Fire Crust Pizza

As I mentioned on my Facebook page a few weeks ago, I noticed a new pizzeria opening on West Henrietta Road, under the name Fire Crust. I pass by there about once a week, so I've kept an eye on it. And when I saw last week that Fire Crust was open for business, I made a point to stop by for lunch, which I did, accompanied by a couple of friends.
This is another "fast casual" place, with an assembly-line type of operation. Choose your toppings, a la carte or from their list of available specialty pies, pay, and take your pizza to your table.
I decided to forgo my usual Margherita pizza, and instead opted for the Mediterranean veggie pie. The toppings of red sauce, feta cheese, tomato, red onions, banana peppers and black olives sounded too good to resist. One of my friends got a pepperoni pie and the other opted for the Aloha, a/k/a Hawaiian pizza, with red sauce, mozzarella, Canadian bacon, ham and pineapple.
Before I get to the pizza, let me say a bit about the preparation. As you can see in the photos, the crusts are prepared using a mechanical pizza dough spinner, and baked in what looks like a wood-fired oven, but which on this occasion showed no signs of fire. I should've asked, but I didn't. However I did notice that the temperature was set at, I think, about 750 degrees, which is 200 degrees hotter than most home ovens, and comparable to some wood-fired ovens.
As for the pizza itself, my pie was thin, but not super thin. The bottom showed a bit of charring and was dry to the touch. It was crisp but not crackly, and had enough interior chewiness to add some contrast. The cornicione was likewise slightly charred, not blackened, and chewy but not tough.
The toppings were pretty abundant, and tasty. For a pie that sells for $9.75 (before tax), I thought it was pretty good. There's also a $7.75 option called "Pi," but it's not clear from the menu what the difference is. I assume "pi" is just smaller, but I dunno. You can see the pizza/pi menu here.
I didn't sample either of my friends' pizzas, so all I can do on that score is pass along what they told me.  My friend who got the pepperoni pizza seemed satisfied -- at least he had no complaints to speak of -- and he agreed that for the price it wasn't a bad deal.
The friend who got the Aloha was much less happy. Her chief complaint was that the crust was soggy. I suspect that the pineapples were the main culprit. One more reason not to get pineapple on your pizza.
Besides pizza, Fire Crust has Pittsford Dairy ice cream available, and draft and bottled beer. I was going to order a soft drink, but was dissuaded by the $2.25 price, which seemed rather steep for a fountain drink. They also offer "fire roasted" wings, and panini and salads are promised to be available soon (maybe they are already, I just wasn't interested in either at the time).
So, some mixed results here. To summarize, I liked my pizza, especially for the price. Friend #1 thought his was satisfactory. Friend #2 didn't like hers and showed no inclination to go back. Given how recently Fire Crust opened and that array of opinions, I won't give it a grade, but based on my one experience, I'd say it's worth a try.

Fire Crust Artisan Pizza & Ice Cream, 4843 W. Henrietta Rd.
(585) 444-9086
Sun. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. - midnight

On the Web: http://www.firecrust.pizza/ (as of this writing, there's not much on the website)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/firecrust/

Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Henrietta

I don't often go to chain pizzerias, and I don't make it a point to review them. It's not simple prejudice; I just figure, reviewing a chain pizzeria is like reviewing McDonald's. Unless you just arrived from Mars, you already know what it's like, and there are scores if not hundreds of sites where you can get other people's reviews.
At the same time, this blog is a record of my pizza-eating experiences in the Rochester area. And I recently had occasion to dine on pizza at Uno Pizzeria & Grill in Henrietta, so I figured, why not do a review?
I was with a group of friends, and we shared two pizzas, as well as some sides. We got a "Numero Uno," topped with sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and chunky tomato sauce, and mozzarella and Romano cheese. We also got a "Farmers Market" pie, with caramelized onions, spinach, sun-dried and plum tomatoes, eggplant, pesto, feta, mozzarella and Romano.
I thought about pushing for one of Uno's flatbread pizzas, but decided against it. I may go back and try it sometime, but this time around I wanted to stick with what their signature style.

As always, the starting point for me is the crust. There wasn't much difference between the two, so I'll describe it in the singular. The crust was more crunchy than chewy. It clearly had been made with some shortening--in other words, fat--but it was not oily or greasy. It was reminiscent of a pot-pie crust, only thicker and a little airier.
Which is not to say that I didn't like it. I don't want to get into the debate about whether deep-dish pizza is really pizza, or a casserole, but this crust had a nice light crunch, and made a good base for the toppings.
I can't claim to judge how good these were as Chicago deep-dish pizza, given my limited experience with the style. I'm not even sure that Chicagoans prefer it over Chicago thin-crust pizza. I think a lot of Chicagoans defend it, as a matter of honor, but also look at it as a style that's largely what tourists get, while the natives are enjoying thin-crust pizza.
All that aside, I liked this. As thick as it was, the crust wasn't dense, and it had a good mouthfeel:  a little crunchy, but not brittle or crumbly.
The toppings were good as well. I have an aversion to both mushrooms and eggplant (it's a texture thing), but I was willing to overlook that in deference to my compadres. I just tried to pick the slices without so much of either.
Both pies had a thick layer of well-melted cheese, and the other toppings were evenly balanced. The spinach leaves on the Farmers Market pie were wilted but not burned, and the sliced tomatoes were softened but not overly dried. And both pies had an appealing mix of flavors.
So both pies were pretty good. Despite my disdain for chain restaurants, that doesn't surprise me. I presume that Uno hasn't been as successful as it has without having done its research. They know what people like and what they don't, and they know how to replicate what people like, in multiple locations, with consistency.
I was a little surprised to learn that Uno's dough is made in house, as opposed to being shipped in from a central location. Of course it's made according to a recipe dictated by the corporation, but it was interesting to know that they don't simply get a truckload of dough every morning. The dough is made on site, and refrigerated overnight.
For what it does, Uno does a good job. I don't see it as a threat to local pizzerias, because deep-dish pizza will never take hold here as a dominant style, plus Uno simply has a different business model: it's primarily a casual chain restaurant, not a pizzeria.They've got the formula down, and they follow it well.
A grade? I think a B is appropriate here. This wasn't exceptionally good pizza, but it was enjoyable, and Uno is worth going to, if you're in the mood for this style. So a B it is.

Uno Pizzeria & Grill, 1000 Hylan Drive (across from Marketplace Mall)
Henrietta, NY 14467

585-272-8667
fax: 585-272-8719