An exploration of pizza in and around Rochester, NY, one pizzeria at a time
Friday, July 12, 2013
Glengarry Inn, Fairport
In September 2011, I did a post about The Argyle Grill at Eagle Vale golf course. It was OK, a sort of French-bread pizza that rated a C+. Probably not something I'd go back for, though.
However, in looking over the Eagle Vale website, I did notice that they also have a more formal restaurant, the Glengarry Inn, which also has pizza on its menu. Since the Grill and the Inn are separate facilities, and the menus are otherwise quite different from each other, I figured the pizzas were probably not alike, either. The Glengarry website also describes their pizza as "brick oven pizza," which sounded like a positive sign. So off I went, for dinner with my wife.
The Glengarry Inn has seven specialty pizzas on the menu. My wife assumed I'd go for the "New York Traditional," topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, but with, for lack of a better term, "gourmet" pizza, I often gravitate toward more interesting-sounding choices. In this case, I opted for the Tuscadore, with prosciutto, black olives, Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts & mozzarella.
Sad to say, what I got fell well short of my hopes and expectations. As usual, the culprit was the crust.
I think the photos pretty much tell the story. Not only did this seem like a premade crust, but it wasn't even good as premade crusts go. It was neither crisp nor soft, neither rigid nor supple, but just lifeless, like a stale flatbread that had been heated up for several minutes in the oven. That's really all I can find to say about it.
The toppings were better, but not nearly enough to save this pizza. And even they weren't outstanding - the black olives were, I believe, of the canned variety. Canned olives are OK, in a pinch, but I expected better. Other than that, the toppings were decent, but again, not enough to compensate for the dull crust.
What made this particularly surprising is that the rest of our food was quite good, and I really would like to go back sometime to try some of Glengarry's other dishes. Frankly my wife and I were both amazed that a restaurant that aims this high would even offer such poor pizza.
If you're interested, Glengarry's other pizzas include a Greek pizza with feta cheese, spinach, Kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil, a "California" (arugula, goat cheese, grape tomatoes and pine nuts), "Adirondack" chicken (diced chicken breast, wild mushrooms, Bermuda onion, roasted peppers & gorgonzola), a "Sicilian" white pizza with fresh garlic, herbs, mozzarella & ricotta, and a "Mediterranean" with extra virgin olive oil, artichokes, pepperoncini, sundried tomato, and mozzarella.
As I said, I would genuinely like to return to the Glengarry Inn. The menu included a number of tempting beef, chicken, fish and pasta dishes. My wife enjoyed her scallops, and other diners' food looked far more appetizing than mine. Our server was very capable, friendly but not intrusive, the atmosphere was pleasant, refined but not stuffy, and the live piano music was enjoyable. But the pizza? The pizza, I'm afraid, gets a D.
Glengarry Inn, 4400 Nine Mile Line Road, Fairport, NY 14450
598-3820
Mon. - Thu. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 4 p.m. - 11 p.m. Closed Sun.
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