About a month ago, Rochester was named the Best Pizza City in the U.S. This happens every so often, and I'm guessing other cities are similarly so-named occasionally. Somebody somewhere runs some numbers from online reviews, and looks at pizzerias per capita and declares that "[insert name of city] is the Best Pizza City in the country.
So while I doubt that Rochester truly deserves that distinction, I will say that we are blessed with a lot of good pizzerias, making a wide variety of styles of pizza.
Part of that is due to a trend that's been happening nationwide for years. You can go to East Fumbuck in the middle of nowhere these days and find a place offering wood-fired, "artisanal" pizza. It might or might not be good, but at least they're trying, and you've got an option besides the local convenience store (and even they've upped their game, as a result).
But part of it locally, I think, is that
Rochester had a pizza culture before the current pizza renaissance began. Pizza took early root here, thanks to the influx of Italian immigrants in the early 20th Century, and some of the old-timers are still around. We've arguably a local style, and now we've got even more choices.
Which gets us to
Forno Tony, which opened in January 2024 on University Avenue in Rochester, and focusing on Roman-style pizza. They started serving pizza from a location on East Avenue in 2022 one or two days a week, and drawing huge crowds.
I was aware of it, but for several reasons I just put it on my to-do list and never got around to it. It took my resuming this blog to get there. I went on a Friday around 11 a.m.
Walking in, one finds a takeout counter with a lot of choices, mostly pizza or variations thereof, plus some pastries. There were a few seats for dining in, but it was pretty much takeout.
The basic choice was between pizza alla pala and pizza in teglia. The names simply refer to how they're made: from a paddle or a pan. The former, also known as Roman-style pizza, is stretched thin into an oblong shape and slid into the oven with a wooden peel, while the latter is a thicker, pan-baked pizza, similar to focaccia. Or maybe it's just focaccia by a different name. If I've learned one thing over the years, it's that Italians have a lot of names for food.
You don't get slices here exactly, at least in the way most of us are used to, where you walk in and the pizza's already sliced. You get it by the cut, or al taglio, and charged by weight. And as in Rome, they cut it with scissors.
At this point, I will make one mild criticism of Forno Tony. They have an impressive array of choices, but they weren't labeled, and there was no visible menu. The person behind the counter ran through them for me, and perhaps that's the way it's done in Rome, but if you don't want to have to recite every variety over and over, why not put up today's menu, or small signs identifying each variety?
I settled on four choices. Two were alla pala and two were in teglia. I asked for pretty big cuts, so it ended up being eight regular-size slices.
One Roman slice (pizza rossa) was topped with nothing but tomato sauce, which is as basic as it gets. I'd be tempted to say it was close to what ancient Romans might've had, were it not for the fact that tomatoes weren't known in Europe until after Spanish conquistadores brought them back from the New World. (Incidentally, it also took a while for Europeans to realize that tomatoes aren't poisonous.)
It was crisp and crunchy, and despite its thinness, there were visible air pockets inside, which gave it a light but chewy texture. The underside was well browned but not charred, although there were some charred spots on the topside and along the edge, which added that extra bit of flavor. So simple yet so delicious.
My other Roman slice was similar, but topped with sliced eggplant and mozzarella. Eggplant is one of the few foods I dislike, but my wife loves it, so I got it for her. I tried it and leaving aside my distaste for eggplant, it was good. For one thing, the eggplant was sliced so thin that I wasn't bothered by the texture, which is my primary reason for hating eggplant. The mozzarella didn't hurt either. It appeared to be processed mozzarella but it was silky smooth and creamy.
I don't know if this was just a matter of chance, but this slice was also noticeably more charred underneath and along the edge. Perhaps because of the additional toppings, the pizzaiolo left it in the oven a bit longer to give it a little more time to bake.
(Speaking of the oven, from what I could see it was an electric oven, and I assume the digital display showing "585" referred to the temperature, not the area code.)
Moving on to the pan-baked pizza, I love red pizza with fresh mozzarella, so I got that. It was not all that much different from the alla pala pizza, aside from the thickness. Unlike typical American pan-baked "sheet pizza," it wasn't oily underneath. It had a firm texture and was again airy and light, showing the beneficial effects of a long slow dough rise. The mozzarella was melted just short of browning, which is perfect. The sauce seemed the same as on the other slices, slightly sweet in a tomatoey way, but perhaps a bit more concentrated from staying in the oven longer.
My fourth choice was a white pizza (pizza bianca), baked in the pan. I'm generally not a huge fan of white pizza, for a variety of reasons; they tend to be oily, for one thing. Plus I just prefer red sauce. But if I'm getting several varieties, I usually include at least one white pizza.
This one was topped with thinly sliced zucchini and, I believe, lemon zest. (Yes, the server explained everything. But at some point I lost track of what was what, which is why I wish they had a printed menu.)
There was some oil between the crust and the cheese, although not to an unpleasant degree or as much as with some white pizzas I've had. The yellow squash added more color than flavor, but the lemon zest and oregano sprinkles added some interest.
Forno Tony also sells a few sweets, and although I hadn't planned on getting anything other than pizza, one caught my eye. It looked a bit like a pretzel roll, split down the middle, filled with cream and topped with fresh raspberries. Turns out they are maritozzi, which is Rome's signature pastry. The counter server described it as a brioche bun filled with cream. They looked too good to pass up, so I got one maritozzo. I shared it later that night with my wife. It was a bit messy to try to cut in half, much less eat by hand after being split, but it was delicious and remarkably light (by "light," I mean texturewise, not caloriewise). Sorry I didn't get a photo, but the Democrat and Chronicle posted one here.
I will confess to a tendency to resist liking anything that everyone else is saying is great. If somebody tells me, "You've got to see this movie, you'll love it," I'm already predisposed to hate it. I can hardly say that Forno Tony has hyped itself--their web presence seems limited to an Instagram page--but I was both eager to try it and ready to say, "Overrated." It's not.
However--
Not long before I went, I was speaking with someone who'd been there. To paraphrase, they told me, "Yeah, it was good, but I like regular pizza, and it's not regular pizza."
I get it. By way of analogy, and to quote Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, I like beer. And I can appreciate a well-made IPA or stout or bock or whatever. But sometimes you just want a plain old beer. Fizzy and yellow and white and foamy on top.
And sometimes you just want plain old pizza, the kind you grew up with. You won't find that here. But we're blessed to have a panoply of pizza choices around Rochester, and this is a great addition to that array.
Forno Tony, 1350 University Ave., Rochester
Thu. - Sat. 9 am - 5 pm
closed Sun. - Wed.
