Pizza Paul's, Reconsidered

Way back in 2009, I did a post pitting against each other two Geneseo pizzerias, Mama Mia's and Pizza Paul's. In that post, I gave Mama Mia's an A, and Pizza Paul's a B-minus.
Since then, I've generally considered Mama Mia's my go-to place in Geneseo. But on a recent Sunday afternoon, when I was in Geneseo with my wife and daughter, I decided it was time to stop back at Pizza Paul's. And I'm glad I did.
I got one pepperoni slice. It was markedly different from the slice that I got back in 2009. Or at least it seemed so to me.
That slice, at that time, seemed like a poorer version of Mia's pizza. This time around, it struck me as qualitatively different from Mia's, but equally good.
The crust was between thin and medium thick, with a big, puffy cornicione. It had the flavor and texture of freshly baked bread, right out of the oven, which is basically what it was. I tore the crust open to get a picture to show the interior.
The toppings well complemented the crust. The smooth layer of mozzarella was nearly covered by the thin slices of pepperoni,  and the medium-thick sauce was noticeably present.
The underside was more browned than charred (sorry, I neglected to get a photo), as was the cornicione. I know that at times I (and other reviewers) wax rhapsodic about charred undersides, but I do not think that every pizza needs to be charred underneath, anymore than I think that every loaf of bread should be charred or crackly on the outside.
What I don't like is pizza that's oily or flabby or lifeless. And this was none of those things. The uniformly browned crust allowed some of the nuances of the baked dough to come through, and made me realize, again, that pizza is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.
We also got an order of Nutella-dipped nuggets, which I think had a humorously suggestive name. If you like fried dough and/or Nutella, you'd like these.
Pizza Paul's pizzas come in 10, 13, 16 and 18 inch pies, as well as sheets. They offer 17 toppings and 7 gourmet pizzas. They also do regular and boneless wings (7 sauces), subs, "subzones" (a cross between a sub and a calzone), and a bunch of fried sides, including an interesting array of "gourmet fries," including Buffalo Blue, Greek and taco fries. Check out the full menu here.
Now I find myself in a bit of a quandary when I'm in Geneseo, wanting pizza. But it's a good quandary to be in. New York style at Mia's, or a breadier, WNY style at Paul's. Local residents and students should consider themselves fortunate that they have two A-rated pizzerias, across the street from each other.

Pizza Paul's, 110 Main St., Geneseo
(585) 243-3690
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight, till 3 a.m. while college is in session

Second location at 5808 Big Tree St. in Lakeville, (585) 346-2680

GioVanna's, Geneseo

On a recent Sunday, my wife, daughter and I went to the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, which is just west of Geneseo. This is the place where they bake Monks' Bread. It's an active, living monastery, where the brothers devote their lives to the monastic life, which means round-the-clock work and prayer.
Regardless of your religious beliefs, it's a beautiful place to visit. Guests are welcome to sit in on services, or just to wander the grounds. It's a beautiful, peaceful place. (Plus the gift shop often has bread or other baked goods you won't find at other retail outlets.)
Afterwards, we had lunch at GioVanna's in Geneseo. I thought I had done a post on GioVanna's before, but I guess not.
GioVanna's had been located in the Genesee Valley Plaza, a few doors down from the Geneseo Wegmans. That's when I visited it before. It's owned and operated by John Pontillo and his wife Jennifer, and yes, they are part of the Pontillo family for whom the local chain was named. But this is not a part of the Pontillo's chain.
Recently, GioVanna's moved across the street and down the road. In doing so, they added a lot more seating (from about 12 to 100), and a wood-fired pizza oven.
On our visit, we sat at the bar, where we could watch our pizzas being prepared. We ordered two pies, a "Pizza Bruschetta" and a "White Traditional."
GioVanna's actually has two pizza ovens, one wood-fired and a conventional gas oven. I asked John about this, and he told me that if you want a wood-fired pizza, you need to specify that when you order.
I can understand the thinking behind that. They wanted to add wood-fired pizza, but they also need to please their long-time customers. But it seemed a little odd that we weren't advised of this when ordering, either by our server or on the menu.
I learned of this in time to change our order, so I asked for our pies to be one of each.
Our bruschetta pie was baked in the wood-fired oven. It was topped with garlic olive oil sauce, mozzarella, diced Roma tomatoes, onions and fresh basil.
The crust was thin, with an underside that was on the light side in color, with a few dark brown spots. The crust was firm on the surface, chewy, and a bit oily underneath. It wasn't excessively oily, but enough that my wife and I both noticed it. Perhaps some of the olive oil on top made its way to the bottom, or maybe it was just oil in the dough itself. But certainly the crust didn't have a "fried" flavor or texture, which can happen when the dough is baked on an oily surface, like a pan. And again, it was nothing excessive, just noticeable.
I liked the flavor, which was similar to that of a Margherita, with the addition of mild onions. Finely chopped basil provided a good accent over that of the diced tomatoes.
The "White Traditional" was baked in the gas oven. It was topped with mozzarella, ricotta, broccoli, spinach, and "garlic flavor." I'm not sure what to make of that last-listed ingredient, but I didn't notice it until I was preparing this review, so I didn't get a chance to ask.

The crust on this one was noticeably thicker, what I would call medium thick. There was just a bit of what I took to be cornmeal on the bottom. It was again firm, with a deep brown color underneath.
John informed me that he uses different dough recipes for the two different ovens. The primary reason is the difference in temperature. The wood fired oven gets close to 700 degrees. I didn't ask, but conventional gas pizza ovens typically run at about the same temperature as a home oven, in the low to mid 500s. In general, the WF pizza dough is made to be stretched thinner and baked more quickly. The "regular" crust was more of a traditional, Western NY style crust, no doubt reflecting the Pontillo family's deep roots in the area's pizza scene.
With abundant mozzarella and ricotta, the White Traditional was a was definitely a cheese lovers' pie. The al dente broccoli and wilted spinach were cooked enough to bring out their flavor, but they retained their bright green color. The overall flavor was enjoyable but mild, although I found that a shot or two of red pepper flakes and Parmesan livened things up quite nicely.
GioVanna's menu extends to pasta, hot and cold subs, a Fridays fish fry, calzones, grilled boneless wings and more. I know they plan to have a full bar, but I didn't notice if that had happened yet.
I'd like to go back and try a red pizza. With 30 toppings to choose from, the possibilities are virtually endless.
But would I get it wood fired, or not? That is the question. And frankly, I'm not sure. For me, both crusts were good, and there was no clear winner. The WF crust wasn't quite as charred or "leopard spotted" as some (although thankfully neither was it burnt), but it was enjoyably chewy, and the slices went down easily. The regular crust was well baked and more breadlike. So I guess I'll have to wait and see what I'm in the mood for at the time.

GioVanna's Pizza & Pasta, 4153 Lakeville Rd., Geneseo

(585) 243-2929

http://www.giovannaspizzaandpasta.com/

Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Head to head in Geneseo: Mama Mia's and Pizza Paul's

Geneseo is a bit beyond the geographic scope of this blog, but more than one commenter has told me that I should try Mama Mia's, and a weekend trip down to the Southern Tier gave me the opportunity.
Turns out there are two pizza joints across the street from each other, Mama Mia's, which has been in business since 1990, and the equally alliterative Pizza Paul's, which opened three years later (and which has a second location in Lakeville). Since I was kind of hungry anyway, I couldn't pass up this chance for a head-to-head matchup.
Unfortunately, my copious notes appear to have gotten tossed in the recycling bin, which went to the curb last night and was emptied this morning, so I'm going strictly by memory here, but I still remember them well enough that I think I can give a pretty accurate description.
On first glance, both MM's and PP's slices appeared similar: thin crusts, same size, pretty much basic New York-style pizza, although PP's was a little thicker along the edge. (All the MM's pictures are on the left, and PP's are on the right.)
Picking them up showed the first difference, though. MM's, though a tad thinner, could be held, folded, with one hand, with the tip of the pizza slice pointing straight out. When I held a PP's slice the same way, the tip flopped over, pointing downward.
Now that may sound like something that only a complete pizza geek would notice or care about, and it probably is, but it's not just an aethetic thing. It indicates that the MM's crust has a bit more backbone, that it's a little crisper, not as soft.
The undersides also showed a significant difference. MM's was dotted with tiny charred spots, while PP's, which was heavily dusted with cornmeal, was more uniformly browned (darker brown, I think, than the photo indicates). That shade of brown, I believe, is indicative of oil. It was not a greasy slice by any means, and I could be wrong about this, but to me, it seemed to be the shade of brown that dough gets when it cooks in the presence of oil.
As I said, the MM's slices were also a wee bit thinner. Very thin, in fact, some of the thinnest I've had around here. Yet despite that thinness, MM's had both an exterior crispness on the underside, and an interior breadiness. They were so thin there hardly seemed to be an interior at all, and yet there was a distinct flavor and chewy texture of good bread in there, contrasting nicely with the exterior crunch.
PP's slices, in contrast, lacked that exterior crispness. They were softer and chewier, without a distinct exterior and interior, from a textural standpoint. And though good bread should be chewy, well, there's chewy and then there's chewy. Think of a great, "artisanal" loaf, with big air pockets inside, from the slow rise and well-developed gluten. Then think of a dense, undercooked loaf that hardly rose at all. Both chewy. Not the same, though. PP's, to me, didn't have as enjoyable a chew as MM's. It was OK, but just OK.
The textural differences became most apparent at the edge. With no toppings to distract the palate, the breadiness of MM's slices really came through, with a satisfying crunch and enough thickness to reveal the interior air pockets created by the yeast. PP's, on the other hand, lacked that crunch. Whereas I could bite clean through the MM's edge, PP's was more tough and resistant, requiring first a bite, and then a pull away, so that it was more a matter of tearing off than biting off.
All right, on to the toppings. Both were good, but a little different. The sauce on PP's was more noticeable. It had a bright tomatoey flavor that I liked.
On MM's, the individual components were harder to sort out. This was one of those pizzas in which the toppings seem to just blend in to create a unified whole. Or maybe I was just enjoying that crust so much I didn't pay as much attention to them. Anyway, given the thinness of the pizza, the toppings were appropriately applied with a restrained enough hand to add flavor and contrasting textures without overwhelming the slice. In other words, in balance.
The cheeses were similar, although the cheese on PP's seemed to have congealed just a bit more, and did not adhere quite as much to the slice, possibly because of the thicker intervening layer of sauce. The pepperoni was about the same, but a little more uniformly distributed on MM's.
As you've probably guessed by now, I liked Mama Mia's pizza more than Pizza Paul's. Doing this as a side-by-side comparison is a bit unfair to Paul's, because on its own, it was really pretty good pizza. If I wanted pizza and Mama Mia's was closed, I'd have no problem going to Pizza Paul's, though I'd be a little disappointed. But based on this visit I'd say that if I lived or went to school in Geneseo it would be Mama Mia's for me just about every time. Paul's had good flavor, but that crust was really only about average. I'll give it a B-.
Mama Mia's, on the other hand, was sublime. Thin - thin enough that I could probably down a whole pie without too much trouble - crisp and crunchy yet bready and chewy, with a hint of charring but not burned or greasy underneath. It was what New York style pizza should be. I give it an A.
Having lost my notes - which were written on the menus - I can't give you as full a rundown on the menus, hours, etc. as usual. I can tell you that both are counter-service places with some indoor seating. MM's is a little bigger, and there's a room adjoining the main area where they serve ice cream, although they didn't seem to be doing so on this Saturday lunchtime visit. Mama Mia's had a pretty good-sized menu with lots of grilled and fried items. The lunchtime special was two slices and a medium soft drink for $5. They stay open till 3 a.m. on weekends, and I'm guessing that come September, they will be pretty busy around that time.
You can check out Pizza Paul's menu on their website. It's basically pizza, wings, subs and fried foods. All the solid food a college student needs, in other words.
Mama Mia's, 87 Main St., Geneseo. (585) 243-4840
Pizza Paul's, 110 Main St., Geneseo (585) 243-3690. Sun. - Thu. 11am - 11pm, Fri. & Sat. 11am - Midnight (open until 3am when college is in session)