Westside Pizzeria, Driving Park

Here's a new place I just happened to notice the other day while driving. Westside Pizzeria is on Driving Park Avenue, in a site that was formerly a Mr. Shoes location. I've also seen references to this as a second location for Big Daddy's, but I don't recall ever seeing a Big Daddy's here, so maybe that fell through. I might also mention that there used to be a West Side Pizzeria in Spencerport (now the home of Leccese's), but as far as I know there's no connection).
As at a few other pizzerias in the city, inside Westside you'll find a thick plexiglass window at the counter, with a hole just big enough for food and money to pass through. There are a few chairs and small tables near the window if you'd care to eat on the premises.
I asked for a pepperoni slice, and for $1.50 got a pretty good sized, reasonably good-looking slice. The underside was browned and not too crisp, and had a slightly greasy feel in spots, though not too bad. I'm guessing that the oil came mostly from the cheese and pepperoni on top than from the dough itself. The concentric rings of small dots on the bottom indicated that it had been baked on a tray. The medium-thick crust was OK, though a little tough to chew. The narrow edge was dark and crunchy.
The cheese and sauce were moderately applied, in pretty good balance with each other and with the crust. The sauce was tasty, with a tomatoey sweetness and a touch of Italian herbs. The mozzarella was browned here and there, and tended to separate from the crust. The wide, thin slices of pepperoni were pretty basic and unremarkable.

In spite of its flaws, this wasn't a bad slice of pizza. When I noticed Westside, I was actually on my way back from another, so-called pizzeria on Dewey Avenue (which will be a topic for another post), which turned out to be one of these places where they just take premade crusts and add toppings. This, though, was "real" pizza, as evidenced by the guy hand-stretching the dough while I was getting my slice.
And again, it wasn't bad. Yes, the crust could've been better, but I've had worse, and the overall flavor was good, and the components well balanced. So while there's room for improvement, all in all this was a reasonably enjoyable slice of pizza, and I'm giving it a B-.

Westside Pizza, 107 Driving Park Ave. 458-WING (9464)
(Hours not known at this time)

Straight Home, Lexington Ave.

Straight Home is on Lexington Avenue, about a half mile east of Mount Read. There's a bar on one side, and a takeout pizzeria/grill on the other.
Straight Home used to be The Lex Bar & Grill, which is why there's a place called Lex South on Scottsville Road. I guess Lex South was originally a second location of the original Lex.
I mention that because Lex South shares its building with a pizzeria, Sylvio's, as does Straight Home, so it seems there's some connection between the Lex, or its successor Straight Home, and pizza.
But back to Straight Home. The grill opens at 11 a.m., but I tried to get a slice there a couple of time around lunch hour only to be told that pizza wouldn't be available until later. So finally one evening I swung by and got a pepperoni slice.
When I placed the order, the cook pulled out a large cheese slice, added some pepperoni to it and put it in the pizza oven, where it stayed for quite some time, even though it appeared to have already been baked when he put it in. Maybe it was just partially baked, with the idea that it could be finished when it got rewarmed in the oven.
After, I'd say, five minutes, maybe a little more, my slice emerged. It was a giant slice, measuring 10 1/2 inches along the sides.
Despite the length of time it had spent in the oven, the underside of the slice was quite pale. It was lightly dusted with cornmeal. It was firm, but not crisp.
The crust was rather thin toward the tip of the slice, and  gradually got thicker nearer the outer edge, going from about a quarter inch to 3/4" thick. The lip at the edge was over an inch thick.
The slice was rather greasy, probably from all the pepperoni. I would've held the slice vertically to let the grease drip off, but the pepperoni would've fallen off too. Pepperoni just doesn't adhere well when you try to add it to a cheese slice that's already been cooked. So I did the best I could sopping it up with a napkin.
There was a lot of cheese here, and a lot of pepperoni too. This was a big slice in a lot of ways. Big in size, and loaded with cheese and pepperoni.

The only thing there wasn't a lot of was sauce. There was just a thin layer underneath the cheese, and I couldn't really pick up much of its flavor.
Besides pizza, Straight Home has all the bar food staples, grilled, fried and otherwise. The wings looked and smelled particularly good. Both the bar (which is on the right, facing the front of the building) and the takeout counter were reasonably busy on this weeknight. (The name, I assume, is meant to allow you to say that you're going, or that you went, "straight home" after work or whenever, *wink wink*.)
This was, I thought, rather atypical bar pizza. Of the few bars that serve pizza, I've always figured that most, like Acme, make it thin so you won't get too full to keep drinking. One slice of this, though, was pretty filling.
I can't say I liked it too much, I'm afraid. The dough had risen nicely, and had a good bready flavor, but bottom was just not nearly done enough for me. I also found it a little out of balance, and would've liked a little more sauce to balace out the cheese and pepperoni. Overall, this was pizza with some potential, but this particular slice had some definite flaws as well. I'll give it a C-.
Straight Home Inn, 688 Lexington Ave. 458-0020
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. noon - 2 a.m.

Dew-E-Sub, Dewey Ave.

Another entrant in the cheap-pizza category is Dew-E-Sub on Dewey Avenue, just south of Lexington. Like Pizza Boy on North Clinton, what caught my eye here was the "Large Pizza $5" sign.
Pizza Boy's pizza actually wasn't bad. Surprisingly good, in fact, for the price. Would I fare as well at Dew-E?
Not quite. The pizza was a bit thicker than Pizza Boy, averaging about 5/8 inch thick, including the cheese (which wasn’t thick at all). It had a pale bottom dotted with pin pricks, and had been baked, it appeared, on some sort of screen. The bottom was dry, but not crisp.
The interior of the crust displayed some evidence of the dough having risen, on the bottom half of the crust at least, but it was a little gummy on top.
The sauce had a thick texture, and there were a lot of dried herbs visible, though the flavor was not especially herbal. It was mostly a basic tomato-sauce flavor. The cheese was applied pretty lightly, and was browned in many areas. It was not at all oily, and in fact was a little dry. I'm pretty sure this was not full-fat cheese.
The edge of the crust was thick, and had pleasantly bready interior, with some air holes visible, though no exterior toastiness. It, too, was a bit dry on the inside.
Dew-E has a pretty basic pizza menu, with ten available toppings, and no specialty pizzas. They also do wings, ribs, hot and cold subs, and assorted grilled and fried items, burgers, fish fry, and the like. You can also get fried or rotisserie-cooked chicken, oven-roasted pork, and rice & beans. Some grocery items and cold cuts to go are also available. It's pretty much a takeout and delivery place, although there were a few stools along the front window.
This was not great pizza, though for five dollars you could hardly complain. It was mostly doughy and bready, none too crisp underneath, a bit dry, and very light on the toppings. I guess the latter comes as no surprise, as the price of cheese has gone up in the past year or two, and they've got to make a profit somewhere.
So if we're talking $5 pizzas, I definitely preferred Pizza Boy's over Dew-E's, as it had a better crust and better balance among the components. I will say, though, that Dew-E's thicker crust made for a more filling pizza, so if your aim is to get the most bang for your buck, Dew-E's would be the way to go. Taking the price into consideration, I'll give it a C.
Dew-E Sub, 740 Dewey Ave. 254-7400
Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Sunday.

Pizza Boy, N. Clinton Ave. - CLOSED

This establishment is now closed.
Whenever a new pizzeria opens, I’m always torn between wanting to try it right away and wanting to give it time to work the bugs out.
Well, the other day, Pizza Boy Pizza opened on North Clinton Avenue downtown, and this time I decided not to wait, especially after seeing their advertised everyday deal of a large thin crust cheese pizza for $4.97. It seemed highly unlikely that I could get a decent large pizza for that price, but I figured at worst I’d only be out five bucks, so why not?
I went in around lunchtime and ordered my pizza in person. I was told it would be about 30 minutes. I showed up 30 minutes later and was told that because I hadn’t paid in advance, it hadn’t been put in the oven, but had been “half made,” so, once I paid, it would be another 10 minutes. Although nobody had said anything about this rule when I ordered, I was only mildly annoyed, as I figured this is what I get for going in during their first week of operation.
One silver lining was that while I was waiting, they put out samples of their Tex-Mex pizza, so I got to try that. It wasn’t bad, kind of like a taco on a pizza crust.
At last my pizza came out. On inspection, I found that it measured 14 inches across, and had been screen baked. The browned underside had a few charred spots, was fairly crisp, and was not greasy.
This was a cheesy pizza, with relatively little sauce. There was a fair amount of neon orange oil or grease on top, which I imagine oozed out of the cheese. It did after a while soak through to the bottom, especially in the center of the pizza. A few napkins might be advisable here to soak up the oil.
I did detect a faint herbal flavor in there somewhere, from the sauce I guess, but overall the predominant components here were the crust and cheese.
The crust didn’t have an especially great interior, and wasn’t particularly bready, but it wasn’t bad by any means. The thick lip at the edge seemed to have been brushed with oil and was something like a lightly oiled breadstick in both flavor and texture.
Pizza Boy has a pretty standard list of pizza toppings, and eight specialty pizzas, including a Country Sweet Chicken pizza and a breakfast pizza. They also offer calzones, strombolis and breadsticks (aha!), “mega wings” (nine sauces), hot and cold subs, salads, and a handful of packaged refrigerated desserts.
As for the setup, there is just a little seating, with a few chairs and a few stools. There’s no parking to speak of, although there is metered parking nearby, and I was able to park right out front.
The prices here are a little odd - it’s $4.97 for a large thin crust cheese pizza, and $11.95 for a large cheese pizza with a 2-liter soda. I would not pay $7 extra just to get a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi (I guess the latter deal isn’t limited to thin-crust pizza, but I still wouldn’t pay that much extra).
In any event, the $4.97 deal is a good one, and I have no real complaints. Despite the mixup over prepayment, service was friendly and earnest. This was not the best pizza I’ve ever had, but it certainly wasn’t bad, and pizzawise it may be the best value for the money around here. I have to wonder how long a deal like this will last, so get it while you can. I was thinking B- or C+ on this one, so giving them a little boost for the price, I’ll round it up to a B-.
Pizza Boy Pizza, 154 N. Clinton Ave. 454-1934
Mon. - Wed. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Thu. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 3 a.m. (no delivery after 10 p.m.), Sun. 2 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Starvin' Marvin's, Lake Avenue

At any given time, some local pizza chains are expanding, and some are shrinking. One of the expanding ones right now seems to be Starvin' Marvin's, which has locations on Lake Ave., Culver Rd. near Sea Breeze, and in the Village of Webster, with another one in the works for Brockport. (Brockport has seen another pizzeria, Avanti, opening recently, and already has a pretty good NY-style pizzeria, Main Street, so I need to get out there soon. Gotta love college towns for pizza.)
I tried the Lake Ave. location, which is not far from downtown Rochester. The only lunchtime slices available were plain cheese and pepperoni. I tried the pepperoni. They were not "huge" slices, but you can get two with a 20 oz. bottle of pop for about $4.30 with tax.
The pizza had clearly been cooked on a screen, and had a uniformly brown, slightly greasy underside. It was pretty soft, with no "crunch" on biting into it, except at the edge. The slice was medium thin, with a chewy texture and not much breadiness, except, again, along the outer edge.
The sauce had a mild flavor, with some specks of herbs here and there, and the mozzarella was applied moderately, in good balance with the other components. The wide-and-thin pepperoni had just a bit of crispness.
Although the slices at Starvin' Marvin's aren't huge, the menu is. They offer wings, calzones, subs (referred to on the menu as "hoagies," a term I haven't seen in a while), salads, pasta, fried seafood, wraps, sides, "plates" and desserts.
As I'm eating and thinking about a pizza, oftentimes a word or phrase comes to mind. This time it was "middle of the road." There was nothing wrong with this pizza, but it wasn't really distinctive or outstanding in any way either. The crust was OK, but not crisp enough for me, and the other components were in balance with the crust, but the pizza had a certain generic quality to it. If I'm jonesin' for pizza, this would do just fine. But I doubt that I would ever feel a particular craving for Starvin' Marvin's. So given my criteria, I almost have to give it a C (average) grade, but for offering "normal" size slices and the friendly counter service, I'll bump it up to a C+.
Starvin' Marvin's, 534 Lake Ave. 458-MARV (6278)
Update: Starvin' Marvin's is apparently now known as Marvin Mozzeroni's. (8/3/09)