Pat's Twice Baked

During my sabbatical from this blog, I tried to keep up on local pizza places that were opening and closing, for future reference.

A place that popped up on my radar recently is Pat's Twice Baked, which opened last year on Mount Hope Avenue. It's in the former location of OTR Woodfire Tavern, which sadly I never tried before its demise.

But I did get to Pat's recently for lunch with a friend. We agreed to share one pizza.

The brisket pizza (BBQ sauce, smoked brisket, onions & jalapenos) sounded interesting, as did the pickle pie (white sauce, dill pickles, chipotle ranch drizzle), but on a first visit I like to keep it simple, so we went with the pepperoni pizza.

The crust was quite thin, chewy but just firm enough to allow it to be picked up, folded and eaten out of hand. The cornicione was considerably thicker, with a bit of crunch and a chewy texture. 

If I'm nitpicking, the outer rim was noticeably more blackened on one side than the other. The underside was pretty uniform, so presumably one side of the pizza was nearer the flame for a little longer than the other. With a wood-fired oven, getting even charring along the edge requires turning and comes down to a matter of seconds. From what I say the pizzaiolo was attentive to his pies, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the pizza. At the least, it provided an interesting comparison.

 And yes, there was a wood fire in there. The pizzaiolo occasionally put a cover over the opening (as you can see in the photo), to keep the heat from escaping. But I did see a wood fire in the back, and an ample supply of fuel underneath.

All the toppings were very good, with stretchy, nicely melted, stretchy mozzarella atop a layer of red sauce. The sauce was applied a bit on the light side, but that was appropriate given the thinness of the crust. The cup and char pepperoni was crisp along the edges but not overdone, and quite tasty. Between the cheese and the pepperoni, there was a bit of oil as well, but not so much as to require sopping up. All in all, a very enjoyable pie.

Pat's offers a number of other items, as you can see from the menu, but pizza is the star of the show. On my next visit, though, I may just have to try their Twice Baked potato chips. 

And I expect there to be a next time. As I mentioned, several of the pizzas sounded good, and now that I've gotten a basic pepperoni pie literally under my belt, I'd like to explore some of the other choices.

Pat's Twice Baked Bar & Grill

1551 Mt Hope Ave 
Rochester, NY 14620

(585)-340-6419 

patstwicebaked@gmail.com 

Mon 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Wed 3:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Thur, Fri, Sat 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sun 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM 

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Rabbit Hole Tavern

So my wife and I had dinner at the Rabbit Hole Tavern in Rochester. I had it on my to-do list, since they offer "'12' Pizzas prepared in our stone deck oven, baked to perfection." 

When I see "to perfection," that's generally a red flag for me, as it's meaningless and overused, but okay. Let's check it out.

We ate in the dining room, not far from the bar. I didn't realize when I made the reservation that the Bills game would be on at the time (they went on to lose to the Broncos), so it was rather loud. But that's on me.

We shared two pizzas:  the "Pipin Hot" (described as "Louisiana style red pizza sauce (spicy), Grande mozzarella, crushed red pepper, jalapenos and pepperoni"), and the "Simply Cheese" (tomato sauce base, melted Grande mozzarella and Romano cheese). 

The crust didn't wow me. The cornicione was rather dry, and not particularly interesting. The underside showed a bit of browning here and there but I didn't pick up much in the way of gluten development or flavor. I would describe the crust as dull. 

There was no lack of cheese. And they use Grande mozzarella, which is a good brand, but that didn't help matters. If anything, these were overloaded with cheese. It was stretchy, but to my taste too gloppy. That's a subjective opinion, but that's my opinion.

 I didn't see a whole lot of difference between the two pizzas. My "Pipin Hot" was not all that hot. I put hot sauce on almost anything but ice cream, and I occasionally eat raw hot peppers as a snack, so I admit I have developed a tolerance for the stuff, but I was expecting more heat. 

I wish I could say more about this pizza. Thick, stretchy cheese, a serviceable but soft and uninteresting crust, and okay toppings. It was all right, but about what I would expect from a bar where the pizza is a menu item more than the focus.

 Which is fine. It is a bar. And if you're out with friends or on a date and you want some drinks and pizza, it was okay. But based on this visit, it seemed like more of a bar that serves pizza than a pizza restaurant that serves alcohol.

 Rabbit Hole Tavern

284 Exchange Boulevard
Rochester, NY
14608

 Hours
Closed Mondays
Tuesday - Thursday 11:00am - 10:00pm
Friday 11:00am - 12:00am
Saturday 12:00pm - 12:00am
Sunday 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Kitchen closes 1 hour before closing 

 https://rabbitholetavern.com/

Fiorella

Just over ten years ago, I posted a review of Fiorella, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in Rochester's Public Market. I had some issues with the crust, which was unevenly baked underneath, but I otherwise enjoyed it. Since Fiorella had only recently opened I considered it "a work in progress," and worth checking out.

I guess ten years is enough time to allow for a revisit. So my wife and I recently went there for dinner.

We ordered a Margherita (plum tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil) and one of that night's specials, a white pizza with mortadella, basil, oregano, roasted onion, fresh and smoked mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, hot chili flakes, finished with grated Parmigiano cheese *whew* - there would've been still more had we not asked them to leave out the honey drizzle -- not a fan of honey on pizza.

Alas, while the flavor was good, the crust again disappointed. The problem this time wasn't so much an unevenly baked crust, but too ... what?

I want to say too soft, but that doesn't quite capture it. I've used "flabby" before, and that comes closer. But ultimately it just wasn't interesting. 

 As I've said before, I do not think that pizza necessarily needs an exceptionally crisp, crackly crust to be good. I've had terrific pizza that needed to be eaten with a knife and fork. But even a soft underside benefits from a contrast with a crusty cornicione. To me, it's that mix of flavors and textures that elevates pizza to greatness. This was just soft and chewy all the way around.

 Having said all that, I should add that I still enjoyed the pizza. The white pizza was flavorful, although I didn't detect the chili flakes.

The Margherita was pretty good, a bit heavy on the sauce perhaps, but the fresh mozzarella was softened just right. The fresh basil made a cameo appearance but I would've liked it to be a little more prominent. 

Fiorella's menu states that they make wood-fired pizza, with dough "made with 100% organic NY stone-ground wheat, water and sea salt only and naturally leavened for better health." All of which is great, but I was frankly hoping for more from this pizza. 

There were plenty of patrons at Fiorella eating pizza, seemingly happily, so maybe it's just me, but I was disappointed with our pies. That of course is a subjective judgment but my wife serves as a check on my idiosyncrasies and she pretty much agreed with me, so I don't think I'm too far off base. 

Baking pizza, like baking bread, involves a complex mixture of ingredients, time, handling and temperature. I've tried to describe objectively where this pizza fell short for me subjectively. To summarize, it was good. But I was hoping for better.

Fiorella

5 Public Market

Wed. - Sat. 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

 Sun. - Tue. Closed

DoughBoyzRoc/Sager-Stoneyard Pub

Partly at a reader's suggestion (always appreciated), I recently had dinner with my wife at Sager-Stoneyard Pub, to try DoughBoyzRoc pizza. 

Before I get to the pizza, or the beer, I want to say, come up with a shorter name, guys. I understand this is a collaborative effort among two breweries and a pizzeria, but come on. How about "SagyardBoyz"? OK, maybe that's not that great, but better that what you've got now. Shorter, anyway.

We ordered a Margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan and EVOO), and a Comella, with (long list here) garlic oil, garlic confit, basil, mozzarella, provolone, sausage, peppers, onions, Parmesan, Sicilian oregano and olive oil.

Let's start with the crust, which is where it all begins with pizza. The DoughBoyzRoc website states that they use "naturally leavened dough" that "starts with this sourdough and ends with a gentle touch of imported olive oil."

Both pies had a thin crust, as I expected. The Margherita crust was nicely risen and flavorful, evidencing its long fermentation. 

Unfortunately, despite some spotting, the underside was mostly pale and soft. I'm not saying it should've been crackly crisp, and I know that Neapolitan pizza is not supposed to be crunchy underneath. But it seemed ti me that it would've developed more flavor had the underside come closer to matching the charring of the cornicione. The interior was nicely chewy, but a better-baked bottom could've put it over the top, if you follow me.

The overall flavor was good. The tomato sauce was a bit on the mild side for my taste, but that's purely subjective. The fresh mozzarella was softened without melting or browning. The flavor of the basil came through, although a few more sprinkles would have been welcome.

The Comella was quite flavorful. The cornicione was puffier than that of the Margherita. It was more blackened along the perimeter underneath, but otherwise the crust was similar to the Margherita's. Had that charring been more evenly distributed, it would've enhanced the flavor of the crust.

The Comella's list of toppings sounded appealing and indeed they complemented each other well. Although it was a long list, the individual toppings were applied sparingly, so the pie wasn't laden down, and they combined for a complex array of flavors, from salty to tangy to meaty.

That's it for the pizza. While there, I also enjoyed a Stoneyard Keller Pils. One of my beefs with a lot of craft breweries is that they try too hard to outdo each other in coming up with new brews, and in giving them names that tell me nothing about the beer, like "Evil Lizard," which turns out to be a dry-hopped sour papaya ginger stout. (I just made that up, but now that I think about it, it doesn't sound half bad. If any home brewers out there want to give it a shot, I'd be happy to review it.)

But keller beer, or kellerbier, or cellar beer (depending on your level of beer snobbishness), is a German style with a long pedigree, and although I'm not in a position to say how "accurate" Stoneyard's version was, it had the hallmarks of classic German beer, with a nice balance of malt and hops.

We also happened to come on Trivia Night (Thursday). Although we didn't actively participate, I daresay I would've done pretty well. Ironically, one of the few questions I missed was during the round on baseball, a subject on which I consider myself well versed:  "how many outs in an inning of baseball?" I scoffed at how ridiculously easy the question was, and although I wouldn't call it a trick question, my first, instinctive answer was wrong. (Answer below)

So:  a few quibbles aside, good pizza, good beer, and a good time. What's not to like?

Oh, the baseball question? I instinctively said, "rhree."  Three outs and you're done, right?  But the question was, how many outs in an inning, i.e. a full inning. There are three outs in each half of an inning. So the correct answer is six. DOH!

DoughBoyz, inside Sager-Stoneyard Pub

46 Sager Dr Suite E
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 417-5404
doughboyzjim@gmail.com

Pizza available Tue. - Thu. 4pm - 8pm, Fri. 4pm - 9pm, Sat. 12 - 9pm

Pub hours: 

Mon - Thurs: 4pm – 9pm
Friday: 4pm - 10pm
Saturday: 12pm - 10pm
Sunday: 1pm - 7pm

Amore

My wife recently had dinner at Amore, the Wegmans restaurant next to the East Avenue Wegmans. She brought me home two pizza slices, a Margherita and a seasonal with a butternut squash puree, zucchini and fresh mozzarella.

Okay, so I didn't eat these fresh out of the oven, which is the best way to judge a pizza, but I did keep them sealed and heated them the next day on a cast iron pan, which is the best way to reheat thin-crust pizza.

Both were extremely thin, to the point that there was virtually no interior in the crust, apart from the cornicione. That was unfortunate as otherwise they were pretty good. 

Despite the thinness, both were firm enough to be held in one hand (not that that's a prerequisite for good pizza - Neapolitan pizza often requires a knife and fork, and least in the middle) and they displayed some nice leopard spotting underneath. The cornicione was chewy and thick enough to allow the flavor of the crust to come through.

The flavors were good as well. The Margherita was topped with San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, EVOO, and Parmigiano Reggiano. The flavors were mild but the components worked well together.

I'm not always a fan of "seasonal" pizzas with unusual toppings (so far I haven't run across a pumpkin spice pizza, thank God), but I try to keep an open mind. I quite liked the butternut squash pizza. It wasn't necessarily something I would choose often, as red-sauce pizza remains my default, but I liked the combination here. As with the Margherita the flavors were on the mild side but they were complementary and allowed the flavor of the crust to come through. And the cheese on both was very nicely melted, just enough to soften without browning or liquefying (again, I did reheat these, so I'm not sure how they were upon coming out of the oven, but they were good for me).

 Overall, then, I found this very enjoyable pizza. But I think it would've been better, for me at least, had the crust been just a wee bit thicker.

Having said all that, I recognize that according to Amore's website, the head chef was born and learned his trade in Italy. I'm sure he's forgotten more about making pizza than I will ever know. I'm just giving my subjective opinion, which you may give whatever weight you think it deserves, including none at all. As the saying goes, opinions are like ... I forget, but I know everybody's got one.

Amore Italian Restaurant & Lounge

 1750 East Ave.

Rochester, NY  14610
Phone: (585) 452-8780 

Hours

5 – 9pm, Monday – Saturday
Last Seating at 8:30pm

 

 

REDD

Even before I resumed writing blog posts, REDD had been on my to-do list.  I'd gotten more than one personal recommendation and it gets rave reviews online. After several attempts to book a table a few days out, I realized I was looking at at least a week, but I finally had the forethought to get a table for my wife and me on a Friday evening.

All that is by way of background. When I hear and read that much good about a place, part of me is thinking, "this is going to be great!," and part of me is thinking, "don't believe the hype." But I try to keep an open mind.

 We got seated and served promptly. I'd been here years ago when it was 2 Vine, and it seemed better laid out and less noisy, despite being busy. 

After sharing a beet salad, which was quite good, my wife and I shared two pizzas:  a mozzarella pizza, with tomato, basil and Parmesan, and a prosciutto pizza with fontina, arugula and Parmesan. So a red and a white pizza.

I knew that REDD uses a wood-fired oven for their pizza, and my immediate impression was that the cornicione (edge) didn't have the blackened blistering that I usually see with wood-fired pizza. A check of the underside showed it to be a little spotted but not much.

That in itself didn't raise alarm bells. I've had too many "wood-fired" pizzas where they just briefly expose the outer edge to a flame to get it blackened, but the crust still sucks. It's not all about blackening.

But wood-fired or otherwise, it starts with the crust. And this was, well ... hmm.

Quite thin, up until I reached the cornicione, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't enough to sustain or balance the toppings. It was floppy and more significantly, it wasn't interesting.

What I mean is, with great pizza, the crust should be so good that I'd be happy to eat it with no toppings at all. This wasn't that.

Nor did it improve as I worked my way to the cornicione. Again, with top-notch pizza, that's almost the best part, as you get to enjoy the texture and flavor, unadorned. This was reminiscent of supermarket Italian bread. Not "bad," exactly, but bland and lifeless.

I don't claim to be an expert baker, but to quote one of my favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I know a little," and my first reaction was that it goes back to the intitial fermentation process, i.e. the rise. Use enough yeast, rise at warm temperatures, and you can have pizza or bread dough ready in no time. But it won't be particularly good. Low and slow and (somewhat) cold is the way to go, to develop more complex flavors and an interior structure in the crust, with more gluten development. But that takes time. I got the sense this was a crust made from a dough that wasn't given enough time.

I also know that the best wood-fired pizzerias I've been to get their ovens to a very high temperature, often 800 or above. A thin-crust pizza can bake in 90 seconds or so. REDD's was at 655 degrees, hotter than a typical home oven but not what you want for getting the most out of a wood-fired oven.

 I also noticed that the crust of the prosciutto pizza had separated between the top and the bottom. When properly done, that shouldn't happen. There are reasons why that might happen, but I'm not diagnosing the problem, just identifying it.

 OK. Enough about the crust. Let's move on to the toppings.

 They were good, although I must say not great.

The mozzarella pizza was well-laden with tomato sauce, but to me the sauce was over-applied. Pizza is also about balance and there was too much sauce, for my taste, on such a thin crust.

Nor was the sauce especially interesting. It tasted like sauce you'd get out of a jar. Not that you can't get good sauce from a jar, but this wasn't it. It tasted to me like generic spaghetti sauce. 

I was expecting a salty kick from the prosciutto on the prosciutto pizza, and I didn't get it. The pie was bland. I like a nice white pizza now and then, but without tomato sauce I'd like a bit of a flavor boost from the toppings, and this didn't deliver.

Not to drag my wife into this, but she agreed with me on all these points, and I can assure you she is unafraid to disagree with me, so I am pretty sure she was being honest. Toward the end of our dinner, I mentioned to her a thought that had just occurred to me:  as a bcnchmark, could I make a better pizza at home? I have had the good fortune to have pizza at various pizzerias that I couldn't possibly hope to match, due to the limitations of my home oven and my pizza-making skills. But we both agreed that I can make and have made better pizza at home, than what we had here.

Now all this sounds as if I've been trashing and bashing REDD. I suppose I have, but that was not my intent. Despite all I've said, I liked the pizza.

Not too many years ago I would've been amazed to get pizza this good anywhere around here, much less at a restaurant, where pizza is just an add-on to the menu. But the bar has been raised. That's a good thing, as the general level of quality and the range of options have both gone up. 

But if you're running a high-end restaurant, and you want to include pizza on the menu, I think it's incumbent on you to make sure it's damn good pizza. I can't honestly say that this was.

REDD Rochester

24 Winthrop St.

Rochester, NY 14607 

 https://reddrochester.com/

Mon. - Thu. 5 pm - 10 pm

Fri. 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5 pm - 10 pm

Sun. closed 

Strangebird Brewery

It took a while, but I finally made it to Strangebird Brewery recently.  Strangebird, which focuses on two things I love - pizza and beer - opened in 2021, but it took resuming this blog to get me over there.

 I went with my wife on a Thursday evening at about 5:30. They don't accept reservations, but I was hoping at that relatively early hour it wouldn't be too difficult to get a table.

 That was a false hope. There were a few vacant tables outside, but they were reserved. Inside, the place was pretty close to packed.

Which was fine, I get it, it was happy hour and I was glad they were doing well. But the setup was rather odd - we were told we could order food at the food counter, drinks at the bar, and grab seats when, where and if we could find them. Which presented a bit of a quandary as to what to do first. 

We ended up ordering two pizzas at the pizza/food counter, where they gave us a number. We headed back to the bar, where fortuitously two stools opened up, and got drinks. So it worked out but it was odd and a little inconvenient from my perspective. Surely there's a more orderly way to do this (in fact other restaurants and bars have various means of doing so).

At the bar, I ordered a Gouden Boom, which is described as a Belgian-style golden ale. Quite good. 

 Not too long (20 minutes?) afterwards, our pizzas showed up. In a departure from my usual rule, I didn't order the simplest pizza, which would've been the cheese pizza (from the description, basically a Margherita). Instead, we shared a "Greens" pizza (roasted garlic, kale, pickled chilis, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan) and a Mortadella, with its eponymous pork sausage, roasted garlic, pickled onion, salsa verde, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. 

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 The only part of me that regrets not sticking to my keep-it-simple-rule is that it was hard to evaluate the crust on its own or to set a benchmark. But both of these were very tasty pizzas.

Let's start with the crust. It was very thin. The cornicione was well formed and chewy, but the rest of the crust, where the toppings were, was so thin as to have almost no interior chew. That was a bit of a shame as the cornicione tasted quite good, and I could tell it was good, well-made dough. I would've liked it a tad thicker.

As I said, the toppings were very good. I'm a pepperhead, and put hot sauce on just about everything but ice cream (hmm ...?). The pickled chilis added a nice kick for me, but weren't too much for my wife, who has a low tolerance for heat. The entire ensemble was very good, with a medley of flavors that worked well together.

 Same for the Mortadella. The salty, thin-sliced sausage, pickled onion (I need to keep "pickled" in mind for pizza toppings) and garlic were terrific together. I love garlic almost as much as I love hot peppers, so it doesn't take much to convince me once you put garlic on a pizza.

Complaints? Well, again I would've liked a bit thicker crust.  To nitpick, a bit more charring underneath would've been welcome. The top side on both was nicely done, but the underside was a bit pale. I know it's a tricky thing to get it just right, but the point of this blog is to record my impressions, and that's one of them. 

I got a photo of the oven, but I couldn't see the interior. I was told that it is gas-fired, not wood-fired, but is clay-lined and heated to 800 degrees, which is certainly comparable to a lot of wood-fired ovens. And though I generally love wood-fired pizza, in the end what matters to me is the product.  Electric, gas, wood, coal, whatever. 

I liked this, a lot.  A bit thicker and a bit more done underneath and I would've loved it. But it was good, and I need to go back and try the cheese pizza. I think I'll try a different night of the week and/or a different time of day, though.

Strangebird  Brewing

62 Marshall Street
Rochester, NY 14607
585-505-8700

Thu. - Mon., 12 p.m. - 11 p.m. (Kitchen closes at 9 p.m.)

Closed Tue. & Wed. 

Gia's Pizza Kitchen, East Rochester

 After checking out one pizza place in East Rochester, which I liked very much, I decided to try another. And I liked this one too.

 I know East Rochester has historically been home to a large Italian-American population, and some very good Italian restaurants. But Gia's Pizza Kitchen, which opened last October, just came up on my radar screen recently.

I ordered a large pie to go, half cup and char pepperoni, half onions and sweet peppers.

I didn't realize until I got there to pick up the pizza that Gia's is a full-service restaurant. There is a small bar near the door and several tables to the right as you enter; the kitchen is in the back and is visible from the bar.

I got it home quickly and was quite pleased with the pizza. The underside, though a bit heavily dusted with cornmeal (or maybe it was rice flour; I should've paid closer attention, but hey, I'm out of practice), was slightly charred, and firm though not crackly crisp. The crust had a chewy texture, with a well-formed cornicione and bread-like flavor. It was on the thinner side. Quite nice overall.

It all starts with the crust, but that's not to discount the importance of the toppings. They need to be good, and applied in balance with each other. And these were good.

 The sauce was a tad sweet, but not in a sugary way, more tomatoey. The cheese was nicely melted. And both were applied in good proportion to the crust. I'm not a fan of heavily laden pizza, with a lot of sauce and cheese, especially with a thin crust, and this was just about right.

The pepperoni was done right: browned and crisp along the edges, chewy in the middle. On the other half, the use of yellow bell peppers was unusual but not unwelcome. They have a milder, slightly sweeter flavor that the usual green variety. Both the peppers and the onions were softened but not browned.

I came away rather happy with this pizza. I'm not sure how I would classify it, not that I need to, but it worked for me. Good job, in my opinion.Gia's Pizza Kitchen

211 Main St., East Rochester

Wed. - Fri. 11:30 am - 9 pm
Sat. 4 - 9 pm
Sun 12 - 7 pm

Closed Mon. & Tue. 

 

 

Pizza Stop Pub and Bistro, Pulteneyville

 On March 5, 2009, I posted a review of the Pizza Stop on State Street in Rochester.

A lot of water has passed over the bridge and under the dam since then. The Pizza Stop is still on State Street, despite suffering through a lengthy construction project, but it's also opened and closed some other locations.

One of which is in Pultneyville, a hamlet in the town of Williamson, on Lake Ontario about halfway between Webster and Sodus Point. I have an aversion to the term "underrated," but Pultneyville may be underrated. It's an off-the-beaten-path hamlet with a small inlet and a few historic buildings, and it was the site of a battle in the War of 1812, in 1814 (the result of which is disputed, but as far as I'm concerned, we won, dammit).

The Pizza Stop opened its first full-scale restaurant and bar in Pultneyville in 2020. You can read the story here. It also seems to go by the name of the Local on the Lake. I think they're trying to be known as more than just a pizza place. 

After many years of it being on my to-do list, I made it there recently,
with wife and 22-year-old in tow. 

It's in what I assume must be a very old building next to the inlet. There was a takeout counter on the first floor. We were dining in, so we made our way upstairs. We passed the small bar area, which was populated by what seemed like a few regulars, and got seated at a table near a window looking over the inlet and the lake in the distance.

We ordered three pizzas:  a small chicken/bacon/ranch, a medium Grandma's, and a medium NY style cheese pie. 

All were good; all tasty. But they were, I'm sorry to say, not as good as the original, i.e., the State Street location.

Why? The crust. To be fair, this pizza came to us straight out of the oven. When I've been to the Pizza Stop, it's often been for a slice, which gets a brief reheating, which crisps up the crust. New York "slice joints" do it that way on purpose--take the pie out a little short of doneness, so you can put slices back in for a quick heat-up.

But if you're serving a whole pie, maybe give it an extra minute or two. That would've helped here. With a thin crust, you're not going to get a lot of interior, so you really need that external crunch and char, and that was lacking here. Also, even a thin crust can have some complexity from a long, slow rise, and I didn't get that either. 

Now--we did take the leftovers home, and I reheated them in the oven, on a well-heated steel, and they were much better. So the potential was there. But that's the thing with pizza. Timing can be everything. 

It was an enjoyable experience and the pizza was good. I'd go back, but next time I might ask for the pizza "well done."

The Pizza Stop & The Local on the Lake

4135 Lake Rd., Williamson, NY  

 315-904-4407

Wednesday    4–10 PM
Thursday    4–10 PM
Friday    4 PM–midnight
Saturday    11 AM–midnight

 Read more about them here.  

The Richmond

Way back when, on any given night you might've seen me had you walked into Richmond's, a bar on Richmond Street in Rochester. It was a truly great bar. The neon "SORRY WE'RE OPEN" sign in the window pretty much told you what you needed to know about Richmond's. "Dive" doesn't sound quite right, but anybody and everybody was welcome. I think someone best described it as a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood.

 Sadly, Richmond's closed in 2020, apparently a victim of the COVID restrictions imposed by New York State (don't get me started on that). 

But it re-emerged in 2022, under different ownership, as "The Richmond," with a makeover and the addition of pizza. I put it on my to-do list, but saved it for a later day, when I would start doing blog posts again.

I went back recently with my wife for dinner, on a Saturday night around 6 p.m. The layout was about the same as I remembered it -- bar up front, some booths along the back -- but a bit classier looking, which is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. Happily, the "SORRY WE'RE OPEN" sign remains, now in blue instead of the old red neon.

We shared an appetizer of cauliflower salad, which
was very good. I highly recommend it.

From there, we got two pizzas, a Margherita and a "Cup N' Char." Pizzas are described on the menu as "Neapolitan style," and while I will leave it to interested readers to do further research on the parameters of that style, I would say these fell within that category: thin, relatively soft, and foldable.

I'll start with the Cup N' Char, which is described as topped with cup n' char pepperoni, mozzarella and house red sauce. It was pretty good, with nearly-burnt pepperoni on top and some charring underneath.  But the crust didn't wow me. One mark of a great pizza, for me, is that when I eat through to the edge (cornicione), I keep on going, because it's that good. I didn't get that here. The crust just didn't have a lot going for it. I don't claim to be an expert but it seemed like a quickly-risen dough that didn't have time to develop the kind of complexity I would expect from a Neapolitan-style pizza. But all in all, not bad.

The Margherita was, sad to say, a disappointment.  As with most things pizza, it started with the crust.

 The underside was quite pale. I wouldn't say that the crust was raw -- given its thinness, it didn't take long to bake -- but it was underdone, for sure.

I suppose we could've sent it back, although I've never done that before with a pizza. Come to think of it, I've never done that before, with any dish, but I can see doing it with meat. Pizza? Maybe, with a slice, if you want the bottom to get crisp, but the problem here was that the top side was already well-baked. A few more minutes and it would've been overdone.

The toppings were not enough to make up the difference. My tastes in pizza differ somewhat from my wife's, but we both commented on the sauce. It was thin and tasted as if it had come out of a jar. I suggested Ragu, and she didn't disagree. I have fond memories of Ragu spaghetti sauce, but it's not what I expect on a Margherita pizza. (I am NOT saying they used Ragu. I'm saying that's what it brought to mind.)

 I took a walk back to the oven area and it appeared to me that though the oven has the appearance of a wood-burning oven, the heat came entirely from a gas flame. (I should point out that they don't claim to do wood-burning pizza; I'm not accusing them of false advertising or anything like that.) Again, I don't claim to be an expert but I wondered if the oven hadn't had long enough to come up to full temperature when we got there. I didn't see a temp on the oven, so I don't know how hot it was, but there seemed to be a disconnect between the ambient temperature, where the toppings cook, and the deck, where the bottom cooks.

It occurred to me during dinner that I and fellow pizza aficionados have gotten spoiled over the years. Some years ago, I would've been amazed to get this pizza in a bar. Today, thankfully, standards have risen and I am a little more demanding.

 I will add that the service was great. We sat  at the bar, in my old spot, and the bartender was attentive. When the pizza came out, the server explained that the chef had mistakenly added hot honey and red pepper flakes, and she offered to take it back and have it redone, but I was fine with it. 

So ... 

It was great to get back to Richmond's. Nice to see that wings are still on the menu, although I don't know if they're up to the old standards; maybe next time I'll find out. (Mike, if you're out there, you made the BEST wings anywhere, anytime.) 

Based on this one visit, I would describe the pizza as a bit of a disappointment, but showing potential. Get better sauce and make better use of that oven (and maybe do a longer, colder dough rise), and they might have something great. That may sound like damning by faint praise, but that's not my intent. Some tweaking is all it needs.

The Richmond

21 Richmond St., Rochester, NY  

Mon., Wed. 4 pm - 10 pm

Thu., Fri. 4 pm - midnight

Sat. 1 pm -  midnight

Sun. 1 pm - 10 pm

 

Cristo's, Buffalo Road

Just twelve and a half short years ago, I published a post about a new wood-fired pizzeria on Buffalo Road, Fiamma. I l loved it, calling it "a great example of the pizzamaker's art."

In 2015, Fiamma opened a second location off University Avenue in Rochester (which I've been to, and it's every bit as good; I highly recommend it).

Eventually Fiamma closed the Buffalo Road location. For a while, the space housed a second location of Veneto, which is one of the first pizzerias I reviewed, in 2009.

In 2023, the Buffalo Road location re-opened as Cristo, under the ownership of a former Veneto chef. 

I added Cristo to my to-do list, but never got around to doing it until recently. I guess re-starting the blog finally gave me the impetus I needed.  I know that maintaining this blog is going to require some effort on my part, but if it got me to check out Cristo, then it's already been worth it.

Among the three of us, we ordered (the descriptions are from the menu) homemade fusilli pasta tossed in a vodka sauce with pancetta and red pepper flakes, and tagliatelle all'Amatriciana, described as homemade tagliatelle tossed in a red sauce with red onion, pancetta, and Calabrian peppers topped with Parmesan, Asiago and Romano cheeses.

And of course, the main reason for our trip:  pizza.

There are eight different pizzas on the menu, and though several of them sounded tempting, my default on a first visit to a place that does wood-fired or Neapolitan-style pizza is to go with a Margherita, as I did here.

When it arrived at our table, it looked good:  charred around the edge, topped with red sauce, fresh mozzarella and chopped basil.

When I took a bite, it got even better. Everything about it seemed right. So I took another bite, and another. I kept looking for something wrong with it, not because I wanted something to be wrong but because I thought, there has to be something wrong here; some flaw.

I didn't find one.

Let's start with the crust. Pliable, bready, chewy, charred. Not crackly like a NYC slice, but not soft or spongy, like, well, too many other places. And the charring was just right, for me. Not burnt, but not the kind of charring I've seen induced at some places for show, where they briefly expose the perimeter of the pizza to a gas flame to blacken it a bit. I confirmed with the pizzaiolo that their oven is 100% wood-fired, and this is how wood-fired pizza should be.

(By the way, I apologize for the relatively poor quality of the photos. The light in the restaurant was somewhat dim, and my attempts to improve the photos by editing them met with limited success. I need to work on that.)

The toppings shone both individually and in concert with each other. The sauce had a bright, fresh flavor, the cheese was melted juuust enough, and the basil, which had wilted a bit in the oven without browning, added the right herbal accent.

All three components worked beautifully together, and with the crust. I hate to overuse the phrase, but to me pizza is first and foremost about balance.  The crust, the sauce, the cheese, etc., everything has to work together in the right proportions and in harmony. And that was true of this pizza. 

Oh, and the pasta dishes? They were good too, or so I was told. I was too busy with the pizza.

As I said, some of the other pizzas on the menu sounded good, and I would like to go back to try them, although given my tastes it's hard to imagine I would like one of them better than this. For me, this was about as good as it gets.

Cristo's Wood Fired Pizza and Pasta

1308 Buffalo Road, Gates, New York 14624

585-622-9000

cristosrestaurant@gmail.com

Mon. - Wed. 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
    
Thu., Fri. noon – 9:00 pm
    
Sat.  3:30 pm – 9:00 pm
    
Sun. Closed (available for private parties and catering)

 

Chuck E. Cheese's (yes, really)

A reader recently asked if I'd tried Chuck E. Cheese's new pizza menu. I will confess that I hadn't been keeping up with CEC's latest developments. Shame on me.

But I did recall seeing a story that they are trying to do more to attract an older crowd, or at least make the whole experience more tolerable for parents.

So I was intrigued enough to go, with my wife and teenage daughter, last Sunday to the CEC on Hylan Drive in Henrietta.

After passing through security, we went up to the counter. We opted for the #1 (Large) deal, which, for 35 bucks, gets you one large pizza, four soft drinks (there were only three of us, but it was still cheaper that way, I think, than a la carte) and 30 minutes of unlimited games. I ordered a "Thin & Crispy" pepperoni pizza. I noticed it's not available in a medium size, which leads me to believe the crusts are pre-made. But that hardly came as a shock.

I guess this qualifies as "fast casual," since we took a number and the food was delivered to our table. It took longer than I expected, 20 minutes, maybe, but when it arrived, well, the pizza wasn't bad  I'm not saying it was all that great, but it wasn't bad.

Now I should mention here that I was quite hungry. It was about 1 p.m. and I hadn't eaten since the night before. And my expectations were low.  But I tried to take an objective view of the pizza, and I didn't have much cause for complaint.

The underside was a little crisp, with some screen marks. Not crackly, but firm, with a chewy interior. The cheese was browned and somewhere between chewy and gooey. Pepperoni was average, sauce a bit sweet.

My biggest complaint was the saltiness. I'm something of a salt fiend, but this was too much for me, at least in some areas. I (and my daughter backed me up on this) got the impression that they dusted the whole thing with garlic salt at some point, with some spots getting way too much. Not so much as to make it inedible, but please leave the garlic powder and salt to me. Still, I have to admit, not bad in general.

As to non-pizza stuff: I noticed they do carry beer and wine, although I'm not sure if imbibing would make it more or less easy to deal with a bunch of screaming kids. I stuck with Diet Pepsi (they had caffeine-free, which I appreciated). The salad bar comprised fairly standard stuff, but looked pretty good, as salad bars go. The sneeze screen was too high to block kids' expectorants, but I doubt kids will be using it much anyway.

Once we finished our pizza, we moved on to the games. Our card's clock starting running with our first game, so we had 30 minutes to get in as much as we could.

I can recall going to a CEC a long time ago when a main attraction was the animatronic band that would come out and "play" music every so many minutes. This location had some vastly scaled down version of that way in the back, a nod to their past, I guess, but most of the entertainment space was taken up by games.

Many of those were clearly aimed at little kids. I was disappointed that they didn't have an air hockey table except for one that was so small, I would've felt embarrassed to be seen using it, unless I were purposely losing to a toddler at the other end. I did have some fun on the basketball free-throw game, but most of the games were aimed at the kiddie set.

I've wondered before why some of these arcades aren't regulated as gambling parlors, because with each game you get tickets, which are redeemable for cash. After this, I think I figured out why. After getting our fill of  skill-based games, we ended up on a game where you just hit a button and it spits out tickets. Kind of like a slot machine.  We walked  away with a boatload of tickets, which got us one small bag of cotton candy, for which we had to pay an extra 20 cents.  So that's why it's not like a casino. No matter what, or how well you do, you'll never walk away with more than you came in with, monetarily.

So was it worth it?  I guess. The three of us got a reasonably good pizza, some soft drinks, and 30 minutes of games, for 35 bucks. I won't be back soon, but honestly, the pizza was OK. Maybe that's damning with faint praise, but that's about it. It was better than I expected. I'll leave it at that.

Chuck E. Cheese's
1000 Hylan Drive (Jay Scutti Plaza)
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. 11 - 10, Sat. 10 - 10
(585) 292-6380

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