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

East of Chicago, W. Henrietta Road

On a recent weekend, my wife, daughter and I, along with a friend of my daughter, stopped in to East of Chicago Pizzeria, which recently opened on West Henrietta Road in Brighton.
As I reported on my Facebook page, I had become aware of this pizzeria before it opened, so before we went there, I learned that East of Chicago is a chain, based in Ohio. Most of their locations are in or near Ohio. There are a couple in South Carolina and the Rochester location is their first in New York.
East of Chicago offers six crusts, which set off some red flags with me. I tend to think that a pizzeria that is trying to do too many things can't do them all well. But the proof is in the pizza, so I tried to keep an open mind.
East of Chicago offers the following crusts, the descriptions of which I quote from their website:

Pan - Our Signature Crust. Light and airy with a Crunch! "Best pan Pizza East of Chicago".
Crispy - A very thin crust with a distinctive crunch 12" & 14" only.
Thin - Hand tossed with a golden brown crust.
Square - Thin crust - 16" only.
Authentic Chicago Style - Seasoned pie crust filled with your favorite toppings, a generous layer of our blended cheese. Medium only.
Loaded Crust - Thin center with cheese & Pepperoni baked inside a folded edge.

Pizzas come in no less than seven sizes, from a six-inch "flash pan" pizza to a 32-slice sheet.  There are fifteen available toppings, not including extra cheese.
I figured, go with what they claim to do best, so we got a pan pizza. Sausage won the vote as a topping.

This is a "fast casual" place, where you order at the counter and they bring the food to the table, but it was a quiet day, so we were waited on at our table. The service was efficient, informative (we asked some questions about the different crusts) and friendly.
When the pizza came out, it looked good, with a medium-brown, well-formed cornicione, and nicely melted cheese. The underside was pockmarked with a bubbly pattern. It was dry to the touch, with just a trace of oil.
And all in all, it was enjoyable, if not exceptional. The underside of the medium-to-thick crust was crisp underneath but the slice was pliable. The interior had a mouth-pleasing chew and a faint breadlike aroma. The mozzarella cheese was well melted, slightly browned and gooey, but a bit bland. Thicker pizza tends, in my mind, for a little more assertive cheese, so the inclusion of some Provolone or Parmesan would've been welcome here.
Between the crust and cheese lay a basic, mildly seasoned tomato sauce, which was applied in good proportion to the other components. T chunks of sausage were thick and meaty, also mildly seasoned.
Besides pizza, East of Chicago  does wings, oven-baked subs, salads, sides, and a few sweets. There's a daily lunch buffet from 11 to 3, and a dinner buffet on Wednesdays from 6 to 9. Buffet prices vary (e.g. a kid's lunch buffet is $4.99, an adult's dinner buffet is $9.99).

This location has housed numerous restaurants over the years - Sai Gon, Thai Time, Portobello, Portofino, and I imagine some others. Frankly, if I were opening a restaurant, that would make me a little nervous. But maybe East of Chicago will prove to be a good fit.
As for the pizza, it was, as I mentioned, reasonably good if not outstanding. So don't take the following as an indictment, but just an explanation. 
I hope I'm not just being subconsciously influenced by my knowledge that East of Chicago is part of a chain, but I do think there was something "chain-like" about this pizza. That's not meant to be damning; there's no reason a chain pizzeria or other restaurant can't turn out top-notch food. But the pie seemed a little formulaic. The individual components were good, if a bit bland, but they didn't quite all meld together, nor did I pick up any of the subtle aromas, flavors or textures that mark first-rate pizza. For what it was, it was OK. It just didn't wow me.
I would like to try some of East of Chicago's other varieties sometime, though it does concern me a little when a place tries to do too many things. It's like when you go to a Chinese restaurant and they've got 500 items on the menu, from every culture in Asia. Now East of Chicago is certainly not in that category, but again I think it's somewhat typical of a certain chain-restaurant or corporate mentality to try to bowl over the American consumer with an array of choices.
Having said that, that marketing strategy must pay off, or so many companies wouldn't be doing it. And it must work with me too, because I will go back eventually to try one or more of East of Chicago's other crusts. I'll hold off on a grade until I've had a chance to sample some of those other pies, but consider this one on the high side of average.

East of Chicago Pizza, 2171 W. Henrietta Rd., Rochester 14623
585-272-0172

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

Cimino's, Spencerport: Deep Dish Pizza

Deep-dish pizza is not something you see a lot of around here - which is OK with me, as I tend to prefer thin crust. But there's nothing wrong with a little variety, so when a place does offer deep-dish or similar varieties of pizza, I don't mind giving it a try.
Which brings us to Cimino's in Spencerport. I've previously reported on their regular pizza, but I noticed that their menu also advertised deep-dish, so back I went.
I ordered a large with sweet peppers and onions. I was a little miffed to find out, when picking it up, that my coupon for a discount on a large pizza only applies to large "regular" pizza, and could not be used toward my deep-dish pizza. No such limitation was printed on the coupon, and to me, "large" means "large."
Oh well, no matter. I'm over it now. Getting back to the pizza, this had a dark brown bottom. Much of the underside was wet, but it didn't seem greasy, nor had the liquid (which I presume was water that had leaked from the toppings) soaked into the crust, which remained firm.
Now again, this was a deep-dish pizza, not a stuffed pizza. A stuffed pizza has a top as well as a bottom crust, this did not. (There's actually a pretty good explanation of these and other variants of Chicago-style pizza at Wikipedia.) It did, though, have some similarities to the stuffed pizza I got at Chester Cab last month. Like Chester Cab's, this was deep, but the crust was not particularly thick, averaging about a half inch on the bottom. In contrast to Chester Cab's stuffed pizza, which had a slightly sweet, biscuit-like crust, this seemed to have been made with regular pizza dough. It did not seem to contain much if any shortening, and was more reminiscent of bread than of pastry dough. (It's been a while since I've been to Uno's, but if I remember correctly, their deep-dish crust also tends to be rather flaky, with an obviously substantial proportion of shortening.)
The top of the pizza was covered in a thick layer of mozzarella, which was browned on top but quite stringy. The sauce was not heavily seasoned, and was studded with tomato chunks. Though there was not a lot of sauce, there was enough, along with the peppers and onions, to give the pizza a "wet" mouthfeel. Of course, with that heavy blanket of cheese, not much water could have evaporated in the oven from the sauce and veggies.
For all that cheese, and the heavy, thick appearance of this pizza, the most filling part of it was the edge. It was very thick, with a toasty, almost blackened exterior and a doughy interior that was a little gummy, and perhaps not quite cooked all the way through, in spots. Though I rarely leave my crust uneaten, unless it's just really bad, I did leave some of this behind, not because it was so unpalatable but because it would've been too filling.
Since this is an uncommon style of pizza in these parts, it's hard for me to judge this against any objective standard of deep-dish pizza, but subjectively, I thought it was pretty good. It had more of everything than a "regular" pizza, but the important thing is that the components remained in balance with each other, and the overall flavor was rather good too. I'll give it a B+.
Cimino’s Pizzeria & Birdland, 47 Slayton Ave. (Village Plaza), Spencerport 352-9800 Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight, Sun. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Chester Cab: stuffed pizza

Over a year ago, I did a post on Chester Cab Pizza,
which specializes in Chicago-style "stuffed" pizza. I didn't try the stuffed pizza on that occasion, because I had simply stopped in for a slice, and stuffed pizza at Chester Cab is only made to order, and they need about 45 minutes to do it.
So instead, I got a regular slice, which I gave a B-minus. It was purported to be a New York style slice, but it seemed more like a thinner version of Chicago-style pizza.
But since Chester Cab's claim to fame is its stuffed pizza, I knew eventually I'd have to go back and try it sometime. Last weekend's Park Avenue Festival presented me with a rare opportunity to get a single stuffed slice, but I thought it would be better to get a fresh, whole pizza, so this week I picked one up.
Chester Cab's stuffed pizza comes in mini, small and large sizes, which are 8, 10 and 12 inches in diameter respectively. For one person, a mini is plenty, so that's what I got, with spinach and roasted red peppers.
At first, I was inclined to think of this as a deep-dish pizza rather than a stuffed pizza. To me, stuffed pizza has a crust on the top as well as on the bottom. At first, this did not appear to meet that description. On closer examination, though, there was a thin top crust under the sauce and cheese. So from the bottom up, you had bottom crust, spinach and red peppers, top crust, cheese and sauce.
Still, it's the depth of the pie that makes this pizza distinctive. While many people may think "thick crust" when they see or hear the words "Chicago pizza," the bottom crust on this was not particularly thick, only about 3/8 of an inch or so. It's the sides of the pizza that are the key, because they form a bowl that hold a casserole-like layer of toppings.
I'll get to those toppings in a minute, but first a few more words about the crust. It was well browned on both top and bottom, but the flavor was not toasty, like a good New York style pie, nor - fortunately - did it have the cooking-oil flavor of some pizzas. Instead, it had a slightly sweet, almost caramelized flavor.
Both in that respect, and in terms of the texture, the crust was reminiscent of a cobbler, though not as sweet, certainly. It did not have the gluteny, chewy texture of most pizza crusts, and while it held together well enough while eating, it was more crumbly in the mouth, like a shortbread.
Both the mozzarella and the sauce were added in abundance. The cheese had a melted, chewy texture, but it was the sauce that really dominated. It was chunky, with a sweet, herbal flavor. While that same flavor didn't work too well on the "New York style" slice I had last time, here it seemed a better fit with the slightly sweet crust and the thick layer of cheese.
The roasted red peppers and spinach, sad to say, tended to get lost among the other components. For one thing, there was simply a lot more of everything else, and besides that, I think their flavors - the peppers especially - were simply too subtle to stand up to all that sauce. Each topping on a mini adds another $1.05 to the total, so I'd either skip them or get something with a bolder flavor, like pepperoni or hot peppers.
So, the verdict? Well, even though I generally lean toward thin crust, I liked this pizza. And yes, it is pizza, contrary to what some purists might argue. Unlike NY style pizza, this isn't something I could see myself eating every day, but once in a while, yeah. The flavors were good, and despite its more-of-everything approach, the components were generally in good balance with each other.
It's been a few years since I was last in Chicago, so I'm not sure how close this comes to the real thing, but in its own right, it was pretty enjoyable. It's a little tough to rate, since it's so unlike any other pizza I've had around here, but I'll give it a B.