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Friday, April 24, 2009

Tony Pepperoni, W. Henrietta Rd.

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Tony Pepperoni has two locations, the original on W. Henrietta Rd. near Calkins Rd. and one in Greece on Latta Rd. just off 390. I checked out the Henrietta location at lunchtime, and it was quite busy, which I suppose is a good sign.
As you might expect at lunchtime, they do a lot of business in individual slices, and there are several to choose from, including one with french fries on it, which I assume is the "Tony Plate" pizza. Today I felt like a simple cheese slice, always the best measure of a pizzeria.
Tony P's slices are thin, though not quite as thin as a typical New York City slice; maybe a quarter inch thick. The underside was more brown than charred, but not greasy, and the slice folded nicely. The interior of the crust also showed some air holes, indicating that the yeast had some time to do its work.
Biting into it, there was a definite crunchiness to the crust, and since the cheese pizza had just come out of the oven, it was not due to reheating, so that was good. The sauce had a pretty straight-ahead tomatoey flavor, and was applied just enough to create a buffer between the crust and the cheese, which was melted to the point of creaminess, and a tad greasy (whole-milk mozzarella, perhaps?). Although I got a plain slice, I noticed that the pepperoni was of the cup 'n' char variety, small and crunchy looking.
These are not "giant" or "mega" slices, but a pretty decent size for my two bucks and change. Props to the counter guy, too, for picking out the biggest slice he had out of the pie, although I guess that means eventually somebody's going to get stuck with the smallest slice. They were pretty uniformly cut, though, so no big deal either way.
Tony Pepperoni offers thin, regular, and thick crust. I should've asked what my slice was, because it was pretty thin, but you would think that slices would be "regular." Hmm. They also do wings, which are advertised as "roaster" (i.e. big) wings, various specialty pizzas, sides, salads, calzones, and subs made with fresh-baked rolls.
There is some seating, including one outdoor table, and they deliver for a $1 charge.
All in all, this was a pretty good slice of pizza. Not world-class, but more than satisfactory, and I wouldn't mind getting a whole pie sometime. I'll give it a B.

4 comments:

  1. Living in Henrietta and not being a Rochester Native, I for years have struggled to find a decent delivery pizza that is acceptable to the whole family. My wife, being from Rochester tolerates Pontillo's. To me Pontillo' is the epitome of Rochester pizza, a big wad of thick, thick bread and I can't stand it. I don
    't mind Salvatore's(Scottsville Rd location but my wife and son find it greasy. Mark's (Scottsville) is pretty bad, Pizza Corner we tried a few times and I found it bland. We tried Tony Pepperoni off and on and liked the taste but found the crust to be soggy whenever I ordered it thin crust. Recently I started ordering thin crust from TP and asking them to bake it well done. The result is a decent pizza, with a nice zesty sauce (although a little salty!) and a chewy, cracker like crust, which doesn't bog me down. Until something else better comes along Tony Pepperoni will be the pizza I have delivered to my West Henrietta home.

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  2. Thanks for your comment. Just about any pizzeria will customize your pizza if you prefer it well done, thin, thick, etc. It never hurts to ask.

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  3. I liked the pizza with the "regular" crust, good Rochester style crust. I've found when pizzerias in western NY offers the 3 different crust options, the one in the middle is the one they're best at. Thin crust is difficult to master in western NY so I don't go looking for it often (although Cam's and Mia's Geneseo do it well). They have a great wing sauce, very flavorful. And the pizza here is pretty good. I agree with your assessment that the crust & cheese are very good and the pizza sauce is a bit bland ; could use some seasoning. Overall it was a good pizza and wing meal.

    Thought you might fancy an update since the last comments were old.

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  4. Thanks for the reminder. And I agree that most often, it's best to get their "regular" crust. If you order thin crust at a place that doesn't specialize in thin, it tends to be overly floppy and often burnt along the edge as well.

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