Bee Hive, Canandaigua

In addition to watching for new pizzerias, I'm always on the lookout for pizza popping up on restaurant menus. Recently I learned of one such example, the Bee Hive Brew Pub in Canandaigua. It's located in a converted train station, which it shares with Twisted Rail Brewing Co. My understanding is that there's no direct connection between the two, but Twisted Rail does make some house beers for Bee Hive.
While Bee Hive does carry an impressive lineup of beer, my sights were set on the pizza. There were several interesting selections to choose from, but I opted for "Ann's Favorite Pizza," which is topped with tomatoes, artichokes, mozzarella and garlic aioli, which is a fancy way of saying sauce. It sounded good to me to begin with, and its identification as a house favorite tipped the balance for me.
This was a personal-size pie, about 12 inches across. The medium-thick crust was dark brown underneath, and slightly oily to the touch. It was firm but not crisp, and the interior was likewise right down the middle, texturewise: not dense, but not puffy, with a moderate chewiness.
Aside from the diced tomatoes, this was a white pizza, in other words, no tomato sauce. As with most white pizza, the cheese played a prominent role, and played it well. It was nicely melted and stretchy, smooth but slightly chewy, with just a bit of lactic tanginess.
The cheese was well complemented by the toppings. I'm guessing that there are people out there who don't like the taste of artichokes, but I'm not among them. Their sharp, almost citrusy flavor works well with cheese, and here it was also well balanced by the background of garlic and olive oil, making for a tasty combination. By comparison, the tomatoes were, if not quite an afterthought, less important. They weren't the rock-hard, flavorless chunks that you often find, but they weren't particularly sweet, and their contribution was comparatively minimal.
As I mentioned, Bee Hive has an interesting pizza menu, with options for both carnivores and herbivores. That's in addition to the rest of their menu, which includes salads, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and various sides and appetizers. From what I've read, they're particularly renowned for their burgers.
Getting back to this pizza, I enjoyed it, but rating it is a tough call. It was tasty and distinctive, but I can't say it was so good that I'd drive out of my way to get it. I'd have no problem ordering this again, or trying another of Bee Hive's pizzas, but if I'm holding them to the same standard as I would any pizzeria, I'd have to say that this pizza was somewhat, but not a lot, better than average. So I'll break my own rule about not using pluses and minuses, and give this one a B-minus.

Bee Hive Brew Pub, 20 Pleasant St., Canandaigua

(585) 919-2471

Open 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. daily

Detour Pizza, Lima

If you happen to be driving along Rt. 15A in Lima, and you see a detour sign, think twice before you go heading off in another direction.
Then again, you may want to turn off the road at that point, since you may have arrived at Detour Pizza (or maybe it's Pizza Detour - it's hard to tell from their logo), which opened recently about a quarter mile south of Rts. 5 and 20.
The sign out front advertises New York style pizza, so I was eager to try this. What I got was not quite what I would call New York style pizza, but it wasn't bad.
There were two kinds of slices when I stopped in around lunchtime, pepperoni and veggie. The latter appeared to have mushrooms on them, which are one of the few foods I cannot abide, so I got two of the pepperoni slices. They came with a 12 oz. drink for less than $5, which is a pretty good deal.
The crust on these was thin to medium, quite thin toward the tip of the slices (that is, the middle of the pie), but gradually thickening nearer the outer edge.
The underside was reminiscent of some slices I've gotten at some Pontillo's locations, with distinct blackened areas here and there, suggesting a particularly hot oven deck. (As an aside, sometimes you see pizzas with a lot of charring around the edge of the pie, but I think that's more common with pizza from a wood-fired oven, since the heat from the fire radiates from the back of the oven toward the pizza, inches away from the flame. The charring here seemed to be more the result of conductive heat passing directly from the oven deck to the bottom of the crust.)
The crust had a nice balance of chewiness and crispness, with a little crackling, and a texture that got crunchier toward the outer edge. I noticed a light dusting of corn meal.
These were quite cheese-laden slices, with a thick layer of melted, chewy mozzarella. The sauce was not too prominent, but from what I could taste of it, it seemed to have a sweet tomato flavor with a bit of herbs in the background.

I've posted Detour's menu on my Facebook page, but in general, they serve up a basic lineup of pizzas (13 toppings, in 13", 16", and 25" x 18" sizes), wings, grilled items, subs (on Martusciello rolls), salads and sides. There is a small amount of seating inside, and delivery is available.
I wouldn't call this New York style pizza, but that doesn't mean that I didn't like it. Yes, it was thin, but as I've said before, thin does not equal New York style. An authentic New York slice is foldable, of uniform thickness except at the very edge, or cornicione, with a crisp, somewhat charred bottom, and enough of a backbone not to flop at all at the tip, when held, folded, at the outer edge.
I didn't actually subject these to that test, but the tips were a little floppy, because they were so thin, and because of the weight of the cheese. But I don't like to get too hung up on labels, and I don't rate pizzas based on whether they conformed or not to a given style. I only mention this to say that if you see the "New York Style" sign out in front, know what to expect.
What you should expect, based on this visit, is good pizza, kind of a cross between New York and Rochester style, generally thin, with a hefty layer of cheese, not a lot of sauce, but good flavor, and a reasonably crisp crust. I found it a bit unbalanced (a little less cheese and a little more sauce would've been welcome), but a lot of people like cheesy pizza, and this was good enough to rate a B-minus from me.
Detour Pizza, 2019 Lake Ave. (Rt. 15A), Lima, NY
624-3060
Sun. - Wed. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Thu. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Delivery available 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Head to Head in Dansville: Tony's vs. Leaning Tower

I was recently driving through Dansville, and the sight of two pizzerias just a few doors from each other was more than I could resist.
The first one to catch my eye, and the first one I stopped at, was Tony's Pizzeria.
When I arrived, I saw a large pie behind the counter, half cheese, half pepperoni, cut into slices. When I asked for a cheese slice, the person behind the counter lifted one of them up to show me that it was enormous - about a quarter of a large pie - and asked if I wanted one of those, or a regular slice.
I still intended to check out Tony's competitor down the street, so I asked for a regular slice.
That oversized slice was quite thin, and I think that the employee did mention that it was Tony's "huge thin slice," but I was more focused on the surface area, so I was surprised to find that my regular slice was not only smaller, but much thicker.
But more about that slice in a moment. After getting my slice to go, I walked down the block to my second stop, The Leaning Tower. This slice took a little longer to come up, but I was not surprised, as a sign above the counter warned that they do not serve fast food - everything is made to order - although they do their best to serve your food fast. Fair enough.
This slice was quite thick as well. It was also a little bit bigger than the slice I got at Tony's (although in terms of surface area it still would've been dwarfed by Tony's "huge thin slice." (In the top photo, the LT slice is on the left, Tony's on the right.)
Although the Tony's and Leaning Tower slices were both about the same thickness, that's where the similarities ended. The Tony's slice was quite pale underneath, with just a little light browning. It was on the soft side, with a light, airy texture. In contrast, the Leaning Tower slice had a very dark brown underside, and was crunchy, though not oily, with a more substantial feel to it. The exterior was so crunchy, in fact, that the slice cracked and nearly broke in two when I bent it a little (don't even think about folding these - they're too thick for that).
The differences extended to the sauce and cheese. The LT slice was topped with considerably more sauce, which had a thicker consistency as well. It also seemed to have a more assertive, herbal flavor than Tony's sauce, but it's hard to tell if the flavor was really that much different, or if I simply noticed it more because there was more of it.
If you like smooth, creamy-textured cheese on your pizza, then the edge on that score goes to Tony's. Its cheese was nicely melted, if a little bland. The cheese on the LT slice was not so well melted, although it did have a bit of a tang, flavorwise.
Both Tony's and Leaning Tower have similar setups and menus, with counter service, some seating, and a more or less standard lineup of food offerings, including subs, wings, and sides. As for the pizza, well, I would like to go back to Tony's sometime and try a "Huge Thin Slice," but putting these two slices up against each other, I'd give the edge to Leaning Tower. Although the crust was a tad brittle, it was crisper, and had a little more flavor underneath. It also seemed better balanced, with a thick layer of sauce to match the thickness of the crust. Tony's cheese was more pleasingly melted, nice and smooth, but lacked flavor. Leaning Tower's cheese didn't have a great texture, but it did have more flavor, as did the sauce. In general the Leaning Tower slice was more flavorful overall, and more distinctive too. I'm scoring this one B-minus for Leaning Tower, C for Tony's.

Tony's Pizzeria, 140 Main St., Dansville
Tel.: (585) 335-8984, 335-5035
Hours: Mon., Wed., & Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Tue., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. noon - 9 p.m.

The Leaning Tower, 124 Main St., Dansville
Tel.: (585) 335-2740
Hours: Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - midnight, Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 10 p.m.

Ken's Pizza Corner, Brighton

Just a quick review of the second location of Ken's Pizza Corner, a Henrietta establishment that opened a new shop in Brighton earlier this year, on the former site of Pizziera Americana Ohana.
I reviewed Ken's original location last February, giving it a B-minus for pizza that was enjoyable overall, if a bit soft-crusted and a little light on the sauce.
On a recent stop at Ken's Brighton location, I picked up one cheese and one pepperoni slice. Both were reasonably fresh. They'd cooled by the time I took these photos, which is why the cheese may appear a little dried out, but I'll try to take that into consideration in reviewing them.
The screen-baked, medium-thick crust on these was not all that crisp, though it had some breadiness. (I did inspect them right after I got them so I don't think that the delay in photographing and actually eating them was a factor as far as the lack of crispness in the crust is concerned.) The relative softness of the crust has been fairly typical of the screen-baked pizza I've tried, though at least these weren't oily underneath, like some screen-baked pizza.
The sauce was slightly sweet, and seemed to be a little more noticeable this time than on the pie I had in February. The components were pretty well balanced. The cheese was unremarkable, a basic layer of melted, low-moisture mozzarella, but well melted.
Sometimes when a pizzeria has more than one location, the pizza can vary widely from one place to another. This was very similar to the pie I got at the Henrietta location (although I'm still not sure what was up with the slices I got there back in July 2009).
All in all, a well balanced, pretty good, typical Rochester slice. Since I gave Ken's a B-minus last time, and this was very similar, I'll stick with that.
Ken's Pizza Corner, 1860 Monroe Ave.
Tel.: 271-5860
Hours:  Sun. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - midnight

Towpath Cafe, Fairport

While pizzerias are easy enough to find, there's plenty of pizza out there at local restaurants, where you wouldn't necessarily expect to find it. One such place is Towpath Cafe in Fairport.
This location was formerly Fairport Village Coffee, and like that establishment, Towpath Cafe features coffee, wine, and live music. But it's added pizza to its menu, which I don't think was offered in its previous incarnation.
The pizza, which is described as "fire grilled," comes in five varieties, which I'll let you read on the Cafe's menu. As I often do, I went with the "Margarita," which is topped with "garlic & oil, tomatoes bruschetta, mozzarella and fresh basil."'
My pizza had a very crisp crust that was on the thin side of medium. The outer edge was crunchy and a bit oily on the surface, with some interior chewiness. The underside bore prominent grill marks.
The menu's use of the term "tomatoes bruschetta" is a fairly apt description. This reminded me of bruschetta, the name of which comes from the Italian "bruscare," which means "to roast over coals," a reference to the bread, which is typically drizzled with olive oil and grilled, and topped with tomatoes, garlic, basil or other toppings. This was topped with finely diced tomato, bits of chopped garlic, and flakes of basil, on a bed of stringy, chewy cheese. I found the overall flavor quite good, with some herbs in the background. The tomatoes weren't fantastic, but they did have some tomatoey sweetness, which puts them ahead of a lot of fresh tomatoes around here at this time of year.
Besides pizza, Towpath Cafe offers burgers, paninis, wraps, and salads. The atmosphere is laid back and casual, kind of a cross between a coffee house and a restaurant, with outdoor seating overlooking the canal in the warm months.
This was decent pizza. It had a pretty good overall flavor, and the crust wasn't bad, with a bit of external crunch and some grilled toastiness. And importantly, it was distinctive. I'll give it a B-minus.
Towpath Cafe, 6 N. Main St., Fairport, 14580
Tel. 377-0410

Mon. - Thu. 8 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 8 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Hugo's Italian Bistro - CLOSED

(This establishment is now closed - RPG)
I'd driven by Hugo's Italian Bistro in Henrietta once or twice, but only recently did I learn that they were serving pizza. That's probably because until this past October it was known as Hugo's Market Cafe, which, I think, didn't serve pizza.
So the other day I made it there with some friends, one of whom got a pizza, so I was able to sample hers as well as mine.
I was torn between the Margherita ("homemade pizza sauce topped with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and oregano") for $8.59, and the Traditional ("fresh made red pizza sauce with mozzarella, oregano, basil and pecorino Romano and the choice of one topping") for $7.59.  I ended up going with the latter, with the addition of roasted garlic and green olives. One of my friends also got a Greca pizza, topped with "a blend of pesto and red sauce, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, fresh roasted garlic, kalamata olives, oregano and basil topped with feta cheese."
Each of our pizzas was about the size of a dinner plate. The crust was on the thin side, golden brown underneath, and medium firm on the surface. The slices were quite pliable and easily foldable.
Both pizzas tasted good, although I have to give the edge to my friend's Greca for overall flavor. I didn't pick up a whole lot of flavor from the sauce on my pie, and the mozzarella cheese dominated. The cheese lent the pizza a bit of tanginess, and the salty olives and the garlic were welcome additions to what otherwise would have been a lackluster pizza, due to the relatively soft crust.
The Greca had the same crust, but more flavor. I'm always wary of feta cheese on pizza, because it can so easily dominate a pie, but this was well balanced, with the slightly sweet peppers, savory olives, herbs and garlic acting as a counterweight to the sharp, salty feta. I actually liked it better than mine, which seemed a bit boring by comparison.
Hugo's other pizza offerings include a bianca, with olive oil, roasted garlic, oregano, basil, Romano and a topping of your choice, and a verde, with pesto sauce, roasted garlic, mozzarella, baby spinach, Ricotta, basil, oregano, Romano, and Gorgonzola. But it's far from just a pizza place, with a wide variety of Italian dishes on the menu (unfortunately I don't have their full menu handy and it looks as if their website isn't entirely up and running just now, so I can't go into detail about the menu). There's also a full bar on one side of the dining room.
I really liked the flavor of these pizzas. And although some of the pizzas on the menu sound rather "busy," with lots of toppings, Hugo's seems to know how to use combinations that work well, and to use enough restraint that the pie doesn't get overwhelmed with the toppings.
I was less impressed with the crust. It wasn't bad, but it was only what I'd call serviceable. It got the job done, to act as a base for the toppings, but it wasn't very crisp or bready, and lacked the subtle complexities of flavor, aroma and texture that make for a great pizza crust. That's often the case with restaurant pizza - I suspect the ovens have a lot to do with it - and it was the case here. So all in all, good, and good enough to order again, but not quite great. I'll give these a B-minus.
Hugo's Italian Bistro, 3259 S. Winton Rd.
Tel.: 427-0540
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Truck's Oven, Sodus Point

I don't get out to Sodus Point very often, but I always like going there. It's a nice setting, and even though I'm not a boater I enjoy strolling down Greig Street, visiting the lighthouse, or just relaxing in the park out at the tip of the Point.
A few days ago I had to drive out that way on a personal errand, so I decided that this would be a good time to check out the pizza in Sodus Point. Which pretty much means Truck's Oven.
There may be a convenience store or two where you can get pizza in Sodus Point, but to my knowledge, Truck's is the only full-fledged pizzeria in town.
I was going out to dinner a short time later, so I just got  a couple of pepperoni slices, one of which I saved for later. I don't know if this is how it always works there, but apparently they took two cheese slices, added pepperoni, and popped them back in the oven. But I could imagine them not getting enough customer traffic at this time of year to keep multiple kinds of slices on hand, so that makes some sense I guess. The pie from which these slices were cut came out of the oven while I was waiting, though, so these were very fresh.
The first thing I noticed about these was the addition of extra cheese on top of the pepperoni. Lots of places give the pizza a light dusting of grated Romano or Parmesan, but this was the first time I'd seen a pizzeria sprinkle extra shredded mozzarella on a slice before reheating it.
The next thing I noticed was the crust, which was rather interesting. The slices were thin, and the bottoms were dry, but with a very unusual appearance. Golden brown areas, where the dough had been in contact with the cooking surface, were interspersed with large pale areas, presumably where the dough had bubbled up a bit. (The deep, yellowish colors you see in the photos are due to my taking these pictures in the late afternoon sun.)
The texture was unusual as well. The crust was somewhat crisp, yet it had an almost biscuitlike feel to it, with a bit of crunch.
So intrigued was I by the crust that I hardly noticed the toppings. But there was an ample layer of sauce, with a straightforward tomatoey flavor, a slightly browned, uniform layer of cheese, and then the pepperoni and added cheese on top. Since the slices only went back into the oven for a brief time after the addition of the latter two ingredients, the pepperoni was just cooked to the point of softening, and the cheese was nicely melted but not browned. I imagine if I'd ordered a pepperoni pie, the pepperoni would've gone on at the beginning, and turned crisper.
Truck's Oven - which, by the way, beat out ten other pizzierias to take top honors in a Wayne County pizza contest earlier this year - offers pizza pies in 14" and 18" sizes, as well as "personal" size pizzas (not sure of the diameter of those). Sixteen toppings are available, and four specialty pizzas, including "ABE's Big Dog," a double-crusted pizzas stuffed with garlic butter, mozzarella, and your choice of toppings, and a sundried-tomato pesto pizza that's described as a house favorite, with garlic, ricotta, the aforementioned pesto, sauce, cheese, sausage, mushrooms and onions (wow!).
If you like wings at all, don't miss Truck's wings, which are available with over a dozen sauces. The "Stunners" sauce, described as "hot and spicy nacho cheese," sounds tempting, but the most unusual has to be the "Spicy P B & J" sauce. According to the menu, it is exactly what the name implies - peanut butter, jelly, and spice.
The rest of Truck's menu includes hot and cold sandwiches, "tunnels" (stuffed-bread subs), lobster rolls (which are apparently only available on Saturdays), calzones, fries, and soups. Truck's daily specials go beyond the commonplace, chicken French and eggplant parm variety. Truck's Facebook page shows, for example, that a recent day's special was garlic, beef, chicken and spinach enchiladas with a side of cilantro lime cole slaw, and lobster and crab chowder was the soup du jour.
Getting back to the pizza, this is a tough one to rate. The crust was unusual, and in some ways rather different from my ideal pizza crust. And yet I couldn't help liking it for its distinctiveness. I can see how some people could really dig this, and others find it not to their liking, so inasmuch as my ratings constitute an implied recommendation, it's difficult to know where to put this one. I'll just go with my gut, and my gut says a B-minus feels about right, but with the added advice that if you get a chance, check out Truck's pizza yourself. Love it, hate it, or fall somewhere in between, it's something you should try.
As for me, I'm not sure when I'll next find myself in Sodus Point. But when I do, I'm pretty sure I'll be making a return visit to Truck's. And no knock on the pizza, but next time around might be a wingfest instead. There's just something so culinarily perverse sounding about PB&J wings that I don't think I can resist.
Truck's Oven, 8487 Greig St., Sodus Point
Tel.: (585) 967-8787 (967-TRUX)
Truck's will be open Friday through Monday during the winter season. I believe they're open from noon till 9:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, noon till 8 on Sundays, and 4:30 to 8 on Mondays, but call ahead to confirm.

Pizzeria 5, Ridgeway Ave.

Pizza Guy Note, 9/14/12: Pizzeria 5 is now closed. The space is now home to the second location of The Pizza Stop.
About a year ago, I did a post about Chili pizzeria Good Guys' second location on Ridgeway Avenue in Greece. I thought it was pretty good (as is the pizza from the Chili location) and gave it a B.
For whatever reason, though, Good Guys on Ridgeway has closed. Maybe it's a cursed spot for a pizzeria - Good Guys replaced another pizzeria, Constantino's - but yet another pizzeria, Pizzeria 5 (not sure what that means), is going to give it a shot.
I stopped by last week and got a couple of slices, one cheese, one Buffalo chicken. They were pretty thin, except for the very thick cornicione along the edge, which was quite puffy on the Buffalo chicken slice.
The undersides differed between the two slices. The cheese slice (bottom two photos) was dusted with cornmeal, and the underside was dry and what I can best describe as bumpy. The Buffalo chicken slice (second photo from top) was rather greasy underneath, which is not unusual for Buffalo chicken pizza, and which is one reason why I'm not a huge fan of this style. The cheese slice in particular was somewhat bready on the inside, and both showed signs of having risen nicely.
Though floppy, both slices tasted pretty good. The sauce on the cheese slice had a slightly herbal flavor, and the mozzarella was moderately applied, while the Buffalo chicken slice was topped with a few chunks of breaded chicken, a thin layer of oily, medium-hot sauce, and oily melted cheese. It was noticeably heavier than the cheese slice, not just from the chicken, I think, but because of the oil as well.
Pizzeria 5 offers 8 meat toppings, 9 vegetable toppings, and 6 "other" toppings (pineapple, garlic, black or green olives, anchovies, and extra cheese), plus 7 specialty pizzas, none of them too exotic or unusual. They also do wings, strombolis, burgers, plates, sides, and some sweets, including cinnamon buns, cookies, and ice cream by the pint.
This was, as I said, pretty good pizza. I did like the cheese slice better, and even taking into account my natural predilection toward "regular" pizza over Buffalo chicken pizza, it just seemed to be a better-made pizza, with a better crust and far less oil. But both crusts showed some good signs of a slow rise and internal breadiness, and both tasted decent enough. They were a little floppy, but still enjoyable, and I'd peg them at a B-minus.
Pizzeria 5, 2532 Ridgeway Ave. 225-5552
Mon. 11 a.m. - midnight, Tue. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Gianna's, Penfield

In March 2010, I posted a review of Bonafede's on Linden Avenue, giving it a very respectable B+ for well-balanced, tasty pizza on a pretty good crust.
I also mentioned that I had not been aware of Bonafede's existence until a short time prior to that post, partly because I've never had much occasion to travel on that stretch of Linden Avenue, which is mostly residential; not the kind of area where you'd expect to find a pizzeria. (I think I learned of Bonafede's by seeing it listed in the Yellow Pages.)
Well, I don't know how much the location had to do with it, but Bonafede's is gone. In its place is Gianna's NYC Italian Kitchen, which has a roughly similar menu, but a different style of pizza.
Given the name of the place, it will come as no surprise that Gianna's pizza is more in the New York style than Bonafede's had been. The crust on my cheese slice was very thin, and though it wasn't exactly what I would call bready (which is tough to achieve with a thin crust), the dough had risen somewhat; it wasn't dense or gummy inside.
The underside was lightly dusted with corn meal. It was fairly light-hued overall, with some scattered charred spots, and was crackly and nearly burnt along the edge.

The slice was topped with a light layer of tomato sauce. It was not a particularly saucy slice, and I didn't pick up much flavor from the sauce.
Atop the sauce lay a coating of oily, orangey cheese. If you've had it, you know what I mean by "orangey." I don't mind it, but it's not the greatest melting cheese in the world, and I frankly can't recall ever having seen that kind of cheese in all the times I've been to New York City. It does have a certain inexplicable appeal for me, though, and with its light sprinkling of Romano, the cheese was actually kind of good.
Gianna's pizzas come in 16" and 18" sized, plus a 14" x 24" Sicilian. There are four specialty pizzas, plus calzones, wings, pasta, "heroes" (hot subs), and three hot dog choices - Zweigles, Nathan's, and Sabrett's, for that authentic New York "dirty water dog" flavor. They also offer something called Nutella pockets, which I've never heard of before but which I'd love to try, as I consider Nutella one of the truly great culinary concoctions of our time.
Based on this slice, I'd say that Gianna's pizza is one of those that I would consider more of an approximation than an exact copy of New York style pizza. That's not a putdown, mind you, as this was rather tasty, and it would be easy to polish off a few Gianna's slices in one sitting. But the cheese and the crust didn't seem to quite nail it as far as New York style is concerned. Still, it was good enough to rate a B- from me.
Gianna's NYC Italian Kitchen, 514 Linden Ave. 14625. 248-5040
Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m., Sat.: 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Sun.

Hometown Pizza, Bloomfield

I wouldn't usually go this far to get a pizza, but I'd heard from a friend that Hometown Pizza in Bloomfield made some outstanding New York style pizza, so the other night I made the trek down to check it out.
I got a large cheese pie. It was very thin, so thin that the crust didn't have much of an interior. The slices were foldable, but not floppy (a good thing), and the screen-baked bottom was firm but not crisp (not such a good thing), except along the outer edge, where there was some crackling underneath. The flour-dusted edge had some crunch, and there was a fair amount of bubbling on top near the edge, particularly along one side, as this pizza appeared to have baked somewhat unevenly.
The pie was topped with a slightly sweet sauce, with some herbs (I'm pretty sure I picked up oregano) noticeable. The sauce had a good flavor, but it seemed a bit skimpy, even for this thin a crust. Atop that lay a thin layer of cheese, which was unremarkable, and again was browned a little more on one half of the pizza than the other.
Hometown's pizza menu offers 20 toppings, and a selection of "specialty" and "premium" pizzas. The former includes an "Italian flag" pizza with 1/3 red, 1/3 white, and 1/3 green (pesto) sauces, and the more expensive premium pizzas include a "dumpster plate" pizza and a sirloin steak pizza. They also serve calzones, strombolis, wings, hot and cold subs, and various other fried and grilled items.
Hometown isn't just a pizzeria, but also a video store, although with things like Netflix and movies on demand, I think they'd better not put too many eggs in the video basket. There's some seating, and a soft drink cooler in the back.
This was decent pizza, but not outstanding. The bottom could've been a little more crisp, and it could've used a little more sauce. But I will give it credit for being more firm than floppy, for some crispy crunch along the edge, and for a pretty good overall flavor. So, perhaps with some of my NY-style prejudices coming through, I'd say this was a little better than average in spite of its shortcomings, and this pizza rates a B- from me.
Hometown Pizza & Video, 10 Main St., Bloomfield 657-6190
Tue. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. noon- 9 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Delivery available 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. within a 5-mile radius, $8 minimum order. Delivery charge of $1 in village, $2 outside village.

Perri's, Greece: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

My sampling tour of Buffalo chicken pizza takes us next to the newest Perri's location, which opened recently at the corner of Stone Rd. and Dewey Ave. in Greece. I think this was formerly the site of a Mr. Shoes, which now has just one location on South Avenue.
This Perri's is, at this point, the second location of this mini-chain. There was a Perri's on Norton Street, but Perri's website no longer lists it (though it still appears on their map), and the phone there has been disconnected. I know I wasn't too impressed by the Norton Street Perri's on the one occasion when I stopped there.
But like its sister location in Gates, the Greece Perri's is clean and attractive, with a nice selection of lunchtime slices. Since Perri's offers a "huge slice" for three dollars, I got just the one, forgoing some other tasty-sounding varieties in the interests of investigating Perri's Buffalo chicken pizza. When I last picked up a Perri's slice in Gates, I remember the Buffalo chicken slices seemed to be very popular with the lunchtime crowd.
This slice had a very thin crust, so thin that the cheese was thicker than the dough in some spots. It was screen baked, and firm on the bottom, with variable browning underneath.
The crust was topped by a thin, almost invisible layer of hot sauce. Though the oily concoction wasn't too noticeable to the eye, it made its presence known on the palate, with a medium-hot flavor of Buffalo wing sauce.
Next came a layer of slightly browned mozzarella, which had a certain tanginess, though I couldn't detect any blue cheese on this one.
The cheese was topped with cubes of fried chicken, which were coated with a breading that itself had a peppery kick to it. There was not an abundance of chicken on this slice, but enough to add at least some additional flavor and meaty texture.
Though the crust wasn't particularly crisp, it did have some nice internal breadiness, which was noticeable despite its thinness. Toward the thicker edge those bready qualities came through a bit more, and the chewy outer lip helped take away some of the heat that had accumulated on my palate from the rest of the slice. The slice as a whole was easily foldable, and was reminiscent of a soft taco with a spicy chicken-and-cheese filling.
This wasn't bad, a little greasy perhaps, but again, what do you expect with Buffalo chicken? I might've liked it better with some blue cheese, and perhaps a little more full-bodied sauce, but this was still a tasty slice of pizza. For $3, it's not a bad deal, and an extra $2 will get you a 20 oz. drink and a bag of chips or a cookie too. I'll give this one a B-.
Perri's Pizza, 528 Stone Road at Dewey Ave., Greece. 865.5050
Sun. - Thu. 10 a.m - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Abba's Pizza

NOTE:  Abba's is no longer in operation. Chabad Lubavitch now offers Gavi's kosher pizza.
Pizza probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of kosher food, but yes, there is such a thing as kosher pizza, and yes, you can get it in Rochester. Yesterday I made it over to Rochester's first, and I believe only kosher pizzeria, Abba's Pizza, at the Chabad Center on Winton Road, just south of Monroe and Elmwood.
Abba's is open to the public, but don't expect to see any signs for it outside; simply look for the Chabad Center, go in the front door, and follow your nose down the hall to the kitchen.
The operator of Abba's is a Rochester native who spent some time in the photography business in L.A., then moved back here with his wife to raise a family. Despite a lack of experience in the food service industry (rare in L.A., I guess, which is full of actors waiting on tables), he accepted a job taking over the kitchen at Chabad. Since then, he's managed to "reinvent" himself, in his words, as a chef and pizzaiolo.
So what makes a pizza kosher? Well, most obviously, there's no meat. No pepperoni, no sausage, no meatballs. Second, all the ingredients are kosher - the flour, salt, you name it. Where that makes the most noticeable difference is probably the cheese, which is under rabbinical supervision from the milking of the cow to the production of the cheese. More significantly, in terms of taste, texture and appearance, the cheese on Abba's pizza is also made without rennet, which is an animal product commonly used in cheesemaking.
My slice (topped with red bell pepper and onion) had a very thin crust, which is a nod to the tastes of the many transplanted New Yorkers at the Chabad Center. Although Abba's started out with a crust described as a "compromise between thick and thin," that's no longer the case; there are no compromises here, and this is decidedly a thin crust. (And in case your knowledge of Jewish dietary laws is as poor as mine, no, it's not unleavened. Yeast is OK. Most of the time.)
The underside of the crust, which was given a one- or two-minute reheating in Abba's large commercial pizza oven, was firm and crisp on the outside. It wasn't exactly charred, but there were bits of what seemed to be burnt cheese underneath.
The crust was topped with a tomato sauce that was somewhat thick, not so much in a cooked-down way, but just in a not-watery way. It had a good, tomatoey flavor, with a certain background taste of herbs that I couldn't quite pin down.
Atop the sauce lay the cheese, which I found a bit bland, without the tanginess of most pizza cheese, but which partially made up for its relative lack of flavor with a melted, smooth, creamy texture. The vegetable toppings actually worked quite well with this slice, since a strong-flavored topping like pepperoni, even if it were available, would simply have overwhelmed the other components.
Abba's sells pizza by the slice, as well as in whole 16" pies, which might go up to 18" at some point, in response to consumer demand (those NYers love a big, foldable slice). They also offer soups, salads, sandwiches and fries. Prices are a bit above what you might pay elsewhere, largely because of the cost of the kosher ingredients, the cheese in particular, but the pizza is certainly not outrageously expensive, either.
In the months since it opened, Abba's has gotten a very good response from its Chabad clientele, and when school is in session it also does a steady business with students from Brighton High School across the street. Outside business has been slow, but given Abba's low public profile, that's not surprising.
This was pretty good pizza, and certainly distinctive. There was not a single aspect of it that stood out as particularly noteworthy or unusual, but the total blend of flavor and texture made it different from any other pizza I've had around here. I'm looking forward to going back to Abba's sometime for a full, made-to-order pie, but for now I'll give it a B-.
Abba's Pizza, 1037 Winton Road South, 14618  360-9723
Mon. & Wed. 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., Tue. & Thu. 10:30 a.m. - 7 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Stone Oven Pizza, RIT

College campuses aren't typically places I would go looking for pizza, but after hearing that RIT had a place called "Stone Oven Pizza," I thought it might be worth checking out.
Clearly the days of the dining hall as the place to eat on-campus are long gone. Today it's all about choices, and RIT offers students a dizzying array of options, including the aforementioned Stone Oven.
While it's nice to have choices and all, that doesn't mean much if the food's no good. So how's the pizza?
I got a cheese slice and a Margherita slice, which was one of specialty slices of the day. They were baked in what looked, at first glance, like a wood-fired oven, but it appeared to me that the flame inside was simply a gas flame.
The crust on both slices was thin, with an underside that was, sadly, crisscrossed with screen marks. I say "sadly" because it seems to me that baking the pizza on a screen, while it might be convenient, is not apt to give you as crisp a crust as baking it right on the floor of that nice-looking stone oven. And sure enough, the underside on these was firm, but not what I would call crisp, and the crust was a bit chewy. There were a few spots underneath that were nearly charred, but mostly they were just a mottled brown.

The cheese slice was covered with a fairly thick blanket of mozzarella. It was a little oily on top. The moderately-applied sauce had a thick consistency and a middle-of-the-road flavor, neither too sweet, salty or herbal. The puffy edge of the crust was OK, with some bready flavor, but not particularly noteworthy.
The Margherita was, well, not what I would call a Margherita. Not to get hung up on labels, but if you'd asked me what kind of pizza it was, I wouldn't have guessed that it was a Margherita.
Some chunky tomatoes were interspersed with what appeared to be fresh mozzarella, though the cheese seemed a bit dried out and not as creamy as it could've been.
That was fine, but where was the basil? I'm not sure that I've ever had a Margherita without some fresh basil on it. This simply had what flakes of what I took to be dried, crushed basil.
Semantics aside, this was pretty tasty. The underside, though still not crisp, was a bit more blackened than the cheese slice, and had some pleasant toasty flavor notes. I picked up a pronounced aroma of garlic, while on the palate, there was a tangy saltiness from the cheese, which played nicely off the sweetness of the tomatoes. To paraphrase Shakespeare, a Margherita by any other name would taste just as good, and whether this deserved that moniker or not, it was, for me, definitely the better of the two slices.
I didn't get a menu - I'm not sure that they had any - but you can get an idea of the offerings at SOP and its neighbors at the Commons here. Here's a campus map, if have no idea where the Commons is (I didn't).
Some time ago, RIT's Dining Services vowed to come up with "Rochester's Best Pizza." I'm not sure if this is supposed to be it, or if they're still in the laboratory working on it. Either way, I'd say they've still got some work to do, but this wasn't bad pizza. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it, but if I were on campus and hungry, there's a good chance I'd head to Stone Oven. I'll give it a B-.

Stone Oven Pizza & Pasta Cucina, at the Commons, RIT campus.
Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - midnight, Sat. & Sun. noon - midnight.

Westside Pizzeria, Driving Park

Here's a new place I just happened to notice the other day while driving. Westside Pizzeria is on Driving Park Avenue, in a site that was formerly a Mr. Shoes location. I've also seen references to this as a second location for Big Daddy's, but I don't recall ever seeing a Big Daddy's here, so maybe that fell through. I might also mention that there used to be a West Side Pizzeria in Spencerport (now the home of Leccese's), but as far as I know there's no connection).
As at a few other pizzerias in the city, inside Westside you'll find a thick plexiglass window at the counter, with a hole just big enough for food and money to pass through. There are a few chairs and small tables near the window if you'd care to eat on the premises.
I asked for a pepperoni slice, and for $1.50 got a pretty good sized, reasonably good-looking slice. The underside was browned and not too crisp, and had a slightly greasy feel in spots, though not too bad. I'm guessing that the oil came mostly from the cheese and pepperoni on top than from the dough itself. The concentric rings of small dots on the bottom indicated that it had been baked on a tray. The medium-thick crust was OK, though a little tough to chew. The narrow edge was dark and crunchy.
The cheese and sauce were moderately applied, in pretty good balance with each other and with the crust. The sauce was tasty, with a tomatoey sweetness and a touch of Italian herbs. The mozzarella was browned here and there, and tended to separate from the crust. The wide, thin slices of pepperoni were pretty basic and unremarkable.

In spite of its flaws, this wasn't a bad slice of pizza. When I noticed Westside, I was actually on my way back from another, so-called pizzeria on Dewey Avenue (which will be a topic for another post), which turned out to be one of these places where they just take premade crusts and add toppings. This, though, was "real" pizza, as evidenced by the guy hand-stretching the dough while I was getting my slice.
And again, it wasn't bad. Yes, the crust could've been better, but I've had worse, and the overall flavor was good, and the components well balanced. So while there's room for improvement, all in all this was a reasonably enjoyable slice of pizza, and I'm giving it a B-.

Westside Pizza, 107 Driving Park Ave. 458-WING (9464)
(Hours not known at this time)

Tony Pepperoni, Greece - CLOSED

Back in April 2009, I did a post on Tony Pepperoni in Henrietta, giving it a B for its pretty decent thin-crust pizza. Not long ago I decided to check out its sister location, on Latta Road in Greece.
Somewhat oddly, this Tony P. is located right next to a gas station, although I wouldn't call it gas-station pizza, thank god. By that I mean it's not the usual frozen/microwaved/premade crap you see sitting there under a heat lamp at convenience stores everywhere. This is a genuine pizzeria that simply happens to adjoin a gas station.
My very fresh pepperoni slice bore little resemblance to the one I got at Henrietta, which was roughly similar to a NY-style slice. This one had a thin to medium crust, with a big, puffy edge. The underside, which bore no screen or pan marks, was medium to dark brown. It was a bit crisp on the outside, but very pliable, with a softness that made it necessary to fold the slice (this slice was still pretty hot out of the oven, which I'm sure had some effect on the texture). The crust in general had a toasty, bready aroma and flavor, which again probably had something to do with its being so fresh.
That freshness also would account somewhat for the gooiness of the cheese, but even aside from its having just come out of the oven, the cheese on this one was cooked just enough to melt completely, with no browning. The pie from which this was cut appeared to be considerably less well done (as in the degree of doneness, not how well it was made) than a cheese pie that was also available. Perhaps the employee took it out of the oven a little sooner rather than later because another customer and I were both waiting for pepperoni slices.
The sauce, which had pooled a bit toward the tip, was slightly sweet, and moderately applied. A lot of sprinkled dried herbs were visible, and there was a noticeable aroma and flavor of oregano. The pepperoni was OK, though not cooked enough to get crisp along the edges.

Tony Pepperoni has a fairly extensive list of pizza toppings and specialty pizzas, nothing especially exotic, although the "Italian Assorted" is a little unusual, with ham, cappicola, and salami among its toppings (I've put salami on homemade pizza before, and it's actually quite good, provided you use good salami). Pizzas come in 12", 16", and 18" pies, and sheets. Other offerings include jumbo wings, hot and cold subs, and sides, plus a few dinners, including pasta, fish fry and chicken parm. It's a takeout and delivery place only.
This was kind of a messy slice of pizza, but kind of good too. Granted, it was pretty hot out of the oven, and hadn't really had time to set, but that big, bubbly edge pretty much guaranteed that the cheese and sauce would migrate toward the tip, and with that thin, pliable crust, this definitely required that a couple of napkins be on hand. Still, the crust was pleasantly bready and a little crisp, and the overall flavors were good. I'm going to shave a point off for the sloppiness of it, but I'll give it a B-.
Tony Pepperoni, 2044 Latta Rd. 621-0230
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.