Capish!, Le Roy

My daughter and I had dinner the other night at Capish!, which opened earlier this year in Le Roy. It's in a handsome, century-old building on Main Street. (You can see some photos of the exterior and interior here.)
Capish (I'm going to drop the exclamation mark from here on) offers a full menu of Italian dishes, but pizza is the main focus. Interestingly, they do both thin crust pizza and sfincione. I got both. Let me take them one at a time.
The thin crust pies are baked in a combination wood/gas oven. On this visit, I didn't see any sign of a wood fire. But the temp was set at 725 degrees - pretty high - and the results were good.
I suppose you could call these Neapolitan, or maybe neo-Neapolitan pizzas. I got my usual Margherita, and my daughter ordered an a la carte equivalent of a meat lover's pizza, with pepperoni, chicken, ham and sausage.
Both pies had a thin crust with a puffy cornicione.
They were charred underneath. My pie had some "leopard spotting," with some air holes having burst, leaving a small hole in the bottom of the crust. The crust was chewy but not tough, and the charred bottom added some flavor complexity.
Speaking of which, my Margherita had good flavor. A bright tomato sauce, complemented by liquefied dollops of fresh mozzarella, and shredded fresh basil, which was wilted but still a vibrant green. Capish adds a bit of oregano to their Margherita, but not enough to overpower the subtle flavors of this pie.
I sampled my daughter's meat-laden pie, and although I typically avoid that style, it was tasty. The pepperoni was thick-cut, and the well-melted processed mozzarella provided a good base for the meat.
My 12-inch pie was more than adequate for a meal, but I couldn't resist trying a slice of Capish's sfincione. I'd been aware of this close cousin to (or maybe "ancestor of" would be more accurate) Sicilian-style pizza, but by coincidence I got a bit more of an education in the style just recently, as a result of a Facebook post. Google it and you'll find plenty of information and recipes, but here's as good a description as any.
Capish's version comes topped with tomato sauce, oregano, onions, bread crumbs, and Pecorino Romano. So pretty close to style, in that regard. In Sicily, sfincione often includes anchovies, which were left off here, probably in a concession to American palates, but they are available as a topping, if you want to stay traditional.
The pan-baked crust was medium brown underneath, with large air-hole craters. The interior had a spongy texture. Although I can't claim to be a connoisseur of sfincione, this seemed to come pretty close to hitting the mark.
I was too full for dessert, so with some regret I had to forgo trying Capish's tiramisu. Next time.
On my way out, though, I paused to take a look at the oven, and chatted for a moment with the pizzaiolo. If I'm not mistaken, he was the guy seen here, and according to his Facebook page he hails from Sicily, as does Capish's owner Giacomo (Jim) Frascati, so it should come as no surprise they know their stuff, particularly where sfincione's concerned.
I've reproduced here Capish's pizza menu, but their full menu is available on their Facebook page. They offer a variety of pizzas, pasta and meat dishes, almost entirely Italian, with a nod to local tastes (as in, they serve chicken French). Since seafood is so popular in Sicily, I'm a little surprised there isn't more of it on the menu, but then again, Sicily's a Mediterranean island with a lot of port cities, and Le Roy is in Western New York, hundreds of miles from the nearest coast (and no, Lake Ontario doesn't count).
At any rate, that's pretty much a moot point for me, as I think it would take many visits for me to get past the pizza. This is one of those places where I'd like to try every pizza on the list before I even think about branching out into the other parts of the menu. With any luck and a little effort, though, I think I can get there.
I know I've been on-again, off-again with the letter grade thing, but I was quite happy with the pizza here. Capish is well worth the drive west on 490. So I'm giving this an A.

Capish!
49 Main St., Le Roy
(585) 768-1000

Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fri. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Closed Sundays

Woody's Deli, Le Roy

I needed to pick up a pizza recently for dinner, so I took the opportunity to stop at Woody's Deli in LeRoy.
For a small town (pop. 7641, as of 2010), LeRoy has a lot of pizza place, per capita.
I got a large pepperoni pie, with green peppers and onions on half. As is typical of some pies in this area, particularly to our west, it had been given a square cut.
The crust was on the thick side, with an almost grilled appearance underneath, but it was dry to the touch. The pan in which it was baked must've been ridged.
The crust was crisp underneath, and had a bready interior. There was a bit of surface oil, but that's all. The outer edge was well browned, with a good surface crunch.
The pie was covered with a well-balanced blend of toppings, including a mildly sweet tomato sauce, well melted mozzarella, and thin slices of pepperoni. The veggies were cooked enough to accentuate their flavor, but not overdone.
Woody's offers a basic list of pizza toppings, seven specialty pizzas, plus wings, hot and cold subs, tacos, burritos, and pretty much everything you would expect from a local deli. You can see their full menu online.

My overall impression was of a good example of a Rochester/WNY style pizza. A little thick, cheesy, bready, and well balanced. It made for a satisfying family meal.

Woody's Deli, 47 North St., LeRoy, NY 14482

(585) 768-8585

Mon. - Thu. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fri. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sun. noon - 8 p.m.

Mooney's, LeRoy: Beef on Weck Pizza

LeRoy is about at the outer limit of what I would consider the Rochester area, pizzawise. And upon my recent discovery that there were no less than three pizzerias in LeRoy that I hadn't been to, I knew I had to go there.
I'll get to the other two, at some later date, but we'll start with Mooney's. It's in a building just north of the railroad tracks, which I'm informed by a very helpful person at the LeRoy Historical Society was once owned by a company known as LeRoy Transfer and Storage. Presumably the building was basically a privately-owned freight depot. (LeRoy was quite the railroad town back in the day, I guess, with three roads passing through town.)
Many times I like me a good old, plain cheese pizza, or a simple Margherita. But on occasion, I have a taste for the unusual. On this occasion, I couldn't resist trying Mooney's beef on weck pizza. The menu describes it as topped with "roast beef, kosher salt, caraway seeds, au jus sauce and mozzarella cheese topped with a horseradish sauce."
I've seen references to Buffalo-area pizzerias that offer beef on weck pizza, but Mooney's is the nearest I've seen around Rochester. Probably that reflects the fact that Mooney's other five locations are all in suburban Buffalo.
Mooney's pizza only comes in two sizes, "huge" and PFO (pizza for one). Since my daughter didn't want pizza, I got a PFO.
My dinner-plate size pie had a very thin crust. It was browned, crisp and crunchy, though it retained some pliability toward the center. The underside was moderately browned, and dry to the touch, with just a hint of oil. The top side was likewise well cooked, with cheese that was considerably browned.
It was a tasty pie, but I must confess, it didn't remind me much of beef on weck. The shredded beef was good, as was the red sauce, but if the caraway seeds and horseradish sauce were there, they seemed to get lost in the mix. I'm not saying I didn't like it, just that I don't think I would've identified this as a beef on weck pizza.
What it did bring to mind, though, was what in some places is considered typical "bar pizza." Around these parts, pizza that you get in bars is apt to be a little on the thick side, and often prepared using a premade shell for the crust. But as you can see here, in some areas, "bar pizza" denotes a pie that's described as "very thin-crusted," in order to "leave plenty of room in the eater's stomach for beer."
Mooney's pizza menu includes eleven toppings, and five specialty pies, besides the beef on weck pizza. They also do "Eppie rolls," described as "sausage, onions & sweet peppers with mozzarella and sauce rolled and baked to perfection." (I'm always mildly amused by that phrase, "to perfection." First, because "to perfection" is so vague that it really tells me nothing, and second, does that imply that other dishes are not done to perfection?)
Aside from pizza, Mooney's has an extensive menu, with all the usual suspects -- burgers, wings, sandwiches, seafood, etc. But a couple things deserve particular mention.
One is Mooney's macaroni and cheese. It seems to be something of a Mooney's specialty, as it figures prominently on the menu, in nine varieties, including Buffalo chicken, lobster, and Philly cheese steak.
My daughter got a taste of it by ordering a mac & cheese burger, which is simply a burger piled high with regular mac & cheese. I'm not sold on that particular concept -- I prefer my mac & cheese on the side -- but I tried a forkful or two, and they were quite good, with a creamy cheese sauce and al dente pasta.
But that's far from the most unusual burger on the menu. I don't see it on Mooney's online menu, but on our table menus, I spotted a Jell-O burger, which is made with strawberry Jell-O mixed into the ground beef. I believe this is only available at the Mooney's in LeRoy, which of course is the birthplace of Jell-O.
Our server informed me that while she had never tried it herself, the Jell-O burger does have its fans, with some patrons ordering it on a regular basis.While I can't say it sounds good, exactly, I promised myself that next time I visit Mooney's, I will order it. It sounds just weird enough to be interesting, but not completely repulsive, so it's something I really would like to try, just once.
And I do hope to pay Mooney's another visit at some point. It was a casual, pleasant spot, with a home-town-friendly kind of feel. When I do, I will be sure to let you know what I think of the Jell-O burger.

Mooney's Bar & Grill, 65 Lake St., LeRoy
(585) 768-4949
11 a.m. - 2 a.m. daily