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

Aunt Rosie's, Downtown Rochester

I don't always stop into pizzerias shortly after they've opened, because sometimes they need some time to get their act together. But I was eager to check out Aunt Rosie's, which opened in November on East Main Street in downtown Rochester.
Aunt Rosie's offers brick-oven pizza, antipasto, pasta, hot and cold sandwiches, and desserts. Of course, I was there for one thing only.
When I stopped in, a little before noon, there were two sliced pies available, cheese and pepperoni. I got two pepperoni slices, to go. Had I been there with companions, I would've eaten on the premises, which are attractive, with large windows and a contemporary, comfortable feel.
My slices were quite thin, with a nice-looking spinkling of cup-and-char pepperoni on top. The underside was very blackened, with a crackled, blistered surface and a very noticeable toasted-bread aroma. The crust wasn't quite burnt, but it came right up to the line.
This was a crust that might divide people. It was a shade too blackened for my taste, but with a thin crust, I'd rather err on the side of over-, rather than under-done. So I didn't mind, much.
The crust was a little dry, and was firm but supple; it wasn't brittle, and could be folded without breaking. All in all, I liked it.
The other components were good and in balance with the crust. The cheese had a smooth texture, if not a lot of flavor; it seemed to me to be entirely composed of aged mozzarella. Similarly, the tomato sauce was straightforward in flavor but was applied in good proportion, just enough to add some moisture and acidity. And the pepperoni slices were nicely crisped along the edge. No one topping stood out from the rest, which is the sign of a well-balanced pizza.
The obvious emphasis here was the crust. Each bite brought with it that marked flavor and aroma of dark-toasted bread. It seemed like a ramped-up version of New York style pizza, which is typically thin and charred underneath.
This was good pizza, in my opinion, though whether you would like it depends on your taste in pizza. It brought to mind, though, some food trends in this country toward extremism. For example, "killer" hot sauces, mouth-puckeringly bitter beers, and the like. Whatever your opinions about those, extremism generally doesn't work with pizza, at least as far as the crust goes. "Artisanal" pizza is a trend these days, and a charred crust is associated with artisanal pizza. I like a well-charred crust as much as the next guy, but this came close to being simply burnt. It's a fine line, but this came close to the line.
Close, but not quite there. Good pizza, overall, and worth a stop, for sure. Since Aunt Rosie's just opened, I won't give it a grade, but I'll be back. But consider it if you're downtown. And do check out their Facebook page for daily specials.
Aunt Rosie's, 350 E. Main St.
713-1470
Mon. - Fri. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Pizano's, Canandaigua

On a recent foray into Canandaigua, I got a medium pizza from Pizano's, which adjoins the Villager restaurant and the V Pub (you can read a little of the background here).
Pizano's menu advertises pizza dough that is "fresh and made hourly," which I don't think could possibly mean that they literally make a fresh batch of dough every hour, from scratch. Pizza dough isn't like coffee; you don't want to use it, or eat it, right after it's been made. Unbaked dough needs time to achieve optimal flavor and texture before it does in the oven. So my guess is that they mean that they bake pizzas at least hourly, so that if you get a slice, you know it hasn't been sitting there all day drying out under a heat lamp. But since I ordered a pie, the freshness of Pizano's slices wasn't a particular concern of mine.
This medium pepperoni pie had a thin crust, with a pale bottom that was firm but not crisp, and dry, not greasy. Though the bottom was pretty dry - which is a good thing - the top was a different story. It wasn't drenched in grease, but some areas were coated in a thin layer of orangey oil, which may have come from the cheese, the pepperoni, or both. Some of the oil had soaked into the top side of the crust, though not too deeply. I wasn't thrilled by the pale underside, but there was some nice breadiness near the edge, with some good-sized air holes created by the yeast.
Though the cup-and-char pepperoni was fine, the most prominent component here was the cheese. It had a tangy flavor, and very much predominated over the thin layer of mildly-flavored sauce. A light sprinking of grated cheese added to the overall cheesy flavor of this pizza.
Pizano's offers six specialty pizzas, including a "Tuscany Valley" pie topped with roasted red peppers, pepperoni, onions and Genoa salami. I think salami is an underused, underappreciated pizza topping that is well worth trying, if you haven't done so yet (but it's got to be good, hard salami, not the wimpy stuff that shows up on your average sub sandwich). They also do wings, calzones, sandwiches, salads, pasta, ribs, and (mostly fried) seafood. It's a pretty full menu of standards. They also do catering.
As for this pizza, I found myself liking it in spite, or because, of what seemingly should've been considered flaws. What I particularly liked about this pizza was its distinctiveness. It had a combination of flavors and textures that was subtly, yet definitely, different from other pizzas I've tried. And the overall flavor and texture, was, I thought, rather enjoyable. Somehow, the firm, chewy crust, the oil-slicked cheese, and the ever-so-slightly burnt pepperoni worked together, to make for a good pie.
I made a note, while eating this pizza, that despite its seeming flaws - the almost underdone crust being foremost among them - my impression at the time was that it deserved a B, with the caveat that this pizza would not be to everyone's taste. If you demand a pizza with a crisp, crackly crust, you might be inclined to give it a D. But I do prize distinctiveness among pizza, and to me, this is one to at least try. So I'm sticking with my initial impression, and giving it a B.
Pizano's Pizza, 243 S. Main St., Canandaigua
(585) 393-0690
Open 10 a.m. - midnight daily

Return to Panzari's

One of my earliest blog posts was a review of Panzari's in Corn Hill, in April 2009. I gave them a pretty scathing review, and a D-minus to go along with it. Part of that was due to my chagrin that a place that advertised wood-fired pizza would serve me a pizza made in something akin to a waffle iron.
But I've wondered, since then, if I just caught them on a bad day, and I figured that now that they've got some increased competition, in the form of Tony D's across the street, maybe they've stepped up their game. So I went back.
I ordered the same pizza as last time, the "Margarita" (still misspelled), not just because I like that style but because I figured it would make for a fair comparison with what I had last time.
Interestingly, Panzari's website now advertises "Brick Oven-Fired Pizza," not wood-fired pizza as before. "Brick oven-fired pizza" doesn't really make any sense to me; "brick oven pizza," or "wood-fired pizza," I get, but "brick oven-fired pizza" is meaningless.
Semantics aside, though, OK, I get that they are not doing, or claiming to make, wood-fired pizza these days, just pizza baked in a brick oven. Fair enough, and certainly a brick oven can produce excellent pizza, regardless of the heat source.
But to my disappointment, if less than complete surprise, my pizza was about the same as before. The thin-to-medium crust was soft, with a lot - and I mean a lot - of corn meal adhering to the bottom. Much of the corn meal was blackened. Now I like corn meal well enough, in some contexts (polenta, for example), and I use it myself sometimes to keep my pizza dough from sticking to the peel, but every bite here included a gritty dose of the stuff. Not good.
Aside from that sooty corn meal, and a little browning along parts of the edge, the crust was pale and uninteresting. It had a pleasant enough flavor, but texturally, it was dull. Whatever advantages might be gained by the use of a brick oven weren't apparent here.
The toppings didn't help much. Granted, I could've opted for bolder, more flavorful toppings, but there's no reason that a Margherita can't have an interesting, complex flavor profile. This pie had a thick layer of melted mozzarella (which in itself wasn't bad, or wouldn't have been, in combination with the right other toppings), fresh but bland tomato slices, a smattering of shredded basil, and a bit of garlic. As I've said before, better to use good, canned tomatoes (like San Marzano tomatoes from Italy) than flavorless fresh tomatoes. And to me, the basil on a Margherita should do more than just supply the third color of the Italian flag. It should add flavor and aroma. The few shreds on this pizza may have added up to a single basil leaf, and were barely noticeable on my palate. The garlic was a welcome addition, but wasn't able to rescue this pizza from mediocrity.
Once again, then, a very disappointing pizza from Panzari's, and undoubtedly my last, barring word of significant changes there. Thanks to my dropping pluses and minuses from my grades, this gets a half-step bump up from Panzari's previous D-minus, but the letter grade remains stuck at D.
Panzari's Italian Bistro, 321 Exchange Blvd., Rochester 14608
546-7990
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sat. 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m., Sun., 4:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

Vicari's, Ontario

In researching the new, second location of Empire Pizza in Ontario, I ran across a reference to Vicari's Pizzeria, which I'd never heard of before, on Ridge Road in Ontario.
For the time being, the Ontario Empire location opens at 4:00, so I made the trek to check out Vicari's. It's a small pizzeria on Ridge Road (which is not the same as 104, it's an older road parallel to and just south of 104), between Ontario Center Road (Rt. 350) and Furnace Road (County Road 110).
I got there about 11:45 a.m., and was pleasantly surprised to see several pies available for slices. I chose a pepperoni slice and a Buffalo chicken slice.
Both were thin (about an eighth of an inch thick), New York style slices. Each came sliced into two. The undersides had a dusting of corn meal and were lightly charred. They were pliable but firm, with some chewy breadiness in the interior.
The pepperoni slice was topped with a moderate amount of mildly flavored tomato sauce, a thin layer of mozzarella, and a generous helping of thin pepperoni slices. It was a well balanced slice, and the overall flavor was good.
The Buffalo chicken slice was done with small chunks of breaded chicken (think a diced chicken finger), "Cajun sauce," and mozzarella. "Cajun" seems like an odd name for Buffalo chicken sauce, but the flavor was that of a basic hot sauce, with enough heat to add a little kick, though toward the mild end of the scale. Blue cheese is served on the side here, not on the pizza.
Vicari's menu is available online, but I'll give a brief rundown.
Pizzas come in 10-, 14- and 16-inch pie sizes (which are available thin, thick, or "regular" - I assume these were "thin"), as well as 16" pan pizza, and sheets. A 9-inch gluten-free pizza is also available. There are 22 toppings and ten specialty pizzas, plus calzones, "twists" and "knots." They also do wings (fried or char-broiled), subs, salads, burgers and pasta. Next time I'm out that way I may get a "Bambino" sub, named in honor of Babe Ruth, I'm sure - one wall of Vicari's is devoted to the New York Yankees (a customer in a Red Sox cap did his best not to notice, or at least not to let it bother him).
I should mention that despite the image of a wood-burning pizza oven on the front of the menu, Vicari's uses regular pizza ovens. Nothing wrong with that - the pizzas are brick-lined, and they don't use screens - but to avoid confusion it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to switch out the photo at some point.
This was some pretty good thin-crust pizza. It didn't have quite the crackle of superb New York style pizza, and some of the corn meal had burned a bit, turning into soot. To get a little nitpicky, the cheese was all right, but not as delectably creamy as I've had on some slices. So I'm not prepared to give it an A. But it was well balanced and tasty, with a good crust. It was certainly above average, and I'm adding it to my mental go-to list for the area, so it easily rates a B from me.
Vicari's Pizzeria, 1795 Ridge Road, Ontario, NY 14519
315-524-4500
Mon. - Sat. 10 - 10, Sun. noon  - 9

Sonny's Deli Revisited

I sometimes get requests, or recommendations, to go back to a place after I've given it a less than stellar review, and Sonny's Deli is one of those places.
The last time I went there, I was less than impressed with my one cheese slice, which I found overcooked and dried out.
But some readers insisted that Sonny's made good pizza, so I figured maybe I just hit them on a bad day. I also decided that next time I'd order a pie, since part of the problem with my prior slice seemed to be that it simply sat in the warmer for too long. So on a recent visit, I ordered a 14-inch (medium) cheese pizza.
As before, the underside showed screen marks. No surprise there, and although I'm generally not a fan of pizza screens, no big deal. It was rather pale, though, especially compared to the very dark brown of the slice I got last time. I did show up about five minutes before they told me it would be ready, so maybe they took it out of the oven a bit sooner than they otherwise would have.
The slices were fairly soft and foldable, although the edge was crisp. They were not greasy, but there was just a bit of oven soot underneath. The crust was thin, also as before.
The pie had plenty of sauce, which had a cooked-tomato flavor, with some herbs as well. The sauce was not noticeably salty or sweet.  
The cheese was not particularly smooth, and the shreds had not melted together completely. It may just be that there wasn't enough of it to really blanket the pizza (which is fine with me - I don't mind some areas of sauce poking through), or maybe another minute or two in the oven would've helped it melt more, or maybe it was the cheese itself, as some cheeses do melt better than others. I wondered if this was part-skim mozzarella, which due to the lower fat content will not melt as well as the whole-milk variety.
The entire pie was lightly dusted with dried herbs. The thin lip along the edge was crisp and relatively dark, with some nice toastiness. The dough itself had a reasonably good texture and flavor.
This was not bad pizza, and in some ways it was better than my previous slice, but it had a few flaws. It was a decent thin crust pie, not exactly New York style, but kind of a thin-crust version of traditional "Rochester style" pizza. While the slice I had before was overdone and dry, this seemed a bit underdone, and the crust was too soft for my taste. The cheese also left a bit to be desired. So for somewhat different reasons, I'd say it was about the same as before, a bit below average for around here, and I'll again give it a C-minus.
Sonny's Deli, 494 N. Landing Rd.
Tel.: 288-7820
Mon. - Thu. 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Tuscan Wood Fired Pizza

This past weekend, I stopped at the Garden Factory in Gates, where every weekend in October they're doing a "Fall Family Fun" event, with rides and activities for the kiddies and other attractions. The main draw for me was the presence of Tuscan Wood Fired Pizza, a local entrepreneur who appears at various events around the area with his truck trailer that contains a working wood-fired pizza oven.
The owner (who goes by the name "Tony Tomato" - he's the guy wearing the pizza-shaped chef's hat) does this primarily to advertise his business installing wood-fired ovens for both private individuals and restaurants. I doubt that he makes much profit just from selling the pizza, when you consider the expense involved in trucking this thing around, getting it fired up,  and so on.
But even if you're not in the market for a $2500 wood-fired oven on your patio, the TWFP trailer is worth checking out for the pizza. It's pretty good stuff.
Several menu items were available, but all I was interested in was the pizza. From the choices of cheese, pepperoni, and pesto, I went with pepperoni. All were the same size, about the circumference of a standard paper plate, as you can see in the photo.
My pie had a thin crust, nicely charred along the edges. The well floured bottom was not charred, and the slices were quite pliable, suggesting that perhaps the floor of the oven was not tremendously hot. Tony rotated the pie several times to get the edge charred, thanks to the radiant heat of the fire, and the air inside the oven was clearly hot enough to melt, and slightly brown, the cheese in only about three minutes (that would be convective heat, I think), but the conductive heat of the floor or deck of the oven, while high enough to bake the crust, wasn't so high as to char it or turn it super crisp. Perhaps the raw flour on the underside of the pie also acted as a heat barrier too.
That's not a criticism, just a description. I like my crusts crisp, but from some things that I've read, pizza in Naples - which is as authentic as it gets - is quite pliable and is typically eaten with a knife and fork. (And some of that has to do with the type of flour that's used as well, I think - some flours will brown and char more easily than others.) So whether a pliable or very firm crust is "better" comes down largely to a matter of personal preference.
My pie was topped with a moderate layer of herb-tinged tomato sauce, and a nicely melted top layer of creamy mozzarella. The components were well balanced, and this was an easy pie to consume.
Tony uses gas to get his oven started, then from there keeps it going with hardwoods like applewood. He told me that his laser thermometer measured the oven temperature at around 900 degrees, though I'm not sure what part of the oven that's measuring.
I'd love one of these ovens in my back yard, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Until that changes, I'll be happy with my home oven, and with visits to local pizzerias, including Tony Tomato's mobile operation. This was good enough to rate a B+ from me.
Tuscan Wood Fired Pizza Catering, Webster, NY 545-6305
Email: tony@tuscanwoodfiredpizzacatering.com
Check his Facebook page for upcoming public events.

Spot, East Ave.

About a month ago, Spot Coffee on East Avenue reopened after a six-month-long hiatus during which it was remodeled inside. In addition to the physical changes, Spot also expanded its food menu to include "gourmet" pizza.
I'm never quite sure what to make of that self-aggrandizing "gourmet" label when it's attached to anything, and all too often it's an unintended warning that what you are about to eat is not nearly as good as its description would have you believe. But after recently trying one of Spot's new Margherita pizzas, I am pleased to report that this was not the case here. This was actually quite good.
Like the "gourmet" moniker, the menu's misspelling of the 19th-century Queen of Italy's name as "Margharita" did not fill me with confidence, but my doubts were quickly dispelled when I got my pie. It had a nicely charred crust, thin in the center, encircled by a wide, thick, bready cornicione. There was some exterior crispness along the edge, and the interior of the cornicione was airy but chewy, in a bready kind of way. My fingertips detected just the slightest hint of oil along the edge, but it wasn't at all greasy.
This pie was pretty saucy, topped with a thick sauce in which some dried herbs were visible, although the flavor was more sweet-tomatoey than herbal. I always hate to complain about being given too much of anything, but for me this ran close to an excessive amount of sauce for such a thin crust.
Atop the sauce, the melted fresh mozzarella was just slightly browned, but still soft and stretchy, not rubbery. A smattering of shredded basil added good flavor, and appeared to have been added at the end (as it should be), as it was still green and fresh-tasting.
Spot offers five other pizzas, but no a la carte pies, although I can't imagine why you couldn't get a plain cheese pizza or a pepperoni pizza (which would simply be Spot's "New Yorker" minus the mushrooms). And they've got sandwiches, salads, breakfast selections, baked goods, and of course plenty of coffee drinks.
After some initial uncertainty, then, this pizza was a pleasant surprise. The crust was very good, though a bit short of perfection, and the other components were also very enjoyable, though I thought the generous helping of sauce threw the pie slightly out of balance. Those minor quibbles prevent me from giving this one my highest grade, but this was good enough to rate an A- from me.
Spot Coffee,200 East Avenue Rochester 14604. 613-4600
Mon. - Fri. 6 a.m. - midnight; Sat. 7 a.m. - midnight; Sun. 7 a.m. - 11 p.m

Jozeppi's, Fairport, Revisited - CLOSED

Note: This establishment is now closed.
In February 2010, I reported on Jozeppi's, which had recently opened in Fairport. I gave it a B for decent thin-crust pizza.
I recently stopped by again, to see how things are going these days. I wasn't up for a whole pie, so I just got a couple of cheese slices.
They were good, and, I think, better than last time, which is saying something, since last time wasn't bad. There were some faint screen marks on the underside, which all too often means a soft crust, but this one was quite crisp underneath. The slices were foldable, and there was a little crackling along the outer edge. I wouldn't say that they were charred, like a classic New York slice, but they were well browned, with just the faintest suggestion of oil on the crust. The crust had a nice outer crunch, particularly along the thin edge, with a chewy interior.
The slices were topped with a thick, full-flavored sauce, with hints of herbs and garlic in addition to the tomato base. Like the sauce, the mozzarella cheese was applied in good proportion to the thin crust, with a few bare spots of sauce poking through here and there.
While there, I was also able to try one of Jozeppi's signature items, the "pizza bomb." Think of a cinnamon bun, but with tomato sauce taking the place of the cinnamon, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what this is. Essentially, it's rolled-up pizza dough, with a filling of sauce, cheese, and, in this case, pepperoni.
The underside of the bomb was crisp and cheesy (I don't know about you, but I like those bits of dark brown, nearly-burnt cheese that you sometimes find around the edge of a pizza, and that's what the bottom was like). Compared to a slice of pizza, the pizza bomb seemed to have a higher ratio of dough to sauce and cheese, but it was quite tasty, with a bit of peppery kick, and it would certainly be easier and less messy to eat on the go than a slice of pizza.
You can read a bit about Jozeppi's background here, and I won't bother repeating everything in that story. On my visit, Clemente was busy handling the duties at the pizza oven, and wife Carol was on hand as well. I never had the chance to sample the wares at their former restaurant, Clemente's, but if the pizza at Jozeppi's is any indication, it must have been pretty good, and I'm sure local residents consider themselves fortunate that its namesake is still turning out pizza and other Italian fare at Jozeppi's.
A further visit to Jozeppi's is probably in order at some point, so that I can try another one of their specialties, the tunnel sandwich. This is a hollowed-out sub roll stuffed with cheese, sauce, meats, or other fillings of your choice, making it something of a cross between a hot sub and pizza bread.
Now of all the pizza-like concoctions out there - calzones, strombolis, and now pizza bombs and tunnel sandwiches - I don't think I've ever had, or ever will have, anything that quite satisfies like plain old pizza. But they are fun to try, and they can be very good. Ultimately, though, it's all about the pizza for me, and Jozeppi's is well worth a visit on that score. I wouldn't quite call this New York style, because the underside of the crust is more browned than charred, and of all the pizza I've eaten in NYC, only once have I seen screen marks underneath. But on its own merits, this is very tasty thin-crust pizza, well balanced, with a nice contrast of crunch and chew, and I'm bumping it up a notch from last time, to a B+.
Jozeppi's Pizzeria, 84 High St., Fairport, 377-8400
Tue. - Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Mon.

Hooligans, Webster

Slowly but surely, pizza seems to be catching on as an addition to bar food menus around town. Some places do it on the cheap, with preformed crusts they simply add toppings to and throw in the oven. But other bars have gone the extra mile, with hand-stretched dough (which may be made off premises) and serious pizza ovens.
Count Hooligans in Webster among the latter group. I ran across a reference to its wood-fired oven some time ago, and decided to check it out.
I noticed, by the way, that the Hooligans in Greece - which I haven't reviewed yet - also serves pizza, but does not have a wood-fired oven. Also, the Greece Hooligans website doesn't even mention the place in Webster. So I'm not sure how much of a connection there is between the two.
I visited the Webster Hooligans on a Monday at lunch time. The place was pretty dead, and I was the only patron when I arrived, although a handful of guys showed up before I left.
Be that as it may, I ordered a Margherita pizza. I thought about getting a basic pepperoni pizza, but Margheritas have become my benchmark for wood-fired pizzas.
Had I noticed it sooner, I would've taken a seat near Hooligans' oven. I had thought this was a Doughpro oven, based on Hooligans' listing on the Doughpro website, but I'm informed that it's not (see the comments below).
At any rate, I sat some distance from the oven, and I was too lazy to move closer, but I did take a look at it on my way out. Somewhat to my surprise, I did not see any wood in the oven. (I say "somewhat" because I didn't smell any wood smoke either, so I wasn't totally surprised.) There was nothing but a gas flame emanating from inside the oven.
Well, I don't get too worked up over the equipment, it's the final product that counts, so I wasn't particularly miffed about that. At least the dough here is hand-stretched - no frozen shells - although my guess is that it's actually made off premises, as few restaurants or bars have the means to prepare large batches of pizza dough. Again, I really should have sat near the oven, so I could've peppered the pizzaiolo with these questions, but I didn't think of them until later, I'm afraid.
But back to the pizza - it arrived hot, with a thin crust that was fairly crisp and well browned underneath, with a few small charred spots. The coating of corn meal on the bottom was a bit of a surprise, as I just haven't seen that much on wood-fired pizzas, but it was not objectionable (and of course, this was not truly a wood-fired pizza). The crust had a decent texture, not exceptionally crisp but with a bit of bite, and some internal breadinesess, particularly in the thin but puffy lip, or cornicione, along the edge.
The pie had an unmistakable aroma of garlic, and visually was dominated by a thin layer of creamy, almost liquid fresh mozzarella. A few shreds of fresh basil added some flavor, and the slices of pale bland tomatoes - which I've unfortunately come to expect around here - provided some color but not much else.
This may not have been the best Margherita I've ever eaten, but it was reasonably good. The pie as a whole wasn't on a par with top-notch wood-fired pizzas, but the gas-powered oven did a pretty good job, and for a pizza at a sports bar, this was better than you might expect. I wouldn't mind trying Hooligans' pizza again sometime, and I wonder whether on a busy weekend night they might actually throw some wood in the oven, which could give the pizza a slightly smoky edge and perhaps a bit more crispy, charred crust. Right now, I wouldn't say that the pizza is a clear choice over more traditional bar food like wings, but this was good enough to pique my curiosity about some of Hooligans' other pizza varieties. I'll give it a B.
TC Hooligan's, 809 Rdge Rd., Webster 671-7180
11 a.m. - 2 a.m. daily

Guida's, Honeoye Falls

Guida's has five locations around town, two of which - Empire Blvd. and Elmgrove Rd. - I've reviewed before (I've done several posts about the Empire location, so enter "Guida's" in the search bar to bring up all of them).
Recently I visited the Honeoye Falls Guida's, which also allowed me to sample some Guida's varieties I hadn't tried before, their Buffalo chicken pizza and their pan-risen Sicilian.
Although I've only tried a small fraction of the Buffalo chicken pizzas in this area, the ones that I've had have been broadly similar, up until this one. Most of the Buffalo chicken pizza I've had has been topped with either tomato sauce, with hot-sauce-laden chicken chunks added, or a thin layer of hot sauce, in lieu of tomato sauce. Blue cheese has usually been added in minimal quantities, if at all.
This pie, though, was striking for being topped with a thick layer of blue cheese sauce. It wasn't particularly pungent, and was essentially a mild version of the stuff that typically comes with an order of wings.
But more on that in a second. Let's start at the bottom, with the crust.
One thing I've tended to like about Guida's pizza is the crust, which is typically bready and usually crisp. This crust had the breadiness, but was rather soft. It was dry on the bottom, with no grease, and medium thick. There were several large bubbles along the edge, which was, again, nice and bready, with good flavor and a chewy, airy texture.
Atop the crust was a thin layer of medium-hot sauce, a moderate amount of melted mozzarella, a copious amount of breaded chicken chunks, and that creamy blue cheese sauce. With all those toppings, this was one filling pizza, and not for the diet-conscious. Even the individual slices were physically heavy (so lifting them does burn some calories, I suppose). With no tomato sauce, just chicken, hot sauce and blue cheese, this was indeed very reminiscent of Buffalo chicken wings, lacking only a side of celery.
I was perhaps looking more forward to the pan-risen Sicilian pizza. Although I've long known that Sicily has a distinctive style of pizza, it's often seemed to me that the name "Sicilian" tends to be slapped onto what otherwise would simply be called sheet pizza. And sheet pizza is all too often characterized by an overly crunchy, greasy crust that tastes as if it's been fried rather than baked, making it little more than a bigger but less desirable version of a pizzeria's regular round pie.
After trying some Sicilian pizza at places like Nino's, Joe's, Vinny's and Pizza Stop, however, I've come to appreciate that not every pizza labeled "Sicilian" around here is a mere greasy sheet pizza, and that the style has something to offer beyond mere thickness. A good Sicilian pizza can be crisp and bready, complex and subtle, and a welcome (if occasional, for me) alternative to thin-crust, New York or Neapolitan pizza.
Maybe, then, those changed perceptions heightened my expectations for Guida's version, but I was a bit disappointed with this pizza. To paraphrase Seinfeld, not that there was anything wrong with it, it just didn't thrill me.
The primary reason, I guess, was the crust. It was not oily, so it certainly got points for that, but it was quite soft. I know that I cannot expect a pan-risen pizza to have the same crispness as a good New York style pie, but to my way of thinking, there ought to be a bit of bite in the crust, and this one didn't have that.
That said, the crust did have an appealing bready flavor and good interior texture. So it wasn't bad, even if it fell a little short of my hopes or expectations.
The Sicilian was topped with a moderate amount of sauce, cheese and pepperoni, all of which were added in pretty good proportion to the crust. The sauce was a pretty basic tomatoey sauce, with some herbs in the background, and the cheese seemed like straight mozzarella, which struck the right balance between melted and browned. The pepperoni was of the ordinary wide and thin variety.
These two pizzas further showed that Guida's turns out some pretty good pizza, but of course not every pie will please every palate. Confounding my expectations, I actually preferred the Buffalo chicken pie over the Sicilian, although it was a bit too filling for my taste, kind of like eating chicken wings with a loaf of bread on the side.
The Sicilian was all right, but I wouldn't rank it among my favorites in this area. Think of it as a non-greasy version of sheet pizza, which isn't a bad thing; it just wasn't up there with what I consider the best of the bunch for this style.
I haven't been rating Buffalo chicken pizza, and I think I'll stick with that approach. This pie only confirmed that there are so many variations on this style that it's difficult to compare one to another, plus I haven't really formed any sharply delineated preferences yet. But if you want a pizza that combines the flavor of Buffalo chicken wings with the stomach-filling qualities of pizza, Guida's is for you.
The Sicilian? It was enjoyable, but not outstanding, and I'll peg it at just a cut above average, for a C+.
Guida's, 166 W. Main St., Honeoye Falls, 624-9380 Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 10 p.m.

Bay Goodman, Winton Rd.

The Winton Road location of Bay Goodman Pizza was one of the first pizzerias that I reported on, back in March 2009. I wouldn't call it the original location, since the original was at - where else? - Bay and Goodman Streets, but this was where Bay Goodman moved, I believe, after the original location closed.
I wasn't particularly impressed by the slice I got at Bay Goodman in '09, giving it a C+, though it did have some nostalgia value, as I fondly remembered chowing down on Bay Goodman pizzas in years past.
But I've heard from more than one source that the pizza had improved following Bay Goodman's move a few blocks north, to the intersection of North Winton and Browncroft Boulevard. So I returned recently to check it out.
I got two slices this time, a regular cheese slice and a garlic-vegetable slice. Both were built on a thin to medium crust, which on the cheese slice had a slightly charred, leather-brown underside. It was foldable, as befits Bay Goodman's claim to making "New York pizza," and the bottom surface, which was lightly dusted with corn meal, was a little crackly, but not really crisp. The very bottom of the crust had a tough texture, and was easily separable from the top half, or interior, of the crust, which was softer and breadier. The outer edge was formed into a thin, crunchy lip.

A thin layer of sauce had been applied to the crust. It had a rather bland flavor, not much going on there. It was topped by a relatively thick layer of melted mozzarella.
The garlic veggie slice was wetter underneath, presumably because of the water in the spinach, tomatoes and onions on top. It was a little oily on top, which is not uncommon with white pizzas. The slice had a pleasant garlic flavor that complemented but did not overwhelm the other components.
So, has Bay Goodman's pizza changed since the move, and if so, for the better? Well, the crust of the cheese slice was, for my taste, marginally better than the pepperoni slice I got last time, as it came closer to the charred, crisp crust that I prefer. The vegetable slice, on the other hand, was unfortunately soggy. And the tomato sauce on the cheese could've used a little more zing - something was missing there. It may be something as simple as a little more salt or some additional herbs, but I found it on the bland side. Overall, the flavor of both slices was good enough, but not spectacular, and the components on both slices were well balanced.
Still, I can't say that these showed enough improvement over my prior visit to rate a higher grade. With some very minor changes, these would easily rate a B- or better, but these particular slices I'll give a C+.
Bay Goodman Pizza, 620 North Winton Rd, 14609. 288-0730
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. -10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight, Sun. 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.