Slice Pizza Co., Churchville

Thanks to a very alert reader of this blog, I became aware recently of a new pizzeria in Churchville, Slice Pizza Co. It's located in the site formerly occupied by Mama Mia's.
I got a couple of pepperoni slices at lunchtime recently. Apart from the thick cornicione, the crust was quite thin, and the slices were on the floppy side.
The undersides were a mottled pattern of golden and light brown, and were dusted with corn meal. There were no screen marks. I wouldn't call them crisp, but they were reasonably firm; call them al dente. The cornicione was a little crisper, and had a satisfactory breadlike flavor.
There wasn't an abundance of cheese on these, but it was enough considering the thinness of the crust; too much cheese can easily overwhelm a thin crust. This cheese, however, hadn't melted all that well, and individual shreds were easy to see; the pizza didn't seem undercooked, so it may be the type of cheese that was used.
The sauce was a tad sweet, and again considering the thinness of these slices, they were on the saucy side. The thin-sliced Hormel pepperoni was average, and not too greasy.
Despite the sweetish sauce, through it all there was a certain saltiness to this pizza. I couldn't say if it came from the sauce, cheese or pepperoni. It wasn't overly salty or anything, but my tastebuds did pick up some salty notes.
Pizzas at SPCo come in four sizes, personal, small, large (16") and sheet (25x18"). They offer 19 toppings, and six specialty pizzas. Also on the menu are hot and cold subs, wings, various deep-fried and grilled items, plates, wraps, nachos and quesadillas. 
This pizza was OK, no complaints, but all in all it was about average for local pizza. The crust was decent but not as crisp as I would've liked, and the toppings were acceptable but again not outstanding. Worth a stop if you're passing through the area and wanting a slice or two, but that's about it. I'll give these a C.
Slice Pizza Co., 54 S. Main St., Churchville
293-9000
Mon. 4 - 10, Tue. - Thu. 11 - 10, Fri. & Sat. 11 - 11, Sun. noon - 10

Book Review: Championship BBQ Secrets for Real Smoked Food

Certain foods tend to inspire more passion in people than others. Pizza is a perfect example, but barbecue is right up there too. And although pizza is my particular food passion, I do love good barbecue. In fact I've toyed with the idea of expanding this blog, or creating a companion blog, to cover the local BBQ scene.
And I do take a stab at barbecuing at home every now and again. The results have generally been good, but it's a difficult art to master, if you really want to do it right.
I'm one of those people who, when they get into something, do research and read up on it, so they can get better at it. And so over the years I've amassed a small library of books on barbecuing.
The latest addition to my BBQ bookshelf is Championship BBQ Secrets for Real Smoked Food, by Karen Putnam and Judith Fertig. I recently received a review copy from publisher Robert Rose.
This is mostly a recipe book - over 80% of its 405 pages are devoted to recipes - but it starts off with a concise overview of BBQ basics, including various types of ovens and smokers, wood and other heat and smoke sources, and hot vs. cold smoking. The authors also offer advice for those planning to enter BBQ competitions, although with a few exceptions (such as choosing a team name), most of the advice relates to techniques that would be useful for the noncompetitive, home barbecuer as well.
One thing about the book that I particularly like is a section covering the basic process for various types of meat, such as pork ribs, beef brisket and chicken, accompanied by full-color photos. Those instructions then form the template, on which you can build by using the more detailed instructions for the individual recipes which follow. Those recipes cover everything from rubs and sauces to every kind of meat and cut you're likely to run across, and a few that you're not (cold-smoked ostrich, anyone?), as well as vegetables, fruits, cheese and nuts. Not every recipe is illustrated, but a color photo section does provide representative pictures from each chapter.
Karen Putnam clearly knows her stuff - she's got some BBQ world championships on her resume - and Judith Fertig presents the recipes clearly and simply.
This isn't the most comprehensive book on the subject that I've got, but not everybody wants or needs an 800-page tome every time they cook. Championship BBQ Secrets is thorough enough for all but the most hard-core BBQer, it's well organized, and it's easy to read. If I had to choose only one of my BBQ books to keep, that would be a very difficult decision to make. But as a solid manual on the art of barbecuing, with enough recipes and ideas to interest even an experienced 'cuer, this would not be a bad choice.
Book Title: Championship BBQ Secrets for Real Smoked Food
Authors: Karen Putnam and Judith Fertig
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Robert Rose (2nd ed. April 2, 2013)

Airport Pizzeria, Sodus

Last year, following the Wayne County Pizza Contest, I passed by a place that had apparently escaped the notice of the event's organizers:  Airport Pizzeria, on Ridge Road in Sodus. I was hoping that Airport could be included in this year's contest, but sadly, the contest was not held this year. So it was up to me to go investigate Airport Pizzeria on my own.
I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza, which is as good a benchmark as any for basic American pizza. The thin to medium crust was browned and somewhat floury underneath. The underside was pebbled with screen marks, but the bottom was reasonably crisp, unlike many screen-baked pizzas that I've had. It also had some pleasant toasty overtones and an enjoyably chewy texture. The narrow outer edge was nice and crisp.
The pizza was well balanced, with a good, but not excessive amount of cheese, sauce and pepperoni. Well melted and stretchy, the mozzarella was baked just nearly to the point of browning. The sauce was marked by a distinct flavor of herbs, though I had a hard time pinpointing exactly what it was. Oregano is common, but there was something going on here - some thyme, perhaps? - so maybe they used a blend of dried "Italian" herbs.
The thin sliced pepperoni was fine, if nothing remarkable. As pepperoni tends to do, its melted fat did add a thin layer of oil to the top of the pizza.
Airport Pizzeria is not just a pizzeria, but a bar and restaurant. It's on Ridge Road - which is not the same as 104 - about two miles east of the village of Sodus (which is not the same as Sodus Point). According to the menu, Airport makes its own dough and sauce (and mac salad, baked beans, wing sauces, meat sauce and chili) daily, on site. That makes Airport a true pizzeria, not just a bar that serves pizza - a bar that serves pizza, as often as not, uses premade pizza shells and sauce straight out of a can.
Airport's pizzas come in small, medium, large and sheet sizes, and they're available by the slice as well.  They offer 19 toppings, and six specialty pizzas. They also do calzones and stromboli, wings, hot and cold subs, wraps, burgers, salads, sides, and a few dinners, including fried chicken, the "Big Pappa Plate," fish fry (every day), and, on Thursdays, a NY strip steak with potato, salad and a roll, for (as of the date of this post) $12.95. If you're interested in a pizza and wing combo, ask about their specials, and you'll save a couple bucks or so.
This was good pizza. Not top rank, for me, but certainly worth checking out. If 2014 brings us a new Wayne County Pizza Contest - and I hope that it does - I would definitely want to see Airport Pizzeria among the entrants. I'm giving this a B.
Airport Pizzeria, 7740 Ridge Road, Sodus
(315) 483-0653
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 1:30 a.m., Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight, Sun. noon - 10 p.m.
Delivery available Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10:30 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m. - midnight, Sat. 11 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.

The Color Run 5k, May 4

Don't look for me to participate - I'm a "walk, don't run" kind of guy - but if you're a runner, check out next month's The Color Run™, which promises to be "the craziest, colorful, 5k of your life." Proceeds will benefit Teens Living with Cancer.
What is it? According to the organizers, The Color Run™ event is "a one of a kind experience that is less about speed and more about enjoying a color crazy day with your friends and family. For our events, it is about participants of all different speeds, ages, shapes, and sizes toeing the start line. Whether you are a casual morning mall walker or an Olympic athlete, the 3 miles of The Color Run™ course will be the most enjoyable real estate you’ve traveled in a VERY long time."
OK, there you have it. For more information, visit their website. Oh, and if you want to participate - enter code COLORNYPIZZA when you register online by May 1 for a $5 discount off the entry fee.

Finns Inn, Palmyra/Marion

On the eastern outskirts of what I consider the Rochester metro area, Finns Inn is a small roadside tavern with pizza on the menu. Bars with pizza are not always even on my to-do list, because often they simply rely on premade crusts, or shells, that they sprinkle with toppings and stick in an oven. Not worth writing home about, or blogging about.
Often you can tell those places because of the limited options on their menu. If a place only offers 12" pizzas, there's a good chance that they're using premade crusts. And pizza made with premade crusts generally sucks.
But when I looked at Finns Inn's menu, and saw three sizes of pizza, I figured they must make it more or less from scratch. They could buy their dough from elsewhere, but that's not so bad. As long as the pizza dough is raw when it goes into the oven, it could yield a very good pizza.
So on a recent eastward trek, I stopped in and ordered a medium pepperoni pie. A small would've been enough for me, but I think that a small is sometimes too small to give you a really good idea of what a pizzeria's crust is like - for that you need a pizza that's wide enough to have room both for a thicker cornicione along the edge, and a thinner middle. And I figured what I didn't eat right away I could save for later.
When it arrived, I could see that this pizza indeed was not made with a shell. A "shell" crust is typically so dried out that you can hold a slice by the edge and the point will stick straight out. This was much more pliable, with some surface cracking and a golden brown underside.
The crust had a biscuitlike texture, suggesting that the dough had a relatively low gluten content. (Which in itself is neither an inherently good or bad thing - from what I've read, many Italian pizzerias use relatively low-protein flour, which means less gluten.)
Although the individual components of this pizza didn't meld together particularly well, this pizza nonetheless is best described as a whole. And I can best describe it by saying that this pizza was a big sloppy mess, but I liked it.
There was lots of everything on this pizza - thick, gooey cheese, a liberal amount of pepperoni slices, and plenty of sauce to boot. But this was also not a knife-and-fork kind of pizza. It was made to be eaten with one's hands, which meant that a nearby handful of napkins was required.
The sauce had a bright, tomatoey flavor, and provided a liquid base for the well melted, stringy cheese. The thin slices of pepperoni were not remarkable in themselves, but were so abundant as to add considerable flavor and a chewy textural contrast to the rest of the pie.
The pizzas at Finns Inn come in small, medium and large sizes, and the modest list of toppings runs to just seven items. The rest of the menu is solid, bar-food fare like wings, burgers, and chicken sandwiches. Nightly specials include $1 tacos on Wednesday nights and wings for $5 a dozen on Monday nights. On Sundays, a large one-topping pizza and a pitcher of Bud or Bud Light will set you back just $14.
The roadside tavern is a uniquely American institution, as witnessed by the countless historical markers along our highways and roads. Finns Inn, which dates back to 1947, is a good current example. It's old enough to have gained some character, but I think it's no mere relic, and continues to serve as a meeting place for folks in the area.
Finns Inn also has one thing going for it that the taverns of our forefathers lacked:  pizza. This was a little sloppy to eat, but it tasted good, and you know, I think I just have a soft spot in my heart (or stomach) for these kinds of distinctive bar pies. If a "B" means that it's memorable, and worth going a little out of your way for, then I'm giving this a B.
Finns Inn, 3181 Rt. 21, between Palmyra and Marion
(315) 597-0067
Hours unknown, but I'm guessing it's open daily from lunchtime on. Call ahead to be sure.

Book Review: Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook

I was recently given a review copy of the TIME for Kids Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook:  Fun Recipes for Kids to Make! That's a long-winded title for a book that comes in at a relatively modest 160 pages, but it's a good starter cookbook for kids who are learning their way around the kitchen.
My nine-year-old daughter has recently taken on some cooking duties, and the recipes in this book are well designed for someone her age. The 80+ dishes here will generally appeal to kids, such as sloppy Joe sliders, quesadilla treats, and chocolate chip cookies. And there are more healthful but kid-friendly dishes like "broccoli trees" with Parmesan and "frushi" (fruit sushi). You'll even find a few ethnic dishes like Mexican posole soup and soba noodles with sweet & spicy shrimp.
Ingredient lists are short, typically no more than ten items long, with many coming in at six or fewer. And the instructions are likewise short, simple and easy to follow. A brief introduction covers some kitchen basics, like food safety and how to measure ingredients.
Each recipe is accompanied by a full-color photograph, and additional tips and food trivia are provided in the sidebars. One especially good feature of this book is its spiral binding, which allows the pages to lie flat for easy reference during food prep and cooking.
My daughter was excited to get this book, and it wasn't long before she prepared some very tasty chicken fingers (artfully plated in the photo) for our dinner. I'm looking forward to her taking on one of the pizza-related entries, such as Margherita panini, globe-trotter pizzas (made with English muffins), or pizza sticks (made with refrigerated pizza crust).
Yes, a lot of the recipes do call for prepared ingredients. But this is for kids, after all. The recipes, which run the gamut from breakfast to lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks, are complex enough to give kids the satisfaction of having genuinely prepared and cooked a dish (as opposed to just putting something in the microwave, or making a cold sandwich), without making them feel intimidated or overwhelmed. If you know a budding young chef, this book would make a fine gift, and a good stepping stone in his or her culinary education.
TIME for Kids Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook:  Fun Recipes for Kids to Make! (TIME for Kids Books 2013). 160 pp. $19.95 US, $21.95 Can.

Back to Fiamma

I've been pleased, though hardly surprised, to see that Fiamma continues to do well. For a long time, Rochester's and Monroe County's east side has held a lopsided advantage over the west side where wood-fired pizza is concerned, but Fiamma's opening in Gates has dramatically shifted the center of gravity for lovers of the style.
I gave Fiamma a rave review last October, and only the need to check other pizzerias off my list kept me from going back sooner, but I did make a return visit recently. This allowed me to stray from my usual diet of Margherita pizza, and check out some of Fiamma's other varieties.
In fact, I didn't even choose what kind of pizza to get from among Fiamma's wide array of traditional and specialty pizzas. Instead, I left it up to pizzaiolo Giuseppe Paciullo. He recommended the Positano, a "specialita" pizza that's topped with butternut squash puree, smoked mozzarella, basil, and spicy pancetta. Probably not something I'd be inclined to order, but I trusted him to steer me in the right direction.
My trust was amply rewarded, with one of the best pies I've had. Giuseppe told me that not many people order the Positano, probably because the toppings sound a little weird to the average customer. That's understandable, but it's also a shame. They don't know what they're missing. This pizza had a wonderful flavor that could hold its own with any more conventional, tomato-based pie. It also demonstrated how a few well-chosen ingredients can yield far more flavor, or at least more satisfying flavor, than you can get from an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach.
Not that I dislike squash, but aside from the orange hue, I never would have guessed that to be one of the toppings on this pie. Maybe it was the effect of pureeing and then cooking the squash, or the influence of the other toppings, but the squash flavor was toned down and subtle, rendering the overall flavor of this pie simultaneously familiar and difficult to pin down. The squash provided a sweet but not cloying base for the contrasting yet complementary smoky, savory and piquant flavors and aromas of the cheese, basil and pancetta. For all the relative simplicity of this pie, the result was a richness and depth of flavor that I've seldom found in any pizza.
One of my companions ordered the Diavola pizza, from the "Tradizionali" side of the menu. Topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Italian soppressata, basil, and spicy olive oil, this was basically a kicked-up version of a red pizza, not tongue-scorchingly hot, but with enough spice to add an extra dimension to the sure-fire combination of tomatoes, cheese, basil and thin-sliced cured meat.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the toppings on these pies, I don't mean to neglect the crust, which, for my money, is what truly makes Fiamma's pizza among the best that our area has to offer. After my first visit last year, I'd heard from a friend that one of her dining companions on another occasion had complained that Fiamma's crust was wet and soggy.
Well, yes, in a way. But as you can read here, that's what to expect with authentic Neapolitan pizza. That doesn't make my friend's friend "wrong" - I mean, you like what you like, and you don't like what you don't like - but yes, you will probably need to use a knife and fork to eat Fiamma's pizza, just as you would if you went to a pizzeria in Naples, Italy.
But I did mention that "wet" complaint to Giuseppe, to get his response. He attributed it to Americans' unfamiliarity with the Neapolitan style, telling me, "I never said that's the way [i.e., with a crisp crust] I make pizza. I say, 'this is Neapolitan pizza.' You know, it's like going to Chicago, eating the Chicago style pizza, and saying it's too thick."
And he raised another good point. Fiamma's pizzas cook in an incredibly hot, 1000-degree oven, where they spend about one minute before they're done. The result is a charred but not burnt crust, and toppings that are cooked but not blackened or dried out.
And a crust that, frankly, is not crackly crisp throughout. As Giuseppe put it, "Nothing that cooks in one minute can ever be crispy." Perhaps a "naked" disk of thin dough would get thoroughly crisp, but with toppings, a pizza dough simply cannot exude enough moisture in one minute to develop the firmness that is typical of American style pizza. In fact, Giuseppe said, in Italy, a pizzeria that served a customer a pizza with a thoroughly crisp crust would likely be met with an annoyed, "What did you serve me, a tile?"
Giuseppe also cited Fiamma's use of fresh mozzarella as a reason why his pies cannot be left in the oven long enough for the crust to get completely crisp. I love fresh mozzarella, but I know from experience that it can go from delectably creamy to unappetizingly rubbery in the blink of an eye. Fiamma's pizzas stay in the oven just long enough for the cheese to melt - any longer, and you'd end up with white Silly Putty, or worse.
Having said all that, I should add that on this visit, my pizza crust was not wet. No, this was not the kind of pizza that one could eat with one-hand, folded down the middle like a New York-style slice, but it certainly wasn't soggy, either. So just know, if you go there, what to expect, and what not to expect. And by all means, dare to stray from your pizza comfort zone. I'm glad I did.
Fiamma, 1308 Buffalo Road, Gates 14624
270-4683
info@fiammarochester.com
Mon - Thu: 11:45 am - 9 pm, Fri: 11:45 am - 10 pm, Sat: 4 pm - 10 pm, Sun: 11:45 am - 9 pm

Linda's New York Pizzeria

I've always been pretty pleased with the pizza I've gotten from Cam's Pizzeria, and despite my general skepticism about chains, they do a pretty good job of turning out good New York style pizza from their many locations in the Rochester area.
Some time ago, I learned that one of Cam's oldest locations, on Lyell Avenue, had become Linda's New York Pizzeria. I stopped in for a couple of lunchtime slices and was pleased with what I got.
My two pepperoni slices were thin - so thin, in fact, that they were translucent -and though they were more browned than charred underneath, they had a nice, crackly crust, with enough backbone to pass the fold test, meaning that the tip stood out, without flopping down, when the crust was folded and held horizontally. Despite its thinness, the crust also had a pleasing chewiness, although the thin cornicione along the edge was a little pale and not quite as satisfyingly breadlike as I might've liked.
The slices were topped with a thin layer of slightly sweet tomato sauce, with some flecks of dried herbs noticeable, and a thin layer of basic mozzarella, plus the aforementioned pepperoni. Given the thinness of the crust, the toppings were applied in good proportion; this crust was not meant to hold abundant, heavy toppings.
Besides a reasonable variety of slices, Linda's offers New York style pies in 12", 14", 16", and 20" sizes, as well as 16" x 16" Sicilian pizza and 17" x 25" sheets. The menu features about two dozen toppings, and six specialty pizzas, including a "New York deli" pie with ham, Swiss and mustard sauce, and a breakfast pizza, which is something of a specialty here - Linda's bills itself as "Rochester's original home of the breakfast pizza."
Linda's also serves wings, hot and cold subs, wraps, strombolis, calzones and sausage rolls, salads and several Italian dinners. There's a fair amount of seating, though the atmosphere is pretty stripped-down and basic.
On the website, Linda's features the slogan, "even better." I assume that means better than the Cam's that was here before. I'll withhold judgment on that, for now, but this was very good pizza. Aside from the cornicione, my only quibble would be with the cheese, which was OK, but not outstanding. It simply didn't have the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness that helps elevate a very good pizza to true greatness.
But again, very good pizza. I love a good thin crust, but not all thin crusts are good. There are a lot of things that can go wrong - too burnt, too flabby, too crackly - but this crust combined thinness with a crackly underside and a nice, breadlike chew. Not quite at the top of my list, but very good indeed, and it easily merits a B.
Linda's New York Pizzeria, 1219 Lyell Ave. 14606
458-8900
Mon. - Thu. 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 7 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Guerreri's, Gates

Recently a reader let me know that the Cordello's in Gates had closed and been replaced by a new pizzeria, Guerreri's. So I got over there and grabbed a couple of lunchtime slices, which with a drink set me back just five bucks.
I've had hit-and-miss experiences with Cordello's, but I never cared much for the pizza from the one in Gates. So I was hoping that this new place would offer something significantly better. In that, I was, sorry to say, disappointed.
When I got there, there were three types of slices available from the pies in the warmer:  plain cheese, pepperoni, and sausage with banana pepper rings. I opted for two pepperoni slices.
The first sign of trouble came from a look at the underside:  that all-too-familiar pancake bottom, with big air bubble craters and a browned surface that was slightly oily to the touch, although I wouldn't call it greasy.
The medium thick crust was hard and crunchy along the edge, but much softer and rather spongy toward the center. It was topped with a straightforward tomato sauce that had a good, if basic flavor, with a medium thick viscosity. Atop that lay a thin, uniform layer of melted, slightly browned and congealed mozzarella cheese. The shredded cheese hadn't melted together completely, and I could still see individual shreds. I'm not sure if that's a function of the type of cheese being used (I imagine that full-fat mozzarella melts better, though I don't know that for sure), the oven temperature, or some other factor. The thin sliced pepperoni was fine, nothing exceptional, but OK.
Guerreri's pizza menu lists fourteen toppings, and four specialty pizzas, including a potato pie topped with mild wing sauce, seasoned potatoes, mozzarella, cheddar, and bacon bits, served with sour cream. They also serve calzones, wings, hot subs, wraps, fried sides, and a daily fish fry.
Since it just opened recently, I'll hold off assigning a grade to Guerreri's. I was disappointed with these slices, but I'll stop by again sometime and see how things are.
Guerreri's Pizzeria, 2445 Lyell Road (near Howard), Gates.
429-7555

Mon. - Thu. 11 am - 11 pm, Fri. & Sat. 11 am - midnight, Sun. noon - 9 pm

Pizza Stop: Chicken Spinach Tomato slice

Just a quick post on a recent slice I had at The Pizza Stop, a place I've reviewed many times before. There's no point in reviewing the same consistently good cheese slices that I usually get here, but once in a while I try something different, so I like to report on that.
Recently I got, in addition to my cheese slice, a chicken-spinach-tomato slice. Particularly where New York style pizza is concerned, I don't tend to go for complicated specialty pizzas, but The Pizza Stop tends to keep it relatively simple, and when they do specialty pizzas, the toppings are generally well thought out.
So it was with the chicken, spinach and tomato pie. This may not have been a traditional Italian pizza, or based directly on an Italian dish, but it was in the spirit of great Italian cooking, with a few basic ingredients that added up to more than the sum of their parts.
On this slice, chunks of lightly browned chicken mixed with wilted shreds of spinach and tomato slices, on a bed of melted mozzarella, topped with shredded Parmesan. Nothing particularly exotic, but the toppings complemented each other well, with the browned chicken adding some meaty heft to the tangy cheese, sweet tomatoes (which weren't bad, for this time of year in upstate New York), and the slight vegetal bitterness of the spinach.
Those toppings could've saved even a weak crust, but fortunately in this instance they came atop The Pizza Stop's signature thin crust, which remains one of the best around. The chicken slice did not have quite the blackish, charred areas that you'll usually find on the thin crust pizzas here, but it was still nice and crisp on the bottom, with a pleasingly bready aroma, flavor and chew.
As I've said before, plain cheese will always remain my go-to pizza, especially when we're talking New York style pizza. But variety is good too, and if you're in the mood for a white pizza, The Pizza Stop's chicken spinach tomato pizza is a winner.
The Pizza Stop, 123 State St., Rochester 14614
546-7252
Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Closed weekends.