Salvatore's, East Main St., Rochester

Salvatore's is one of the biggest, and may be the best known, of the local/regional chain pizzerias in the Rochester area. According to their website, the East Main Street location is the original Salvatore's. Although I'm philosophically opposed to the idea of chain pizzerias, I figured I'd try to give them a fair shake, as I've explained earlier, and the original location seemed like the best one to try.
I didn't get a whole pie, but a "Super Slice," which is essentially two slices, or one quarter of a pie; in fact, it comes sliced in two, right down the middle. It was fresh out of the oven and piping hot.
It was thick--quite thick, I think, even by Rochester standards. It was relatively light, though, and the thickness seemed more attributable to how much the dough had risen than simply to how little it had been stretched out. The air holes, though, were pretty small, and the dough was fairly bland, suggesting a fast rise from the yeast, which will yield less flavor than a long, slow rise.
The exterior of the crust was very crunchy, and the bottom was more golden brown than charred. The interior had a texture and flavor reminiscent of a one of those soft "dinner rolls" you get at some restaurants. There was some grease from the pepperoni, but otherwise it wasn't a greasy crust.
The cheese was applied pretty liberally (their website describes a Super Slice as "double mozzarella"), and was rather stringy; you could cut it with a pair of scissors from one slice to the next. The sauce was on the bland side and was overwhelmed by the cheese. The pepperoni was wide and thin, with a pool of grease on each slice that you could soak up with a napkin if you so desired.
The bottom line? Trying to put aside my prejudices against chains, I don't think I would ever call this a great pizza by any means. But it certainly wasn't the worst I've ever had, either. If I had to pick one adjective to describe it, it would be "bland." But that takes me right back to one of my primary objections to chains: they tend toward blandness and mediocrity. In other words, they're more interested in not offending anyone's tastes than in provoking a strong reaction, positive or negative.
Then again, to become successful, and have sustained growth the way that Salvatore's has, you have to be doing something right. I don't care for food snobs any more than I do for chain pizzerias, so let me just say that while you won't catch me eating at Salvatore's too often, if you want a fast, hot, filling, low-cost ($3.25) lunch, you could do worse than a Salvatore's Super Slice. I'll give them a C.

Joe's Brooklyn Pizza, Jefferson Rd., Henrietta

Joe's Brooklyn Pizza opened a few months ago in the Tops Plaza on Jefferson Road in Henrietta, just off 390. It's basically a renamed, transplanted version of the Pizza Stop that had been in Midtown Plaza, until Midtown was cleared out to make room for ... well, we're still not sure what they had to make room for, but anyway that's what happened.
Don't quote me on this, but my understanding is that Joe's is run by the brother of the guy who owns the Pizza Stop on State St. downtown, and that they grew up in Brooklyn and then Long Island, where their father ran a pizza shop. So they have some cred as purveyors of NY-style pizza.
The pizza at Joe's is close, but not identical, to that at the Pizza Stop. The crust is about equally thin, foldable but not floppy, but struck me as a bit crunchier than Pizza Stop's. The underside showed plenty of charring - a bit darker, in fact than you can tell from the photo - but seemed to have a more uneven surface than the pizza at Pizza Stop, so the charring, though widespread, was more spotty, giving the underside sort of a mottled effect.
Despite the well-cooked underside, the toppings were not burnt or dried out, meaning that the ovens are kept at a good, high temperature. The sauce, which is homemade, had a noticeable presence, with a more herbal flavor than Pizza Stop's. My palate is not expert enough to identify the particular herb(s), but think of an "Italian seasoning" blend and you'll get the basic idea.
The cheese seemed like basic mozzarella, and was baked just enough to develop some nice brown blisters while retaining a bit of elasticity. The pepperoni slices also had a nice crunchy edge to them.
Joe's has a pretty wide variety of toppings available, including clams, garlic, shallots and prosciutto. In addition to whole pies, there are a number of slices to choose from, including thin "Brooklyn" style and thick "Sicilian" style (is that just a fancy name for sheet pizza?). And there are several "specialty" pizzas on the menu, such as "Aunt Rose's Spinach Pizza" and "Grandpa's Pizza," which is topped with tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, peppers, garlic, shallots, olive oil, romano, mozzarella and basil. Wow.
Unless you count calzones, pizza is all they do at Joe's. (June 2010 update: Joe's now serves wings, either plain or Buffalo.) There are a few tables, not many, and according to their website, delivery service will be offered "soon."
If you go, by the way, Joe's is not in the main building where Tops is. It's in a separate building closer to Jefferson Road between Moe's Southwest Grill and something called Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
Oh, one last thing - the RocWiki site contains more than one negative comment about the staff at Joe's being rude. I can only speak for myself, but I didn't see or have any problems along those lines. Maybe things are different at lunchtime when it gets busy, I don't know, but I hope those were isolated incidents because the pizza here is too good to see this place go under due to customer service issues.
Having another option around town for authentic NY-style pizza can only be a good thing, especially in the land of malls and chain restaurants. Every pizza shop should be judged on its own merits, but given the history here it's hard not to mentally compare Joe's with the Pizza Stop. A side-by-side taste test would be fun, but at this point I have to give a slight, shall we say crust-thin edge to Pizza Stop, if only because it's still, to me, the gold standard for New York style pizza in Rochester. So I'll give Joe's an A-.
Update, 8/3/09: went back recently for a Sicilian slice with pepperoni and a thin slice with sweet peppers and sausage. Both were very good. The thin slice seemed even more charred than last time, but still not burned, with just surface charring. The thick Sicilian slice was not charred, which makes sense - put a thick pizza dough directly on a surface hot enough to char it, and the underside will burn before the inside is cooked through. Despite its thickness it was still fairly light in texture, not too dense, and not greasy underneath like a lot of "sheet" pizzas. I'm still a thin-crust guy but this was a nice change of pace.
I was mostly just enjoying my pizza and wasn't paying especially close attention to it, but I'll have to go back sometime, as Joe's may need to get bumped up to an "A".
Update, 11/12/09: After another visit, I have moved Joe's up to an "A". For the full review, go here.

Brandani's Pizza, W. Henrietta Rd.

Brandani's has been around for over 20 years now on West Henrietta Road in Brighton. They make what, to me, is a classic Rochester pie. And they have ice cream to boot.
Let's start where it all begins, the crust. Brandani's is thick - a good inch thick. At the edge, it's a full inch and a half.
I love thin-crust, New York style pizza, but this was a good crust. It was firm on the outside, and soft, bready and chewy on the inside, with a flavor reminiscent of a freshly baked, crusty baguette. The many interior air holes indicated that the dough had been allowed a long, slow rise, which makes for both great bread and a great pizza crust. The underside was a bit charred, with a dusting of flour, and not at all greasy.
The crust was clearly the star of the show, as it should be, but the toppings played a nice complemetary role. The cheese, which seemed to be all basic mozzarella, was distributed fairly evenly, in a moderate amount, enough to stand up to the thick crust but not too heavy or gloppy. The sauce was applied with a slightly more restrained hand, and had a straightforward, bright tomatoey flavor.
Brandani's offers a few "specialty pizzas," nothing too wild, unless you count the "pizza patate" with sliced potatoes and rosemary. They also have one of the widest selections of slices I've seen, with a bunch of sliced pies with different toppings ready to go at any given time. (Of course you can always just ask for a given topping to be added to a cheese slice but it won't be the same as if the topping has been baked with the pie from the start.)
Brandani's also has wings, which were pretty good - nice and meaty, with a slightly "barbecuey" flavor to their Buffalo sauce, and calzones, carnival-style fried dough and french fries.
And they have ice cream. I guess that's a seasonal thing because there didn't appear to be any on my visit, but that sounds like a good combination for a hot summer day, which shouldn't be too far away. There are a few booths and a couple picnic tables, although the parking lot doesn't look to me like the most inviting place to eat. They also deliver, and are closed Sundays.
I'm still a thin-crust guy. For one thing, you can eat more slices before you get full, plus I think you can get a better balance of crust, cheese, sauce and toppings with a thin crust. But make no mistake, this was good pizza, in what I think of as "Rochester style." It's built from a foundation of what is, basically, good bread dough, which is where all great pizza starts. It may not have converted me to thick crust, but I give it an A.
Brandani's Pizza, 2595 W. Henrietta Rd. 272-718o
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sun. 12 noon - 7 p.m.
Pizza Guy note:  for a more recent review, go here.