Friday, February 10, 2012

Pizza D's, Mendon

Thanks to a reader, I learned about the recent opening of a new pizzeria in Mendon, Pizza D's. (I try to keep up with pizza openings and closings, but I do rely a lot on readers to keep me up to date, so please let me know of recent discoveries.) Pizza D's occupies the former site of  a Pontillo's pizzeria.
I ordered an 18-inch large pie, half pepperoni, half sweet peppers and onions, along with some wings.
The crust on my pie was thin to medium, with a dry, firm bottom that I would call "nearly" charred. It had some dark brown areas that weren't quite blackened. I'm guessing Pizza D's individual slices would be good, as a reheating would give the underside a little more of a charred, toasty flavor and aroma. But it was pretty good as it was. The bottom was lightly dusted with corn meal, not much, but just enough to help slide it off the peel.
The crust was topped with a moderately flavored sauce. It was the type I call "middle of the road" - tomatoey, not too salty, not too sweet, not too "herbal". If you like an assertively flavored sauce, you might consider this on the bland side, but I liked it, and it also had a good texture, neither dried out nor watery.
The cheese was just a bit browned. Pizza D's uses whole milk mozzarella, with a pinch of Romano. I can't say that I tasted the Romano, but the mozzarella was pretty good, not stringy or gooey, but also not dried out or oily. The three parts of the pizza trinity here - crust, sauce, and cheese - were well balanced and blended well.
The extra toppings were good too, nothing remarkable, but good. The pepperoni slices were thin, with a slightly crisp texture and meaty flavor, and the veggies were fresh.
The edge of the crust was medium thick, and displayed some nice breadiness, as seen in the bottom photo. All in all, a good pie.
No photos, I'm afraid, but the wings were pretty good too, with a reasonable amount of meat on their bones and a true-to-style medium Buffalo sauce. I ordered mine regular, but Pizza D's also offers "Char-B-Q" wings, which are fried and then grilled for some extra crunch and grilled flavor. I plan to try those next time. Oh, and they serve celery sticks with their wings, which you don't always get anymore, but which I still like (and they were crisp, not bendy).
Which means I think there will be a next time. I often feel like "so many pizzerias, so little time," so I don't always get back to places as soon as I'd like, but Pizza D's will be on my go-to list. This was good pizza, a bit generic, perhaps, but well made. And considering that they'd only been open a short time when I went, that's pretty promising for the future.
If you go, you should know that Pizza D's offers a very wide range of toppings, including - and this may be a first around here - black truffle oil. By my count, there are 13 specialty pizzas available. I'll give a special mention to "The Godfather," which comes with red sauce, chopped garlic, mozzarella, and ... are you ready? pepperoni, capicola, salami, meatballs, pastrami and Italian sausage. I don't think that's for me, but it deserves note for the sheer abundance of meat on one pizza.
Pizza D's wings also come with several varieties of sauce, and they serve hot and cold subs, calzones, pasta, finger foods and salads. There is some seating, and they deliver for a $2 charge.
So - I liked this pizza. I won't give it a top rating, not because I didn't like it, but only because, as good as it was, it wasn't particularly distinctive, and so it wasn't something I would drive many miles out of my way for. If I lived on the other side of the county, I could probably find something roughly equivalent closer to home.
But, having said that, this was a well made, tasty pizza, and certainly a good option for folks in the Mendon area. That's good enough to rate a B+ from me.
Pizza D's, 1350 Pittsford Mendon Rd. (Mendon Commons), Mendon, NY 14506
Tel.: 582-6087
Hours: Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 9 p.m.

14 comments:

  1. Pizza Guy, after examining (carefully) the top and underside of the pictures of Pizza D’s in your review, I ‘KNEW” there was uncanny resemblance to ‘another’ style of pizza popular in the greater Rochester area. Take a look at there web site and read the ‘Welcome to Pizza D’s’ Home page and you will understand what I mean.

    http://www.pizzadsmendon.com/



    STM

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  2. I assume you're talking about their past experience at Pontillo's. And of course this was once a Pontillo's location. This pizza certainly bore some resemblance to a typical Pontillo's pizza. Which is not a bad thing. But it does relate to the somewhat generic style of this pizza.

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  3. Factoid:

    The former owner of Pontillo's in Mendon(Don Woodring) is also the present owner of the Pontillo's in Pittsford(Village) and the Pontillo's on Ridge Rd West in Greece.


    STM

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  4. The pizzeria landscape in Rochester, NY and its surrounding areas is ‘littered’ with Pontillo refugees.

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  5. I have been into Pizza D's twice since their opening, the staff is friendly, the place is clean and the food is excellent! Although it does resemble a Pontillos style pizza, it has taken all the flaws that the pontillos recipe had and has produced a far better final product. There is a lot to offer on the menu other than pizza as well, the charbbq wings are excellent! The employees that opened the store have had a lot of experience and have now uped the competition for pizza in the Rochester area, my business is now with Pizza D's over Pontillos, Clemenzas and Marks. Not to mention the old owners of the Mendon Pontillos produced pizza that they clearly didn't care about, the inside of the building, the employees, and the food was, with lack of a better word, horrible. As Pontillos once was considered the best pizza in Rochester, it has fallen to poor quality, service, and is extremely inconsistant. Pizza D's took the dump that Pontillo's once produced food out of and completely renovated the building. I wish the owners of Pizza D's the best of luck and in my opinion they have the opportunity to be the best pizza in Rochester.

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  6. I couldn't agree with you more (anonymous from 2/11) We ordered from Pizza D's and we were more than pleased. The whole experience from the staff to the food was perfect. The crust on our pizza was considered the normal crust and it was thin, tasty and crispy - delicious! We ordered charbbQ wings and they were some of the best we had. The extra step of grilling them made the wings crispier and tasty and you could actually get a little grill falvor. The prices are also not too high either. We will definitely be ordering from them again. Glad to see that another pizza place in the area and one that serves not just "traditional" pizza.

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  7. Thank you Pizza Guy we appreciate you coming in and taking the time to try out our new business! We appreciate your opinions and take them very seriously, although we have only been open for less than two weeks we are always looking for ways to improve our product for our customers. We look forward to your next review of our other menu items. We appreciate all comments and hope to provide the best service and product to everyone!! – Pizza D’s

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  8. I tried the pizza and would consider it nothing more then a franchise style pizzeria at best. Yes, the place is new and very clean which is a great improvement over the old Pontillo's. But truthfully, that is all I found this place to be, a cleaned up version of PONTILLO'S. Where is the originality? I was hoping for something more from this "new" pizzeria. I am afraid we got the same food quality as the previous establishment. I wonder who funded this pizzeria? Hmmmmm could be a great way to salvage a ruined Pontillo's location. Some remodeling and different name.......I wonder........ food is the same..... Good Luck

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  9. I found there pizza no different then a washed up pontillos . Where is there own identity. There pizza was heavenly seasoned with oregano and I thought the sauce was salty. I have had better pizza in the area!

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  10. I have followed your pizza blog for a months. I agree with the last two comments as well as the first two in that this is a Pontillos pizzeria with a new look, name and some menu additions. They should have just paid a franchising fee and made it into a Pontillo's. The one manager worked at Pontillo's for the past 5-10 years basically stealing Pontillo's recipes. Come on are you serious? Who do you think that you are kidding? Pontillo's should hire a lawyer and seek a judgement against this pizzeria. Further, how can you award this place a B plus? Pizza Blog guy go back and critique all of Rochester's original big pizzerias. All of us have tasted Salvatores, Marks, Pontillos, Pizza Hut, ect. This will really give us insight as to your true pizza expertise. It will also allow us to make our own decisions about how good of a pizza critic you really are. Signed a pizza lover.....

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  11. First, I appreciate all the comments.
    In rating this pizza, I wasn't particularly concerned about whether it was like Pontillo's. I rated it based on the pizza itself. And I liked it. I thought it was tasty and well made. It's a place I'd go back to.
    But for the record, I generally like Pontillo's pizza. You can see for yourself by searching "Pontillo's" on this blog. So while I wasn't mentally comparing this to Pontillo's, any similarity between them is not a big issue to me.
    I have reviewed Salvatore's, Mark's, and Pontillo's. Again, search the blog posts. I have not reviewed national chains like Pizza Hut but I can tell you that I don't like Pizza Hut pizza. Too greasy. Domino's is too soft. I haven't had a Papa John's in a long time.
    Just like with movie critics, I know there are readers who have completely different tastes from me when it comes to pizza. So if you find yourself consistently disagreeing with my reviews, well, take them for what they're worth. Regardless of whether I liked it, I do try to describe it objectively, so you can at least form an idea of whether you might like it. And I think my description here was pretty accurate. If you think I misstated something, please point it out, and if I agree, I'll correct it.

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  12. My guess is that the pro-PizzaD's comments are all from one person (somehow connected to the establishment) and the anti-PizzaD's comments are also from one person (with a vendetta against the establishment). If there was any way to check the IP addresses of the comments above, I would do that.

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  13. There absolutely is a way to follow a ‘digital paper trail’ via URL (Uniform Resource Locater’ and/or IP Address, to trace the origin of most emails. Of course, skilled or knowledgeable individuals could “mask’ their IP address or use ‘proxy servers’ on or offshore to maintain their anonymity.

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  14. Just ate at Pizza D's and wanted to blog about the great pizza I had for lunch today.. can't believe all you people who took the time to write this stuff..most of these comments are ridiculous! Either like the pizza and support new local business owners or don't... but either way get a life!

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