An exploration of pizza in and around Rochester, NY, one pizzeria at a time
Friday, May 15, 2009
Surace's Pizza & Subs, East Rochester
Surace's is in East Rochester on West Commericial St., which is actually more of the "main drag" than Main St. I had a couple of pepperoni slices at lunchtime. (These are not "mega" slices.)
The crust was pretty thin, and didn't seem to have risen much, except along the edges, which were fairly thick, and where some big blisters had developed. One slice also nearly had a hole in the middle, and I'm guessing there had been a CO2 blister there that had been stretched nearly to the breaking point.
Obviously, no thin crust can have risen very much, but even a thin crust can have a nice, chewy/bready texture. This crust seemed a little gummy to me, especially on top. Maybe it sat too long with the sauce on it before going into the oven. The underside, which had just some faint charring, was a little greasy, although that seemed to be from sitting on a greasy pan after it came out of the oven rather than during the baking process, which would have made it crunchy. Where it wasn't greasy, the underside had a nice, slightly crisp surface.
The sauce was pretty good, a little herbal, about what I would expect on a typical New York style pizza. The cheese, which seemed to be 100% mozzarella, was laid on pretty thickly, a little too much for a thin pizza, in my opinion. As a consumer I hate to complain about being given too much for my money, but I could've done with a little less cheese.
The pepperoni was OK, pretty basic.
Surace's also offers hot and cold subs, wings, pasta dinners, and a Friday fish fry. They have a few specialty pizzas, but nothing too exotic. (The menu has something called an "Italian style pizza," but I have no idea what that is.) They're open 7 days a week till 10 p.m. and 11 on weekends.
This is going to sound more negative than I mean it to, but my impression of Surace's pizza was of a NY-style slice, only not quite as good as what you'd likely get in NYC. It had the thinness, and the overall flavor was good, but the crust was a little too gummy and not quite crisp/charred enough underneath, and to me the heavy layer of cheese threw it a bit out of balance. Don't get me wrong - put a Surace's pie in front of me and I would easily down several slices without complaint - but for me, this was pretty good, not great. I'll give it a B-.
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