Pontillo's, Batavia

My wife and I recently had occasion to travel to Batavia, so while I was there I made a point of stopping by Pontillo's for lunch. This is site of the original Pontillo's, and that makes it one of the oldest pizzerias, in the same location, in Western New York. These days, there is no direct connection between this Pontillo's and any of the Pontillo's that most of us are familiar with in the Rochester area, but that's a whole soap opera unto itself. But in short, the Pontillo's in and around Rochester are part of a loosely knit chain, while the Batavia Pontillo's is a stand-alone location. Some might question whether the Batavia Pontillo's can really claim a direct lineage to the original, but it's the same place at least, and there is one Pontillo brother involved in the Batavia business.
I was curious, then, to see how the pizza here would compare with  what I've had at various Pontillo's in Monroe County. Although I've seen a number of comments to the effect that the pizza varies widely from one Pontillo's location to another, I've found a definite consistency within the Pontillo's chain, in certain respects, particularly with regard to the crust, which tends to have a somewhat charred underside, sometimes nearly black in some areas but browned elsewhere.
We each ordered a small pizza. I ordered a small with "Sicilian sauce," which was supposed to be just crushed tomatoes, garlic, herbs and Romano, but I was given a regular cheese pie instead, with "regular" red sauce. In the waiter's defense, I may have confused him because I first ordered a plain cheese pizza, but then asked for Sicilian sauce. Maybe I should've just ordered a Sicilian to begin with. But on our check, there was no mention of Sicilian anything, so I think the order just went in as a plain cheese pizza.
My wife got a "Siena," which was topped with Gorgonzola, balsamic vinegar, mozzarella, grilled chicken and eggplant.
The crust on both was similar, on the thin side, nice and crisp though not charred underneath at all. The crust on the Siena was a little oily, probably from the toppings, particularly the eggplant, which had been deep fried.
Nonetheless, both undersides had a nice combination of chewiness and crunchiness, and the undersides were lightly dusted with cornmeal. The edge was thick, bready and chewy.
The cheese on my pizza was laid on a bit heavily, and was rather stringy when the still-hot pizza arrived at our table. The cheese contributed not just texture, but a pleasant, mild melted-mozzarella flavor.
The sauce was added in moderation, and had a simple tomatoey flavor, with a few bits here and there of what looked like fresh shredded basil, but they were so tiny that I was unsure if they were fresh or dried. It was a perfectly acceptable sauce, though it left me wondering what the Sicilian would've been like.
Although my wife was a little disappointed that her eggplant was breaded and deep fried (I can't stand eggplant in any form, although deep-fried is probably least offensive to me), she was otherwise was very happy with the pie. It was a little oily, as I mentioned, but the flavor was good. I never would have come up with that particular combination of toppings, but they worked quite well together, especially with the sharp Gorgonzola playing off the sweet acidity of the balsamic vinegar.

As a full-service restaurant, the Batavia Pontillo's has an extensive menu. The takeout menu I grabbed on the way out doesn't mention it, but I'm positive I saw clam pizza on the menu at my table, and there are a handful of other specialty pizzas available. They also offer a range of pasta dishes, salads, soups, subs, wing, and sides, as well as beef on weck, which I also love. The $8.99 lunch buffet includes unlimited salad, soup, pizza, baked ziti, dessert and a non-alcoholic beverage.
Speaking of beverages, there's a bar overlooking the kitchen area, though I don't recall if it's a full bar or just beer and wine. The ample seating is divided between the bar area and the adjoining dining room.
This pizza was certainly different from what I've gotten at Pontillo's in and around Rochester, at least as to the crust, which was not charred underneath. But it was nonetheless crisp and bready, and good enough to polish off the outer crust. The overall flavor on both pizzas was good too, and I'd like to go back sometime to try both the Sicilian and the clam pizzas.
I wonder if any oldtimers out there remember what Pontillo's pizza was like back in the late '40s or '50s. And I'd love to see a menu from the original place back then. I can't tell you who can better claim to represent the pizza of the original Pontillo's, but the Batavia location turns out a very nice pie, indeed, and I'll give it a B+.
Pontillo's Pizzeria Restaurant, 500 E. Main St., Batavia, 343-3333
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight

Lemoncello, East Rochester

Lemoncello Café in East Rochester has gotten a fair amount of press lately, with recent reviews in both the Democrat & Chronicle and City. But neither of those gave a tremendous amount of attention to Lemoncello's pizzas, so, with that in mind, I hope to avoid going over ground that's been covered by others.
Before I get to the pizza, though, allow me to digress for a moment. Just a pet peeve, but if you're going to choose a foreign-language name for your establishment, don't "dumb it down" by misspelling it. According to an earlier piece in City, Lemoncello is named after Limoncello, an Italian liqueur and digestif, but the owners "decided to change the spelling to make it more accessible for non-native speakers." In similar fashion, Le Bon Vie restaurant in Penfield misspells the French phrase "la bonne vie" ("the good life"), presumably because "le bon vie" - which improperly mixes masculine and feminine word forms - is supposed to be easier for non-French-speakers to read or remember. I'm not sure why that bugs me; maybe it's because it strikes me as condescending to the clientele, though I'm sure that's not the intent. But if you're a business owner, and you honestly think that your customers are going to have trouble with a correctly spelled foreign name, then why not pick a different name? I know, I'm probably the only person in the area who's pedantic enough to be bothered by that, but what can I say? We all have our hangups.
OK, back to the matter at hand:  a couple of friends and I recently had lunch at Lemoncello, one of the latest entrants onto Monroe County's suddenly burgeoning wood-fired pizza scene (which *sigh* remains almost entirely east of the river). The day being a bit too chilly to enjoy Lemoncello's patio, we were escorted past the front dessert-and-coffee bar to the back room, a cozy spot with an eclectic, distinctive decor, a small bar, and several tables.
One of my two companions and I each ordered a pizza, while the third member of our party got a panini and fries. I ordered a Napoli, which is essentially Lemoncello's version of a Margherita, as it is topped with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil. My friend, meanwhile, got a "Berlin," with tomato sauce, mozzarella, hot ham and mushrooms. (Nearly all the pizzas at Lemoncello are named for cities, though the connections were not always apparent, at least to me.)
Both pizzas were very thin, though the crusts were a little bit different from each other. The crust on the Napoli was dry underneath, and well browned in some areas, suggesting some hot spots in the oven. The underside was not really crisp or crackly, though it was quite firm, and didn't bend easily. The Berlin had a softer, somewhat floppy crust, but neither crust seemed to have risen much, and they lacked any real interior or crusty chew, with a texture that brought to mind a thin biscuit or chemically leavened flatbread.
Again, both of these were red pizzas, topped with a mildly seasoned tomato sauce. Despite being applied rather thickly, the sauce on the Napoli seemed a bit dried out, perhaps simply from evaporation in the oven. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since it concentrates the flavors and helps keep the dough crisp. The sauce on the Berlin, on the other hand, lying under a thick blanket of cheese, presumably hadn't lost as much water through evaporation, and the crust had indeed turned a bit gummy after spending a while on the plate.
The fresh mozzarella was plainly visible on the Napoli, but didn't have much of a presence. It seemed to have been sliced rather thinly, and tended to hide behind the more prominent flavors of the sauce. The same is true of the fresh basil, small shreds of which were scattered here and there, but not in enough quantity to make much of an impression on my palate.
As mentioned, the Berlin was covered by a thicker, more widespread layer of (processed) mozzarella. Not being a fan of mushrooms, I only sampled it, but in general it was characterized by bolder, more assertive flavors than the relatively understated Napoli.
Lemoncello features 13 red and 6 white pizzas on its menu, with some interesting topping combinations, perhaps the most unusual of which is the eponymous Lemoncello pizza, with olive oil, prosciutto, shaved Parmiggiano, fresh arugula, fresh tomatoes and lemon juice. First time I've seen lemon juice on a pizza, I think. Prices for each personal-size pizza run from $10.95 to $14.95. There's a fairly broad selection of other, mostly Italian, selections on the menu, including the aforementioned panini (which my friend enjoyed, along with his crisp, lightly seasoned fries). A full dinner menu is available after 5 p.m.
This is another review where I look back at what I've written and think, gee, this reads a lot harsher than I intended. I think that happens because it's often easier to find fault with pizza - well, with just about anything, really - than to identify what's good about it. Perfection, after all, is often simpler than imperfection (think of a perfect circle, for instance), as well as harder to describe (what's easier to describe - a beautiful face or an ugly face?). The more that a thing falls short of its Platonic ideal, then, the easier it is to point out its various flaws.
All of which is my way of saying, these weren't all that bad, but they did have, from my perspective, some flaws. The crust seemed rather lifeless, for one thing, and though the toppings tasted all right, they were a bit out of balance on my Napoli, with the fresh mozzarella and basil overshadowed by the tomato sauce. While the Berlin had good flavor, its crust also committed the sin of being gummy, which is particularly noticeable when the crust is that thin. On the plus side, there were some good flavors at work, and the crust on my Napoli was at least somewhat crisp. So while I wouldn't call these "average" pizzas (in the sense of being "typical" of local pizza), I think they deserve an average grade, and I'll give them a C.

Lemoncello Café and Lounge, 137 W. Commercial St., East Rochester 14445, 385-6741
Café open Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. till (?), Sat. & Sun. 11 a.m. till (?). Back bar and lounge open 4 p.m. till (?) daily. Kitchen open Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sat. noon - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 10 p.m.

A Word about Comments

I've deleted a couple of comments in the past few days. Let me just state a few ground rules:  generally, I let comments stand. I won't delete them simply because I disagree with them or because they are critical of me. I will delete them if they use profanity, if they are spam or intended only to promote someone's commercial enterprise, or if they contain personal attacks on individuals or could be considered defamatory. I also reserve the right to come up with additional grounds for deletion, in my discretion, as the need arises. Just so ya know.