Roncone's reconceived

I recently ran across a news story about Roncone's, the long-time Italian restaurant on Lyell Avenue, saying that after a change of ownership, they now serve pizza. I was particularly intrigued by this as Roncone's building still displays a sign for the old Veltre's bakery, which I posted about back in 2011. Veltre's made pizza, which in the early days they would sell at local bars, probably including Roncone's.

So a few weeks ago, when my wife and I had a chance for a "date night," we headed to Roncone's for dinner. On this Friday evening at around 7:30, it was quite busy and we were told that without reservations, we were looking at maybe a 40-minute wait. That's a bit beyond my usual tolerance for waiting time, but there was ample room at the bar, so I asked if we could eat there, which was no problem.
Pizza is such a recent addition to the menu that it wasn't yet on the printed menu.There is a separate pizza station, with sliced pies out, and the pizza ovens in back. The pizza menu is printed on a chalkboard above.
My wife an I shared a medium cheese pie, and some garlic knots. The pie had a thin-to-medium crust, with a well-formed, crisp but not brittle cornicione. The crust had an enjoyably bready flavor and a chewy but not tough texture. The underside was charred here and there, with some corn meal visible, some of it a little burnt or sooty. Individual slices passed the "fold test" - no drooping when held in one hand, folded.
The toppings were simple of course, but good. Sauce had a touch of tomatoey sweetness, and the slightly browned mozzarella was nice and stretchy but not gooey. My wife declared it the best pizza she'd ever had at a restaurant, which might sound like damning by faint praise, but I know what she meant. Restaurant pizza often disappoints. This did not.
A week or two later, I returned for lunch with a couple friends. This time I got a pepperoni slice and a tomato pie slice.
Before the Utican purists jump on me, I guess this was not a traditional tomato pie, in the sense that it had sausage and peppers, in addition to the usual bread crumbs and grated cheese, plus some shredded basil. If that makes it not a tomato pie, then let's just call it pan pizza, or Sicilian, or square pizza. By any name, it was good, with a crunchy underside and an open crumb. The toppings had soaked in on top a bit, but the crust was not soggy.
The pepperoni slice was marked by the same bready, crisp crust as my prior cheese pie, with meaty slices of pepperoni.
So two successful pizza visits, but I should give a nod to Roncone's other options. As before, they still have a wide variety of Italian-American foods to offer. You can see their menu on their website, as well as more information about the head chef, Jimmy, and their background. I'll also post some additional photos on my Facebook page.
On my dinner visit, I met and chatted very briefly with the pizzaiolo, Franco. With a name like Franco he had me half-sold on their pizza already.

Roncone's, 232 Lyell Ave., Rochester
(585) 458-3090

Tue. & Wed., 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Thu. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

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

Rohrbach, Railroad Street

Rohrbach Brewing Company is best known as the granddaddy of Rochester's craft brewers, dating back to its original location in the German House, but their food is not to be overlooked. Their brewpub on Buffalo Road offers a full menu highlighted by beer-friendly German specialties, and it's also one of the few places in the Rochester area where you can get a decent beef on weck.
This past spring, Rohrbach opened its new Railroad Street Beer Hall at its primary production facility near the Rochester Public Market. The food menu at the Beer Hall is different from (and for now, at least, considerably shorter than) the brewpub's menu, but it does offer one thing you won't find at the brewpub:  wood-fired pizza.
I recently joined a friend there for dinner, and we each got a pizza. Our choices were:  the Rohrbach Classic, with red sauce, a three-cheese blend, and pepperoni; Sausage & Pepper (red sauce, sausage, pepper, red onion, and shredded mozzarella); Caprese (basil pesto sauce, fresh mozzarella, and sliced tomato); Jalapeno Bacon (garlic-Parmesan sauce, sliced jalapeno, bacon, and shredded mozzarella); and that evening's special, which had an Asian-sounding theme involving Sriracha and oranges. It sounded like it might be good, but I was looking for something a little more traditional, so I ordered the Sausage & Pepper, while my companion got the Classic.
Our dinner-plate-size pizzas had a very thin crust.  Mine was a little puffier around the edge. The undersides were browned in spots, but not charred, and the surface was uniformly smooth, with little sign of any bubbling in the dough.
The dough didn't seem to have risen much, and the crust, while not bad, was not terribly interesting either. It was on the chewy side, not particularly crisp, nor breadlike. It also lacked the toasty, smoky notes that I look for in a wood-fired crust. Just a guess, but I suspect that the oven wasn't quite as hot as it could've been. The pies were considerably browner along the edge than underneath, which further suggests that the oven deck wasn't terribly hot.
On the plus side, my Sausage and Pepper pie had good flavor overall, with a slightly sweet red sauce accented by small chunks of mild Italian sausage and peperoncini slices. The mozzarella cheese was browned but still appropriately gooey.
I tried a slice of my companion's pie, and it was indeed a classic pepperoni pizza, with a uniform blanket of cheese and crisp, spicy cup & char pepperoni slices. I liked my pizza well enough, but I actually preferred the Classic, which was a basic but tasty "bar" pie.
The food menu at the Beer Hall comprises four pizzas, three salads, warm pretzels, and wood-fired cookies (which sounds intriguing), as well as nightly specials. Aside from their extensive lineup of craft beer, Rohrbach also offers house-brewed root beer and orange cream soda, and Pepsi products. The space is attractive, with high ceilings, brick walls, and long communal tables; think German bierstube, but with an industrial-chic look.
Getting back to the pizza, I found a lot to like about these, but I wasn't crazy about the crust. It served well enough as a base for the toppings, which were quite good, and in general I enjoyed the pizza. With a little work on that crust, these could be truly outstanding pizzas. These, I'll give a B, on the strength of their overall flavor.

Rohrbach Railroad Street Beer Hall

97 Railroad St, Rochester

(585) 546-8020

Wed. & Thu. 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Fri. 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Closed Sun. - Tue.

Brewery tours on Saturdays hourly from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The Alley, Rochester

While the number of local pizzerias seems to be holding fairly steady, pizza as a menu item is popping up all the time. One recent example is The Alley, a restaurant/bar/nightclub in Rochester's East End.
The Alley, which opened in December 2015, is . It's at 1 Ryan Alley, near the corner of East and Alexander. After I spotted an ad for The Alley trumpeting its pizza, I made a mental note to get there, which I did a few weeks ago with my daughter.
We went on a Wednesday, arriving around 6 p.m. That's kind of early in the week, and early in the evening, for the East End, so unsurprisingly, things were pretty quiet when we walked in. In fact, it was empty, save for one employee behind the bar. But he assured me that they were open, and yes, they were serving food, including pizza. So we got a table near the window.
After handing us our menus, he explained that they were unexpectedly shorthanded that night, so at the moment, he constituted the entire staff -- bartender, waiter, and chef. Since we were the only customers, I didn't mind; if nothing else, this would truly be personalized service.
Pizzas at The Alley come in three sizes:  personal, regular and large. I got a regular Margherita, and my daughter ordered a personal meat lovers.
While we waited for our pizzas to arrive, we shared an appetizer of arancini. At The Alley, these fried rice balls are filled with Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese, and served with a side of marinara sauce. They were crisp on the outside, moist inside, tasty and enjoyable. So far, so good.
Our pizzas arrived in due course, and as I usually do, I first checked the underside. It was quite pale. Not a good sign.
Further inspection confirmed that the crust was rather underdone. Not raw, but flabby and a little gummy. "Lifeless" might best describe it.
I could've sent it back to bake a while longer, but the cheese was already well browned, so that didn't seem like a viable option. And I could've just sent it back, period. But I didn't, partly because I was intending to review it, so I figured I'd stick with what I had, and partly because it passed my "good enough to eat" threshold.
The overall flavor wasn't bad. This was really more of a cheese pizza than a Margherita, but as such, it was decent. The sauce had a thin consistency, but the chunks of tomato provided some acidity, sweetness and moisture. The cheese was ample, albeit rather browned, as I mentioned. My pie had also been given a sprinkling of what I'm guessing was Parmesan (the powdery kind you get from a cheese shaker, not freshly grated). Alas, the basil was of the dry variety, and didn't add much flavor, which is why I say this was more of a simple cheese pizza than a true Margherita.
The crust on my daughter's meat lover's pie was relatively thick, which is one reason I generally don't order personal-size pizza. Because of its smaller diameter, the cornicione on a personal pizza takes up a greater proportion of the overall pie than it would on a larger pie. I enjoy a good cornicione, but I like the thinner crust in the center of the pie too, and you often don't get much of that with a small pizza. This isn't a universal rule, by any means, but I've often found it to be the case, and it was here.
The crust on my daughter's pie was also on the underdone side, but that seemed less noticeable with hers, perhaps because of its more abundant toppings, which were pretty good. The pepperoni was crisp along the edges, and the meatball and sausage bits were thick and chunky. In contrast to my pizza, the mozzarella on hers was not browned, but was well melted and stretchy.
A few minutes after bringing out our pizzas, the waiter came by to check on us. I am sometimes susceptible in that situation to the American practice of smiling, nodding, and saying that everything's fine, even when it isn't, and I might've fallen prey to that this time, except that he specifically asked about the crusts on our pizza. So we did let him know that they were underdone. He seemed to have suspected as much, and after apologizing, he told us that he was taking 15% off our bill.
We didn't finish either pizza at this sitting, but I did take the leftovers home. I was able to salvage them for lunch, reheating individual slices in a toaster oven, with a layer of foil on top to prevent the cheese from getting overdone. That at least crisped up the bottoms a bit.
Obviously, something went wrong here. I'm no expert, but it seems likely to me that these were baked in an oven that was too cool on the bottom, but hot up above. I'm guessing the oven hadn't been on for very long, and was not sufficiently preheated.
So no, this was not very good pizza. But having said that, I did appreciate our waiter's concern. In hindsight, it might have been better if he had told us at the start that they weren't quite prepared to do pizza, but maybe he honestly didn't realize. I think he tried to do the best he could, under the circumstances.
Frankly, I debated with myself and a couple of other people, whose opinions I value, about whether to post this review, or whether to go back a second time, or to contact the establishment. Ultimately, I decided just to post the review, as is. In the end, this blog remains a record of my pizza experiences. If I describe those experiences accurately and objectively--and I think I have--the reader can decide what to make of it.
So I end this post with that caveat. This is a review of two pizzas, and one visit. Maybe on a different occasion--a different day of the week, or a different time of day, or with more people on staff--the pizza would have proved much better. But this was not too good. I have no complaints about our service, but I think I need to give this pizza a D.

The Alley,1 Ryan Alley, Rochester
(585) 546-1010

Tue. - Sat. 4 p.m. til ?

Fiamma: Montanara Pizza

Even at pizzerias with long lists of specialty pies, you don't often see potato pizza among them. When you do, it's apt to be of the "stuffed potato" variety, loaded with cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream and whatnot. To me that's overkill, and I generally avoid that kind of pizza. I don't even like my potatoes that way.
But there is an Italian tradition of adding potatoes to pizza. And Fiamma, one of my favorite pizzerias, offers its version, which I tried recently.
During a recent lunch visit with two friends, I ordered Fiamma's Montanara pizza. I'd seen it on the menu and been wanting to try it for some time. The Montanara is topped with smoked mozzarella, sliced potato, crumbled sausage and porcini mushrooms. 
(As an aside, I should mention that I've seen the term "montanara" applied to pizza with a fried crust, typically topped with a tomato-based sauce. This was neither.)
Now I would not ordinarily order a pizza with mushrooms. There aren't many pizza toppings I shy away from, but mushrooms are one of them. I just don't like mushrooms, mostly because of their texture.
But another principle I tend to follow is that at certain restaurants, I trust the chef. I don't think chefs should refuse reasonable customer requests to alter a dish slightly, but after all the fine pizza I've had at Fiamma, I figure, either get it as described, or don't get it at all. That's particularly true if I'm going to review it on the blog. So I ordered the Montanara, mushrooms and all.
As usual, I'll start with the crust. There's not much I can say beyond what I've said before about Fiamma's consistently good crust. Puffy cornicione, black blisters along the edge and underneath, supple and flavorful. I think I'd be quite happy to make a meal of an unadorned Fiamma's crust. To me, it's what a wood-fired pizza crust should be.
Which makes for a convenient segue to the toppings. I know that some customers have complained from time to time that they find Fiamma's pizza soggy, or soupy, or words to that effect. I've written about that before, and I'm not going to get back into it here, except to say that Neapolitan-style pizza is simply different from basic American pizza. I mention it because the toppings on Fiamma's Montanara are not as wet as some of their other pizzas, so the crust is comparatively drier and firmer.
It's also a more subtly flavored pie than some of the others on the menu. No hot peppers, or sharp cheese, or salty anchovies. Instead, you get a harmonious blend of savory sausage and mushrooms and almost buttery-tasting, thinly sliced al dente potatoes. They're complemented by bits of rosemary and other herbs, and a touch of olive oil, against a backdrop of smoked mozzarella, which I like very much. All told, this pizza is far from bland or uninteresting, but it does use a relatively restrained combination of ingredients that invites slow eating (something I'm not always good at) and which rewards the diner's attention.
Oh, and the mushrooms? I have to admit, they worked well here. Not that I'm going to start ordering mushrooms on my pizza on a regular basis, but their flavor blended nicely with that of the other toppings, and these didn't have the rubbery texture that I find so objectionable.
As much as I remain a fan of Fiamma's red pizzas, one of the things I enjoy about going there is working my way through the pizza menu. Each variety has something different to offer, and this was another good example. Its very dissimilarity from the other pies on the menu is why the Montanara offers its own unique rewards, which are well worth seeking.

Fiamma, 1308 Buffalo Road

585-270-4683
info@fiammarochester.com

Lunch
Mon-Sat - 11:45am-2:00pm

Dinner
Mon - Thurs 4:30pm-9pm
Fri - Sat 4:30pm-10pm
Sun 4:00pm-8pm

ChaCha's, Penfield

The wood-fired pizza trend in the Rochester area continues. A recent entrant is ChaCha's WoodFired Bar & Grill in Penfield. It's in the former site of Angus House & Lounge, a steakhouse that folded in 2015.
My daughter and I had dinner at ChaCha's a few weeks ago. We sat in the bar area, the better to watch the pizzaiolo prepare our pies. On our weeknight visit, things were modestly busy, and it was a pleasant setting, with red- and orange-painted walls that I'd call lurid were it not for the star of the show, the blazing pizza oven.
According to their online menu, ChaCha's pizzas are "100% wood fired" - no gas "assistance" - and the "oven cooks at 720 degrees resulting in a crisp and always delicious pizza!" Based on this visit, I won't disagree.
A number of ChaCha's specialty pizzas sounded good, but I got my usual Margherita. My daughter, as is also usual, went the carnivorous route, with a "Meat Monster."
The crust on both pies was quite good: thin, charred underneath but not burned, and still pliable. It had a chewy texture, and a fresh-bread flavor, accented by toasty notes. The edge was shaped into a well-formed cornicione, which in the photo may make the pie look a little deeper than it was.
The cornicione was only a little darkened, suggesting that the floor of the oven was quite hot, but that the pizza had not been put too close to the flame in the back. Some wood-fired devotees might like the edge a bit more charred, but I preferred this to some pies I've had that are pale underneath, and then given a quick charring along the perimeter, just to give the pizza that wood-fired look.
On top, the tomato sauce, which contained small chunks of tomato, was not heavily seasoned, but had a bright flavor. The fresh mozzarella was thinly sliced but covered most of the pie. It was just melted, neither browned nor rubbery. A leaf of fresh basil had been applied to each of the eight slices, as soon as the pie came out of the oven, from the looks of it, as they were just barely wilted.
The careful arrangement of the toppings made for an eye-pleasing pie. Food's visual appeal can enhance our enjoyment of it, and this was an attractive, as well as a tasty, pie.
I don't typically go for meat-laden pizza, but in the interest of research I did of course have a slice of my daughter's pie. The Meat Monster is topped with red sauce, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, meatball, prosciutto, ham & mozzarella. That's a lot for a thin-crust pie, in particular, but while the toppings here were far from skimpy, they were not so abundant as to overwhelm the crust. Still, this was a knife-and-fork kind of pizza.
ChaCha's offers 15 specialty pizzas, including a clams casino pie that tempted me, and "ChaCha's Favorite," with red sauce, capicola, salami, caramelized onions, cherry peppers, and fresh mozzarella, all drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Sounds good. Or make your own, from a wide list of toppings.
Aside from pizza, ChaCha's offers an interesting selection of hot sandwiches, burgers, pasta, steak, chicken and seafood. Check out the menu for yourself, as there are too many intriguing dishes for me to list. On a return visit, I'd be seriously torn between trying a different pizza and trying a different entree altogether. Either way, I think I'd try the Boursin Cheese Fries:  "crispy french fried potatoes topped with a sauce made of boursin cheese, white wine & shallots topped with scallions drizzled with sriracha." There's a relatively modest but diverse wine and beer list.
With each announcement of a new wood-fired pizzeria opening around town, I fear that more and more restaurateurs are simply jumping on the bandwagon, but not always doing their homework or turning out a quality product. Not so here. These were well-prepared, flavorful pizzas.

ChaCha's Woodfired Bar & Grill, 2126 Five Mile Line Rd., Penfield

585-218-2005

Tue. - Thu. 4:00 - 9:00, Fri. & Sat. 4:00 - 10:00, Sun. 4:00 - 9:00. Closed Mon.

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

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.

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

Back to Fiamma

As regular readers of this blog will surely know, Fiamma on Buffalo Road has been one of my favorites since my first visit there in October 2012. So it didn't take any arm-twisting to get me to accept an invitation for my wife and me to join two friends there for dinner on New Year's Eve.
After being seated, we shared some appetizers, a Caprese salad with fresh buffalo mozzarella, and a plate of mussels in a spicy tomato sauce. They were very good, but I did not want to overdo it on the antipasti, or the complimentary bread, because I was saving room for the pizza.
Fiamma is not just a pizzeria; it's a full-service restaurant, and they offer several pasta, meat and fish dishes. I don't doubt that those are very good, but I simply can't bring myself not to order pizza when I'm there.
I was leaning toward the Montanara pizza, which is topped with sliced potatoes, among other things, but instead - maybe it was the festive holiday mood - I decided to try the stella, which is unique among Fiamma's pizzas. The crust is formed into an eight-pronged star, and each prong is wrapped around a nugget of smoked buffalo mozzarella. The whole pie is topped with mozzarella, olives, sausage, arugula and cherry tomatoes.
The pizza was so pretty, I hated to cut into it. But after taking the leftovers home, I realized that the individual slices made for very nice Christmas-tree-shaped pizza.
The toppings provided contrasting flavors, which varied from one bite to the next: a bit of saltiness from the olives, some sweetness from the tomatoes, and the underlying bitterness of the arugula. But there was no sauce, so what I mostly got was the smoky-charred-bready-chewy crust. And it's that slow-risen, fast-baked crust that I love most about Fiamma's pizza.
My stella gave me more than enough to keep me busy, so I didn't sample my companions' pies. But my wife got a Napoletana, topped with tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, basil, pecorino Romano, and extra virgin olive oil. One friend got a Carminuccio, with double tomato sauce, spicy pancetta, basil, Parmigiano & a blend of Gran Cru cheese. Her husband ordered a Capricciosa, with tomato sauce, parma cotto ham, mushrooms, olives, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil. Each pie displayed the leopard-spotted underside that is Fiamma's signature, and everybody was happy with their pizza.
I'm not a huge dessert guy, but I do love tiramisu, so I couldn't resist that. It was moist, light and appropriately sweet.
At this point, my notes become rather sparse, probably reflecting the effects of a full stomach and carb overload. But my wife and one friend each got the same dessert, which I believe was the semifreddo, chocolate mousse topped with gelato. The fourth member of our party ordered a frozen, fruity dessert. For the life of me I can't think of what it was called but it was stuffed into a tiny, split squash or pumpkin.
Owner Giuseppe Pacciulo was quite busy (they were short-handed that night, due to an employee's illness), but I did manage to chat with him before we left around 10:00. He informed me that a second Fiamma's location, in Rochester, remains in the works, but the date remains TBA. I will pass on any information I get, as soon as I get it.
Someday, I will order something other than pizza off Fiamma's "primi" and "secondi" menu. The baccala al forno sounds especially intriguing. But next time I go, I'm getting that Montanara pizza. I'll do another post, when I've done so.

Fiamma, 1308 Buffalo Road

585-270-4683

info@fiammarochester.com

Lunch
Mon-Sat - 11:45am-2:00pm

Dinner
Mon - Thurs 4:30pm-9pm
Fri - Sat 4:30pm-10pm
Sun 4:00pm-8pm