Eddie O'Brien's, Farmington

The wood-fired pizza trend continues. From my perspective, it’s been hit and miss - I've had some world-class wood-fired pizza, and some clunkers - but if nothing else, it's given me a steady stream of new places to try.
One of which is Eddie O’Brien’s in Farmington, near the racetrack/casino. This is the third Eddie O'Brien'’s location - the others are in Canandaigua and Geneva - but the only one that offers pizza. My wife and I stopped here recently for dinner.
My first instinct was to go for the Margherita, but I ended up ordering “The Bronx,” partly because its NY Yankees connotations caught my eye, but also because it just plain sounded good.
And it proved to be a good choice. Topped with sausage, pepperoni, red onions, roasted garlic, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil and mozzarella, it was a very tasty pizza.
The crust was thin, with a crisp, blistered edge that was blackened in spots, and dusted with powdery Parmesan cheese, which frankly didn't do much for me. The interior was chewy and pleasantly breadlike, but a bit unevenly done. Some parts of the underside were well blackened and others were relatively pale, as you can see in the photos. The pie was also a tad floury underneath.
But it was certainly a flavorful pizza. The toppings were about as heavy as this thin crust could withstand, but it wasn't overloaded. There was also enough meat to satisfy the carnivore in me, but not so much as to overwhelm the other toppings. The tomato sauce was rich and slightly sweet, there was plenty of aromatic roasted garlic (can you ever have too much roasted garlic?), and an even distribution of shredded basil. The mozzarella cheese was well melted and smooth. I could easily have finished the whole thing in one sitting, but I exercised enough self-restraint to take some of it home for the next day. (It did not survive the next day.)
In addition to The Bronx and Margherita pizzas, Eddie O'Brien's offers a veggie pizza with a basil pesto base, a "Bostonian" (which I took to be a "Bronx" alternative, much to my displeasure) topped with prosciutto, sherry mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, tomato sauce and mozzarella, and a BBQ chicken pizza. If you prefer to design your own pie, they also have a lineup of 20 toppings to choose from. 
If pizza's not your thing, well, what's wrong with you? But if so, Eddie's also has a full menu of burgers, chicken, pasta and more.
The physical setting was comfortable, although the place has a somewhat chain-like feel. The latter is to be expected, I guess, given its location and newness. The ceiling is high, and a partition separates the dining and bar areas. The interior is done in dark wood, but the room was well lit at dinnertime thanks to the large plate glass windows. Sports fans will appreciate the numerous televisions (our booth had its own B&W TV, although I couldn't change the channel directly), but the place wasn't overly sports-crazy, at least on this NFL preseason Sunday.
Before leaving, I spoke briefly with the pizzaiolo, who told me that they use a mix of hardwoods for their wall-mounted oven. They can crank it up to 900 degrees, but it's typically maintained at a temp well below that.
I liked this pizza, and I liked Eddie O'Brien's. The pizza wasn't flawless. It was a little unevenly done, a little floury underneath, and I would've liked it a bit more crisp. But it had its virtues. The crust had good bread flavor, and the pizza was tasty.
This is a pretty new operation, so I'm declining to give it a grade at this point. I found a lot here to like, and I want to go back. For now, I'd say it's worth a stop, for pizza or otherwise. And I'm intrigued see how the pizza evolves. 

Eddie O'Brien's
5975 Route 96, Farmington NY 14425
585-924-8858

Serving Food:
Weeknights until 11:00 pm & Weekends until 12:00 am

Bar Hours:
All week until 1 am
Saturday until 2 am

Wolfgang Puck Express, Farmington

Somewhere in my online research, I ran across  a reference to Wolfgang Puck Express, a pizza place at Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack.
Wolfgang Puck is one of the fathers of so-called gourmet pizza, which has since morphed into "artisanal" pizza.
I don't question his qualifications as a chef, but when chefs turn themselves into brands, often something gets lost in the translation. Puck, for example, has a line of frozen "gourmet" pizzas. I've never tried one. For all I know, they might be very good. But it's a long way from a chef making his own pizza, to overseeing others making pizza under his direction, to selling mass-produced frozen pizza by the thousands.
Still, if you're a well-known chef, and you want to preserve your reputation, I would think you want to ensure, to some extent, that what's being sold under your name is actually good. At least relative to its competitors.
So when I went to FLG&R, I didn't expect to see Wolfgang Puck back there stretching dough, but I was hopeful that this would be better than the average, quick, chain pizza. And it was, though not by much. And all in all, it was no better than any other pizza you could get in the area.
Let me start with my experience going there. The pizzeria is inside the casino. I couldn't find it right away, so I wandered about a bit looking for it.
In contrast to the young, attractive, euphoric people I've seen on TV ads for casinos, the early-evening crowd here was mostly middle-aged and older. I didn't see anybody laughing, as in the ads, or even particularly happy looking. Most of the patrons were staring blankly at the slot machines, into which they pumped coin after coin, like automatons. I had to wonder whether any of them were actually enjoying themselves.
After some time wandering among this sea of blinking lights and electronic sounds, I found Wolfgang Puck's, tucked into one corner of the casino, to the left of the main entrance. It's a "fast casual" place, where you place your order at the counter, and they bring your food out to you. Nothing special, but a nice oasis from the gaming tables (in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a fan of casinos).
My pizza choices were a Margherita, BBQ roasted chicken, pepperoni pomodoro, and roasted mushroom. The menu also included sandwiches, pasta, and some other choices, which you'll find here.
I got a Margherita. It was thin and supple, with some significant charring along the edge and underneath.The underside was a bit floury,quite dark in some areas and pale in others. It was rather soft, though not greasy. I detected some aroma, a blend of toasted bread and fried dough.
The toppings were, on the whole, pretty good. I liked the mozzarella, which was well melted, smooth and creamy. The tomato-sauce base was slightly sweet, with some herbal accents, and the fresh-tomato chunks were tasty as well. My one complaint is that I would've like more than a token smattering of basil, which I could see but barely taste.
A few weeks ago, while channel surfing, I ran across an episode of "Hell's Kitchen," in which the contestants were tasked with making gourmet pizza. Wolfgang Puck himself was the judge, and while he wasn't as nasty as host Gordon Ramsay, he pulled no punches in identifying the flaws in the contestants' pizza.
I wondered how Wolfgang would have critiqued this pizza that bore his name. I don't mean to hold it to a higher standard than any other pizza, but I think if he were honest, Puck would find some fault with it. For all its color, the crust didn't wow me. The fact that it wasn't crackly-crisp wasn't the issue; the problem was, it was very dark over some swaths of the underside, but it hadn't developed much flavor. It wasn't oily, but it reminded me of a pancake that's sat on the griddle for a little too long.
Again, the toppings were pretty good, although to me, any decent Margherita should have more basil than this. Overall, though, I did like the flavor.
This is a little hard to rate, frankly. In some respects, it was pretty good. It tasted good. But the crust was nothing special, and again I would have liked more than a token amount of fresh basil.
And I'm trying not to hold this to a higher standard, just because of the name attached to it. The fundamental question remains, how does this stack up against other pizza in the area?
In the end, I go with my gut. There were things I liked about this pizza, and things I didn't. But I can't say that, overall, it was any better, or any worse, than your typical Rochester-area pizza. Different, but not better than average. So it gets a C.

Wolfgang Puck Express
Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack
5897 Rt. 96, Farmington

Sun., Wed. & Thu. noon - 9 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. noon - 10 p.m.
Closed Mon. & Tue.

Prosecco, Farmington

On a recent evening when my wife had other plans, I took my daughter to dinner at Prosecco in Farmington. Located on Rt. 332, between the Thruway and Canandaigua, it's a comfortable Italian restaurant, that strikes a nice balance between high-end sophistication and a casual atmosphere.
And what's better for a pizza place than balance? As I've said before, good pizza is all about balance.
Not that Prosecco is just a pizzeria. This was one of those occasions when I wished I didn't feel compelled to eat pizza, as the menu had a lot of other tempting items on it. But that's the price you pay for writing a pizza blog.
No matter. The pizza menu looked good, too, and I was able to share an appetizer with my daughter, and to sneak a bite of her entree.
As I usually do, I went with the Margherita pizza. It's basic, it's a good measure of how good a pizza place is, and when well made, it's sublime.
My12-inch pie, cut into eight slices, was topped with shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce, and shredded basil. There was surprisingly little basil on my pie, just a few shreds in the middle, rather than the whole leaves or more widely-distributed leaves that I'm accustomed to.
Let's start underneath. The crust was very thin, pliable but firm, and the slices cracked a little along the outside edge when I folded them. Underneath, the crust had just the slightest dusting of flour.
The underside was cooked to a medium brownness, neither pale nor charred. It wasn't oily. The only issue I had, underneath, was the scattering of oven soot here and there.
Aside from the relative lack of basil, the toppings were pretty good. The mozzarella was nicely melted, with a smooth texture, and it hadn't separated into solids and liquids, as with lesser-quality cheese.
As for the sauce, it too was well balanced, with sweet, salty, and tomatoey/acidic flavors coming through. Somewhere in the mix I also picked up some herbal flavors of oregano and basil, and some garlic in the background too.
The rest of our meal, and the setting, were both enjoyable. Near the door was a pianist/vocalist performing jazz and pop standards, and there was a bar at the other end of the room, which was lively but not too raucous during our dinner-hour visit. The space was nicely decorated in muted tones, and was comfortable but not downscale. And our server was friendly and attentive, and did his best to work a busy room.
Foodwise, I enjoyed our shared appetizer of mussels arrabbiata, which were prepared in a spicy marinara sauce. The sauce on my daughter's spaghetti didn't have quite the same spicy kick, though the accompanying sausage made up for that, with noticeable hints of red pepper. My daughter pronounced it "spicylicious." (She's got a way to go to become a pepperhead like her dad, but she'll get there.) While I didn't exactly need more carbohydrates, I also appreciated the crusty complimentary bread.
Following my visit, I spoke over the phone with Natale, who's one of the owners of Prosecco. He and his co-owners, who include a cousin and two friends (who are brothers) opened the place about two and a half years ago. Their names alone are a testament to their Italian heritage, as outlined here. Each member of the foursome brought with him some prior experience in the restaurant or pizza business, and decided to give it a go when this property, which had housed an ice cream parlor, became available.
Plans for a wood-fired oven had to be scuttled due to local zoning restrictions, but that doesn't seem to have hurt the food or the business. I enjoyed my dinner, including the pizza. I wouldn't quite put it into the top tier of local pizza - the crust was good, but not quite A-level, for me - but it was certainly better than average for this area. And unlike a lot of pizza I've had locally in a restaurant setting, which all too often has seemed like an afterthought on the menu, this was an item I'd order again.
I will almost certainly have the chance to do so, since my daughter insisted that we must go back to Prosecco sometime. And I'll be happy to oblige. On my next visit, I'd probably try something else off the menu, not because I didn't like the pizza, but because, well, I'd like to try something else off the menu. As for the pizza, I'll give it a B.

Prosecco Italian Restaurant & Jazz Bar
1550 Route 332
Farmington, NY 14425

Tuesday-Thursday 4-9pm
Friday - Saturday 4-10pm
Sunday 4-9pm

Dario's, Farmington

At the southeasternmost reaches of the rough geographical scope of this blog lies Dario's Famous Pizza, about two and a half miles south of the Thruway on Route 332. I made the trek out last week and grabbed a couple of slices.
The crust on these was thin, though not super thin, maybe a quarter inch thick. They were quite well charred, even blackened underneath. They did get a quick warmup in the oven, which might've made them a shade darker too.
The undersides were lightly dusted with cornmeal, and were crisp on the surface, though the slices were foldable. There was a certain amount of oil or grease on both top and bottom, most of it, I think, having exuded from the cheese and pepperoni.
This pizza was fairly heavy on the cheese, which was nicely melted mozzarella. The sauce was just lightly seasoned, with a mild tomatoey flavor, and stayed mostly in the background, though the pizza as a whole had a "wet" mouthfeel, with moisture from both the cheese and the sauce. They finished off with a crackly outer edge that had a pleasing, bready interior.

Dario's has a pretty basic menu, with eight specialty pizzas, wings, hot and cold subs, salads and sides. There are a few booths along one wall, but not a lot of seating.
This was pretty good pizza. The crust was nice and crisp, thin but with some interior chewiness, and the flavors came together nicely. The cheese seemed to dominate a bit over the sauce, for my taste, but this was good enough to rate a B+ from me.
Dario's Famous Pizza, 1560 Route 332, Farmington 585-398-3430
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m.- 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Jason's New York Pizzeria, Farmington

(NOTE:  this establishment is now closed.)
I don't have occasion to go to Canandaigua too often, but everytime I do, when I get off the Thruway and start heading down 332, that sign catches my eye: "NY PIZZA," in big red letters, right on the front of the plaza at the southwest corner of the Rt. 96 intersection. But I always seemed to be in too much of a hurry to get where I was going, or I was on my way to eat dinner somewhere else, and so I never stopped. But I'd always wonder, what's their pizza like? How good is it? Is it true NY pizza?
So I made a special trip. And now I know.
And the answer is ... it's pretty good. Not outstanding, but pretty good. In my opinion.
I got a cheese slice, which is always the benchmark for NY style pizza. It was thin and foldable; so thin, in fact, that the crust was translucent in spots.
The underside was browned, not quite to the point of charring. It was dry - in other words, not greasy - underneath, which was good, but not quite as crisp as a NY slice ought to be. The outer lip, however, did have some nice crunch and breadiness.
There was a pretty high cheese-to-sauce ratio (not inappropriate for NY pizza, which typically is not too saucy), with a relatively thick layer of slightly browned cheese atop a thin layer of sauce. I had a hard time detecting the sauce on my palate, actually. The cheese was rather oily, which again fits within the parameters of the NY style.
Jason's menu mostly sticks to the basics, with a modest toppings list, nine specialty pizzas, hot and cold subs, club sandwiches, wings, calzones, strombolis, sides and salads. They also offer several dinners including fish fry, eggplant or chicken parm, lasagna and baked ziti.
Jason's has a little seating. It's basically a fast-food type setup, with a small counter and a few booths. I'm not sure if they deliver; the menu doesn't say, nor does it include their hours. I'll have to call them to find out.
So - is this "the small town pizza with the big city taste," as the menu claims? Well, yes and no. In general, they got everything right here to qualify as NY style pizza. But it could use just a little tweaking to make it really top-notch NY pizza. If the crust were a wee bit crisper, slightly charred underneath, maybe a tad more sauce, not quite so thin (although I may have just gotten a slice with an atypically thin spot, which happens now and then), the cheese a little creamier - well, you get the picture. I don't mean to make it sound as if this pizza had a lot of problems, because it didn't. It was good. But to me, judging it as NY style pizza, it fell just a liiitle bit short in a number of respects. I'll give it a B.
Jason's New York Pizzeria, 6081 Rt. 96 (at Rt. 332), Farmington. 924-2002