry's cannoli ice cream (which is not available in stores, by the way) - yum.

This section of Irondequoit remains a pizza hotbed - I think you could go to a different pizzeria every day of the week and never drive more than half a mile - but with 2 Ton Tony's continuing to turn out such consistently good pizza, I'm not sure you'd want to.

2 Ton Tony's, 545 Titus Ave. (at Hudson Ave.)
266-8669

Mon. - Thu. 11 - 9, Fri. & Sat. 11 - 10, Sun. noon - 9

Joe's Brooklyn Pizza $30 Giveaway

It's been quite awhile since I ran a giveaway, but thanks to the generosity of the guys at Joe's Brooklyn Pizza, that's now remedied. One week from today, some lucky reader of this blog will win a Joe's gift card worth $30. That'll buy plenty off Joe's menu - say, a 19" large, classic cheese pie with a side of wings, or a 32-slice sheet of thick Sicilian pizza.
And don't ignore Joe's tempting lineup of specialty pies. On my latest visit, I tried one of Joe's latest creations: a white pie with black garlic and fresh figs.
I've seen figs on pizza menus before, and I've even tried them at home, with chopped dried figs, which turned out pretty well.
Now I know that not everybody's a fan of figs. But a lot of people are also only familiar with the dried variety.
Fresh figs are qualitatively different. It's like the difference between a plump, juicy grape and a raisin. You can find them, sometimes, in the produce section of the supermarket. They're expensive (I think I've paid $6 for four of them before), but worth it.
And they worked very well here. The figs were sweet, but not cloyingly so. They both complemented and contrasted with the aromatic and flavorful black garlic, making for a surprisingly good combination. I've said many times that great pizza is all about balance, and this one beautifully straddled the line between sweet and savory.

By the way, I should mention that, whatever you order, if you choose to eat it on the premises, Joe's now offers several beers on tap to enjoy with your meal, including locally brewed Naked Dove, and, of course, several offerings from Brooklyn Brewery. Look for the lineup to change on a regular basis.
Now about that gift card: I'll pick a winner at random in one week, on Friday, September 5, in the early afternoon. To enter, simply leave a comment at the end of this blog post, anytime before noon next Friday. You need not leave your full name here, but you cannot leave a purely anonymous comment. One entry per person, please.
I will announce the winner on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter. If you want, you can email me at ROCpizzaguy@gmail.com (or include your email address in your blog comment) and I will notify you directly if you win. Otherwise, it's your responsibility to check and see if you've won.
If you do win, you will need to get me your full name and mailing address, via email. If I don't hear from the winner after several days, I may award the card to another reader.
Finally, if you win, please let the guys at Joe's know, when you use the card, that you won it here. For that matter, anytime you go to a local pizzeria based in part on something you read on this blog, please mention the blog. I'd appreciate it. The more pizzeria owners know that people read this blog, the more apt they'll be to agree to do these giveaways.
OK, now let loose with those comments!

Joe's Brooklyn Pizza, 1100 Jefferson Rd., Henrietta
585-424-JOES (5637)

Mon. & Tue. 11 AM - 9 PM
Wed. - Sat. 11 AM - 10 PM
Sun. noon - 8 PM

Cosmic Patty's, Hornell

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

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

Pizza Stop: Chicken Spinach Tomato slice

Just a quick post on a recent slice I had at The Pizza Stop, a place I've reviewed many times before. There's no point in reviewing the same consistently good cheese slices that I usually get here, but once in a while I try something different, so I like to report on that.
Recently I got, in addition to my cheese slice, a chicken-spinach-tomato slice. Particularly where New York style pizza is concerned, I don't tend to go for complicated specialty pizzas, but The Pizza Stop tends to keep it relatively simple, and when they do specialty pizzas, the toppings are generally well thought out.
So it was with the chicken, spinach and tomato pie. This may not have been a traditional Italian pizza, or based directly on an Italian dish, but it was in the spirit of great Italian cooking, with a few basic ingredients that added up to more than the sum of their parts.
On this slice, chunks of lightly browned chicken mixed with wilted shreds of spinach and tomato slices, on a bed of melted mozzarella, topped with shredded Parmesan. Nothing particularly exotic, but the toppings complemented each other well, with the browned chicken adding some meaty heft to the tangy cheese, sweet tomatoes (which weren't bad, for this time of year in upstate New York), and the slight vegetal bitterness of the spinach.
Those toppings could've saved even a weak crust, but fortunately in this instance they came atop The Pizza Stop's signature thin crust, which remains one of the best around. The chicken slice did not have quite the blackish, charred areas that you'll usually find on the thin crust pizzas here, but it was still nice and crisp on the bottom, with a pleasingly bready aroma, flavor and chew.
As I've said before, plain cheese will always remain my go-to pizza, especially when we're talking New York style pizza. But variety is good too, and if you're in the mood for a white pizza, The Pizza Stop's chicken spinach tomato pizza is a winner.
The Pizza Stop, 123 State St., Rochester 14614
546-7252
Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Closed weekends.

Friday Giveaway: Joe's Brooklyn Pizza $30 Gift Card

There's  usually a lag time between my visit to a pizzeria in my posting of a review. And I do have a backlog of reviews of pizzerias I have visited in the past few weeks.
But I wanted to get up a new post quickly after my visit yesterday to Joe's Brooklyn Pizzeria, because Joe was kind enough to donate a $30 gift card for me to get awayto a lucky follower of this blog. I haven't done a giveaway in quite some time, and I like to start them on Fridays, when readership is high. This is also a fantastic way to resume giveaways, because I consider Joe's to be one of the best pizzerias in this area, and because, I think, this is the highest dollar value of any gift card that I have ever given away.
I stopped at Joe's for lunch, and got two slices, although between the two of them they were probably equivalent to an entire pie. At least my stomach told me so, as I was full - happily full - for the rest of the day.

If I had to pick one single type of slice to eat for the rest of my life, I would probably pick a plain cheese slice, New York style. But I've had those, and reported about those, at Joe's. So I was looking for something different this day, and my eyes were drawn to two particular pies, from which I chose a slice each.
The first was a grandpa's slice (on the right in the photo), which is topped with tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, sweet peppers, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, basil, and Romano. This is a pan risen, Sicilian style slice. I have been accused of being prejudiced against thick crust pizza, but in fact,I love a good thick crust pizza, and Joe's is one of the best around.
One problem I often have with thick crust pizza is that it tends to be oily underneath, but Joe's Sicilian pizzas are dry and crisp on the bottom, and the texture of the well-risen crust has just enough "chew" to make it interesting without being "tough."
The grandpa's pizza is loaded, but not overloaded, with toppings - enough to pack a wallop in the flavor department but not so much as to overwhelm the crust. My side slice was huge, and I probably could've stopped there and had a decent lunch.
But I also really wanted to try a stuffed pizza that they had available, which was topped with bacon, spinach, garlic and mozzarella. I'm not even a huge fan of bacon (I like it, I just don't love it as much as some people), but it looked great.
It was delicious but filling. Imagine two of Joe's thin crust pizzas, with toppings, one on top of the other, and you'll get a good idea of what this was like. But again, it was well balanced, with plenty of flavor from the toppings, but with the excellent, crisp/charred crust taking center stage. And the combination of toppings was very good - the meat, spinach and garlic complemented each other very well.
That was more than enough for lunch, but Joe wanted me to try his latest creation, which is a white pizza topped with black garlic. I had never heard of black garlic, but Joe's food supplier introduced him to it. Apparently it's a Korean thing (Koreans seem to be big on fermented foods, kimchi being the prime example) in which garlic is left to ferment for several weeks, which not only turns a black, but which gives it a sweet flavor reminiscent of balsamic vinegar.
As of now, black garlic is only available on slices at Joe's. Depending on consumer reaction, it may be added as a topping option for entire pies. But it's expensive, so it remains to be seen if enough people will order it to justify adding it as a regular menu item. If you like garlic, though, or just like trying new things, look for it among the slices next time you're at Joe's.
Okay, so here's what you've all been waiting for. Joe not only let me try his new black garlic pizza, he also donated a $30 gift card, for me to give away to one lucky reader. Most of you probably know the routine by now, but here's how it works. If you would like a chance to win, leave a comment following this blog post, along with some identifying information. I will choose a winner at random next Friday, in the early afternoon. I will then mail the card to the winner.
If you are the winner, I will need some way of verifying your personal information, and making sure that I get the card to the correct person. So in your response, I either need some contact information, such as an e-mail address, or I need you to e-mail me at rochesternypizzaguy@gmail.com, with your name and postal mailing address. It would be great if, in your comment, you could include some comment about Joe's pizzeria, or about pizza in general, or about this blog, but that's not a requirement to win. Leave as many comments as you like, but multiple comments will not increase your chances of winning.
I love traditional, Rochester style pizza, and I certainly wouldn't want to see it displaced by the kind of pizza sold at Joe's, which is more indigenous to New York City than to here. That said, I still think Joe's is one of the best pizzerias in our area. And $30 worth of Joe's food (they do wings too) is, I think, enough to make any pizza lover very happy. So comment away, and look for the winner next Friday. I'll be announcing the winner on my Facebook page, and on Twitter as well.
Joe's Brooklyn Pizza, 1100 Jefferson Rd. Suite 23B, Henrietta, NY 14623
Mon. & Tue. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Wed. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. noon - 8 p.m.

Benedetto's

NOTE:  this establishment is now closed.
In July, I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Benedetto's, a new Italian restaurant on Alexander Street. As I mentioned on my Facebook page, they were passing around free hors d'oeuvres, and I got a taste of a Margherita pizza, which was pretty good. So I made up my mind to get back for a full pizza before too long.
Which I did recently. Twice, in fact, both times for lunch.
Why twice, in quick succession? Partly because it was good, but also because, though I liked the pizza well enough the first time, I wasn't satisfied with my notes, and thought that I should go back for a second visit and make a more detailed record.
On both occasions, I was accompanied by two companions, each of whom got pizza as well, so we're talking about six pizzas in total. I'm not going to describe each of them in detail, but I will summarize our findings and conclusions.
Over the course of two lunches, we tried two Margheritas (kudos on spelling the name right), two white pizzas, and two meat pizzas. Benedetto's sausage, anchovy and Gorgonzola pizzas will have to wait till next time.
Why get the same thing both times? Well again, I wanted to add some detail to my notes from the previous visit, so I wanted to stick with what I'd had before, and my companions liked what they'd gotten before, and that's what they wanted again.
So let's start with the crust. Unlike a lot of high-end pizza restaurants, which are all about wood- and coal-fired ovens these days, Benedetto's pizzas are baked in conventional, gas-heated commercial pizza ovens. There are countless pizzerias turning out excellent pizzas from just such ovens, so that's no knock on Benedetto's, and certainly no impediment to creating a good pie with a good crust.
But these were not the kind of super-thin, crackly, heavily charred crusts that are in vogue these days, which you generally find at wood-fired pizzerias. They were, in fact, a little on the thick side, with some moderate, uneven charring. The undersides were firm, with a little bite, and the interiors were chewy. Some bubbling had taken place along the edges, making these almost puffy in spots.
The Margherita was topped with the classic red-white-and-green trinity of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. The red sauce was smooth and straightforward, if a little bland. It was dotted with white islands of nicely melted slabs of cheese, topped with wilted shreds of basil.
The meat pizza was much like a ramped-up version of the Margherita, with the addition of sausage, ham, roasted red peppers and mozzarella. What stood out most was the spicy kick from the sausage, which permeated but did not overwhelm the pie. I also detected a background smokiness, which maybe came from the lean, thin slices of ham. I also noticed a few small chunks of diced tomato in the sauce on this one. This pie was the consensus favorite in our group, and I think the more heavily-flavored toppings stood up better to the relatively thick crust, as compared with the Margherita.
I enjoyed the white pizza, which was topped with pancetta, red onion, capers and arugula. Though its most striking visual feature was a generous coating of fresh arugula, what I noticed most about this pie on my palate was a tangy flavor, the source of which I couldn't quite pin down. I initially thought that there must have been some sharp cheese in the mix, but was told that the only cheeses on the white pizza are mozzarella and ricotta, both of which are on the mild end of the spectrum. Perhaps it was a combination of the salty capers and pancetta that I was tasting; baking might've both concentrated their flavors (by causing some evaporation of water) and spread those flavors over the surface of the pie, via the fat of the pancetta and cheese, giving the pie that overall sharp tang.
All three of us enjoyed all three pizzas, on both visits. That said, we were a bit divided over how much we enjoyed them, particularly where the crust was concerned. I thought they were good, fairly bready crusts with a firm undersurface and a chewiness that I liked. One of my friends, though, found the crusts too thick and doughy. I don't think any of them were poorly made, though, so this comes down to a matter of taste. If you're looking for thin and crispy pizza, look elsewhere, or at least ask if they can accommodate you.
As for me, I found these something like a cross between a modern, neo-"artisanal" pizza and a traditional Rochester style pizza, with the thick, Italian-bread chewiness of the latter and the intriguing flavor combinations and textural contrasts of the former. I'm not prepared to put these in the top tier of Rochester's pizzas just yet, but I do want to go back and sample Benedetto's other varieties. In the meantime, I'll give Benedetto's an above-average B.
Benedetto's, 289 Alexander Street, Rochester 14607
454-5000
Tue. -.Sat.:  serving lunch from 11:30 to 2 p.m., then opening for happy hour at 4 p.m. and dinner service at 5 p.m. Always available for private events.

Pontillo's, Mt. Hope

I've never intended to visit every location of every local pizzeria chain, but I have been slowly working my way to the various Pontillo's locations around town. I've heard time and again that different Pontillo's locations have better, or worse, or just different pizza, from others, and I pass by them often enough, and I've generally like their pizza enough, to want to try more.
Recently I stopped at the Mt. Hope Avenue Pontillo's. I got a cheese slice and a broccoli/tomato slice.
The cheese slice had a dry, firm underside that displayed some light charring. A little corn meal was visible underneath, as was a tiny bit of oven soot.
The crust was of thin to medium thickness, but this was a heavy slice. Some of the heft came from the thick, bready cornicione, but there was also a fair amount of cheese. It had migrated a bit away from one corner, due to the dough puffing up in the oven, but this slice was on the cheesy side, though not overly so. The cheese appeared to be all mozzarella, and had just slightly browned.

In contrast, the slice was relatively light on the sauce. It had been applied thinly and some of what was there had either evaporated or soaked into the top layer of the crust.

The broccoli/tomato slice was of comparable thickness, though with a cornicione that was thinner but more hollow and puffy than the cheese slice. The underside was well browned and crackly, though softer near the tip (not unusual, as whatever liquid there is on top tends to gravitate toward the center of the pie).  A little oil also seemed to have seeped in toward the middle of the pie on this one, perhaps after it was sliced, but it wasn't overly greasy.

The tomato slices were pretty flavorless, but I should've expected that. It's rare to get a fresh tomato at any sort of restaurant around here with much flavor. Your best bet is to look for smaller varieties, like plum, grape or cherry tomatoes.

The broccoli added more aroma and flavor. There wasn't a lot of it, but there was enough to notice. The cheese on this white slice was uniformly spread, and though it was a little oily on top, that's typical of a white pizza, which is often given a brushing or drizzle of oil before the toppings are applied. Even without that, melted fat that exudes from the cheese has no tomato sauce to mix with, so it's more noticeable on a white pizza.

To sum up, both slices were pretty good. The cheese slice could've used a tad more sauce, for my taste, and the tomato broccoli slice was a little on the bland side - good, but next time I'd give it a shot or two of grated Romano and red pepper flakes. Or I might go for a spinach and artichoke slice, which also looked good. These were better than average slices of pizza, and I'll give them both a B.
Pontillo's, 1687 Mount Hope Ave. 14620
(585) 442-6865
Hours: Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. - Sat. 10 a.m. - midnight, Sun. noon -10 p.m.

Cam's, Mt. Hope

A couple of people have asked me to review the Cam's on Mt. Hope Avenue near Elmwood. I've made a couple of stops there, so here's a report.
I have found Cam's to be pretty consistently good. As regular readers know, I'm no fan of chain pizzerias, but I have been impressed with the job that Cam's does of turning out reasonably good, New York style pizza, at numerous locations. And this was, generally, no exception.
On one visit, I got a cheese slice and a stuffed slice, something I don't remember seeing before at Cam's. It may have been there all along, I just never noticed.
The cheese slice was decent, with some spotty, light charring underneath. It did seem unusually thin, so much so that the crust lacked any bready interior, except along the edge. Maybe it was just me, that day, but although there was a bit of toastiness underneath, the crust also seemed a tad bland, as if there wasn't enough salt in the dough.
A good New York style slice should strike a balance between crispness and pliability. This came close, but the needle seemed to be tilting a little more toward the "pliable" end of the scale. So while the crust was OK, it mostly served as a platform for the sauce and the cheese.
Speaking of which, the sauce and cheese were pretty good. The sauce was slightly sweet, with some herbs in the background, and the slightly browned cheese had a slight tanginess that balanced it out well. (Cam's menu says that they use Grande® mozzarella, which many pizza connoisseurs consider among the best.)
Next up was a slice topped with cheese and pepperoni, and stuffed with sausage and pepperoni. As you can see from the cross-section photo, it wasn't as heavy, or thick, as it sounds. The bottom, and top, crusts were paper-thin, almost as if they'd managed to take the thin crust from my cheese slice and slice it in half horizontally. And the stuffing, while certainly noticeable, wasn't, well, overabundant. Don't get me wrong - it was a tasty, well-balanced slice. I'm just saying, don't confuse this with a deep-dish or casserole-type pizza.
That said, this was a heavier slice than the cheese slice, since it was mostly meat. The cheese layer was also thin but solid, covering the entire slice. Neither it nor the underside were as browned as on the cheese slice. The pepperoni slices on top were hardly necessary, but added some additional flavor.
On a separate visit, I got a Buffalo chicken slice, and a white-pizza veggie slice, which made for a more nutritionally balaced duo than on my other visit. The former came with finely diced chicken, tossed in a medium-hot Buffalo sauce, along with Ken's blue cheese dressing and mozzarella. A smattering of banana pepper rings added a vinegary edge and a bit more heat, although the overall flavor profile still hovered around medium. If you're tolerant enough of spicy food to be ordering one of these, then I'm sure you'd have no problem with the heat level on this one.
At first, I thought the veggie slice was Cam's take on a Margherita, but no, that's not basil, that's spinach, and that's feta, not fresh mozzarella.
Cam's veggie pizza is described as being topped with "fresh spinach on a bed of garlic butter & Grande mozzarella with your choice of tomatoes or artichokes, finished off with feta cheese crumbled over the top" (obviously this one had tomatoes). Those made for an enjoyable combination.
When I was a kid, I loved Popeye cartoons, but they never convinced me to eat spinach. In fact, I've long thought that Popeye cartoons were pro-spinach propaganda, but now I realize that they probably did more to turn me off spinach than anything else. I knew that if ate spinach (canned spinach, no less), my biceps wouldn't really blow up like a balloon, nor would I be able to turn an alligator into a matching set of luggage with one punch from my cinderblock-size fists, but I did get the impression from those cartoons that kids were expected to hate spinach, so I refused to touch the stuff.
Of course, the spinach on my family's dinner table at that time was usually the frozen kind, which is about as appetizing as the stuff you clean out of your gutter in late fall. So it was a revelation for me to discover, as an adult, that fresh spinach leaves are actually not bad. Not on my favorite-foods list, but not bad, and they contributed a nice flavor here, which was well complemented by the sharp, salty feta, garlic butter and tomatoes. Even the tomatoes were reasonably good - they looked to be Roma tomatoes, which in the off-season especially, are often a better choice than so-called "slicing" tomatoes.
I'm not going to individually rate all these pizza slices. I will say that in general, they were typical of Cam's - reliably good, if not quite top-tier, thin-crust pizza. The crusts were decent, reasonably crisp, with some light charring, and the toppings were of good quality and tasty. I'd say these average out to about a B-plus.
Cam's Pizzeria, 1290 Mt. Hope Ave., Rochester 14620
Tel.: 256-7437 (PIES)
Hours: Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 10 p.m.