Grappa

 In late April, I had lunch with a friend at Grappa, which opened in 2015 at the Hilton Garden Inn in College Town. Although I have previously reviewed Grappa, that was in 2015, so a revisit was long overdue. 

In my 2015 post, I wrote that Grappa offered six pizzas on the menu; this time there were five. Alas, I did not list all six varieties, so I'm not sure to what extent the menu has changed since then. One change I am sure of is that pepperoni pizza is no longer on the menu. That's too bad, as I rather liked the one I tried back then.

But they do still have Margherita pizza, and as I did in 2015, I ordered one this time around as well. There were some similarities to the 2015 version, but also some significant differences. 

Then as now, the crust was quite thin. Both were browned underneath. The 2026 pie had pronounced screen marks underneath, however, which were absent in 2015. I'm a little leery of screen marks, because I generally prefer the entire underside of the crust to come into direct contact with the hot oven deck, but itself I don't consider that a sine qua non of good pizza.

 Interestingly enough, the crust on this pizza was noticeably crisper than on the 2015 pie. I described that crust as "straddl[ing] the line between crisp and pliable," whereas this crust was crisp to the point of brittleness. Make of that what you will.

Moving on to the toppings, just as in 2015, this Margherita was somewhat unusual in employing both tomato sauce and fresh sliced tomatoes.  And based on what I wrote back then, I'd say the tomatoes were more prominent on this pizza. The sauce was more heavily applied, and judging from the 2015 photo, the tomato slices were thicker, as well as more visually appealing, with a vibrant red hue; the 2015 tomatoes were paler and yellow-white in the center.

The sauce on both pies was smooth, and I honestly couldn't say if or to what extent they tasted the same. In 2015, I wrote that the sauce was "not heavily seasoned," and had a slightly sweet flavor.  That roughly describes the 2025 version, but my friend and I agreed that it tasted like canned sauce. I don't mean that it tasted metallic, and I certainly don't have an issue with using canned sauce. Plenty--I daresay most--pizzerias use canned sauce; I use it myself. But there was a certain flatness to this sauce that I tend to associate with canned sauce. It was OK; it just didn't wow me.

That brings us to the cheese. I was pleased to see the pie dotted with slices of fresh mozzarella, rather than the blanket of processed mozzarella that Grappa used in 2015.

Again, nothing wrong with processed mozzarella, or with a uniform layer of cheese. But if you're calling it a Margherita, I think you should try to stick to the stylistic parameters, and one of those, to my mind, is the use of fresh mozzarella. A Margherita pizza is not simply a sauce and cheese pizza with basil added. So kudos on that score. The cheese was also nicely done, with just a touch of browning, and a smooth, not rubbery texture.

Before I wrap this up, I'll mention that we also shared a plate of garlic Parmesan fries, which were very good. On my list of foods I love, french fries are not far below pizza, and these were crisp, potatoey, and hard to resist.

So as with myself, there have been some changes over the years at Grappa, some for the better. I've stopped handing out grades, for a combination of reasons, but I will say that I would take this pizza over the one I got in 2015 (which I gave a B). The crust was crisper and I liked the use of fresh mozzarella. So while I might prefer the 2015 version of myself, I'll take the 2026 version of Grappa's Margherita pizza.

Grappa 

30 Celebration Drive
Rochester, NY 14620

585.445.5770

Lunch
Monday - Friday 
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM 

Happy Hour
Monday - Saturday 
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Dinner
Monday - Sunday: 
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

DoughBoyzRoc/Sager-Stoneyard Pub

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DoughBoyz, inside Sager-Stoneyard Pub

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

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

Pub hours: 

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

Amore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amore Italian Restaurant & Lounge

 1750 East Ave.

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

Hours

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

 

 

Georgio's

After a five-year run, the Pizza Stop location in Pittsford Plaza closed last year, which was sad news for local fans of New York style pizza. (The original location on State Street in downtown Rochester remains open, as do locations in Greece and Pultneyville.)

So I was happy to see that the location was purchased and recently reopened as Georgio's Pizza, which "specialize[s] in authentic New York-style pizza, wings, and fried favorites." I recently gave it a try.

I got a cheese slice and a Margherita slice. Both were appropriately thin, and looked pretty good, until I looked underneath.

Out of habit, I almost immediately turn the pizza over to get a look at the underside. Uniform brown? Pale? Spotted? Any screen marks? That tells me something about how the pizza was prepared and baked.

This was a tale of two pies. The Margherita was pale with a little spotted browning, and the cheese slice was blackened to the point of charcoal.

That was unfortunate as the toppings weren't bad. The cheese slice was reminiscent of The Pizza Stop, although the cheese had passed the melting point and was beginning to congeal. Just a bit. The Margherita toppings were quite nice, with a tomatoey-sweet sauce, melted fresh mozzarella and wilted fresh basil. I generally like fresh ingredients but I could've done without the tomato slices. Not necessary and throws off the balance.

Back to the crust. Despite how dark it was, the cheese slice wasn't particularly crisp or crackly underneath, it was just overdone. And the Margherita was underdone, despite the slight browning.

Whatever defects these had, I think were a matter of execution, and by saying that I don't mean to suggest I'm an expert or that I could have done better. But clearly something was amiss.

As for the Margherita, I do know that fresh mozzarella and fresh basil generally needed to be added near the end of the bake, so they don't get overdone. Maybe these were added too soon, so the pizza was pulled out too soon. The cheese slice? Harder to explain. Just a hypothesis, but too long at too low a temperature? 

To be clear, this was not bad pizza. It just needed a bit of tweaking. And Georgio's may still be working things out. So not a complaint, just telling you about these two slices on this one occasion. I'll keep Georgio's on my go-to list.

Georgio's Pizzeria

3349 Monroe Ave #18, Rochester, NY 14618
Phone: (585) 851-0770
georgiospizzaroc.com

Mon. - Wed. 11 am - 8 pm 

Thu. - Sat. 11 am - 9 pm 

Sun.    12–8 pm

 

 

 

Road Trips: Part I

Over the past month or so, I've had occasion to go to Buffalo and Cleveland, and as on virtually every road trip I take, I tried some local pizza.  

In early May, my wife and I went to Buffalo for an event at the Hyatt Regency, where I'd booked a room for the night. The event was to include dinner, so at that point pizza was the furthest thing from my mind. (Well actually pizza is never too far from my mind, but I wasn't expecting to have any that night.)

We got to the hotel, checked in, I put on my suit, my wife donned her evening wear, and we headed down to the where the event was taking place, only to discover that they did not have our names on the list. 

Surely there must be some mistake, I thought. I remember ordering the tickets!

But slowly another though crept into my mind. Wait a minute. Did I?

I couldn't find a confirmation email, and neither my credit card nor bank statement reflected a charge for the tickets. I reluctantly came to the realization that although I had indeed booked a room at the hotel, I overlooked the detail of actually purchasing tickets to the event, which at that point was completely sold out.

So all dressed up with nowhere to go, I began a quick search for a nearby restaurant, and came up with a place not too far away, Coco Bar & Bistro.

Initial impressions were good. Soft lighting, exposed brick walls, and high ceilings that gave it a relaxing atmosphere and provided me a chance to stop berating myself for not at that moment sitting at the Hyatt Regency. After ordering drinks we perused the wide-ranging menu. As one might expect in a self-described bistro, the menu is French-inspired, but with a lot of other cuisines in the mix, including Cajun/Creole (shrimp étouffée), Thai (mussels with coconut and red curry), Portuguese (mussels with chorizo and spices), German (sort of) ("Schnitzel de Porc Niçoise"), Swedish (Swedish meatballs, which from what I've read originated in Turkey), and Italian. Including pizza.

Any number of those dishes sounded appealing to me, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the pizza. I went with a simple red sauce and cheese pizza. 

That choice is described on the menu as a Margherita, which is a misnomer. A Margherita should include tomatoes in some form, cheese (usually fresh mozzarella), and basil, preferably fresh. But to paraphrase Shakespeare, a cheese pizza by any other name would taste as good. If it's good, that is.

This one was, I'm afraid, a disappointment. It didn't look bad, but upon biting into it, the crust reminded me of a frozen pizza. It was dry and flavorless and was no more than a base for the toppings. Which weren't bad; the sauce was flavorful and there was plenty of cheese, although it was a tad more browned than I prefer, but I couldn't help thinking that I could've found something of similar quality in the frozen section of my local supermarket. 

I don't want to bash Coco, but my wife ended up sending back her lamb Bolognese. Bolognese sauce can include various spices, including nutmeg and cinnamon, but in this case the chef seemed to have a heavy hand with the spice jar. The flavor was reminiscent of Rochester "hot sauce" that you can get on hot dogs. The server was kind enough to take it off the bill and told us that some customers love it, some don't like it at all. I can't say it was badly made, but it might be advisable for them to let customers know in advance that it is a well-spiced sauce.

Afterwards we went out for dessert and coffee, and ended up at Romeo & Juliet's on Hertel Avenue. They offer a range of desserts, but upon arriving we discovered that they also serve pizza. My wife was still hungry, and although I can't say I was hungry I wasn't too full for more pizza, so we ordered another Margherita.

This one did include a smattering of of shredded basil, and overall it wasn't bad, but it was only marginally better than what we got at Coco. The crust was clearly made from fresh dough and it had some flavor but it was rather flabby and lifeless. Its deficiencies, however, were partially offset by the toppings, which were pretty tasty. The basil was barely noticeable, but the sauce and cheese were well balanced and combined for a nice salty/sweet/tangy flavor. I ended up eating more than I probably should have, so that speaks in its favor. 

We also ordered some tiramisu to go, which was excellent. I don't have the biggest sweet tooth, but I do love a good tiramisu, and this was good. Perfect blend of flavors, moist and so light you can easily imagine that it's not high in calories. 

So not the best day for trying some Buffalo pizza, and I know there are waaay more out there, but this was all improvised at the last minute. Next time I'm out that way I will try to plan ahead better.

Coco Bistro & Bar

888 Main St
Buffalo, NY 14202

(716) 885-1885

Sunday
    4:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Monday — Thursday
    11:30 AM – 10:00 PM
Friday
    11:30 AM – 11:00 PM
Saturday
    4:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Romeo & Juliet's

1292 Hertel Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14216
tel:716-873-5730

Hours of Operation:
Tuesday - Thursday 11 AM - 8 PM
Friday and Saturday 11 AM - 9PM
CLOSED SUNDAY AND MONDAY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cristo's, Buffalo Road

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I didn't find one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cristo's Wood Fired Pizza and Pasta

1308 Buffalo Road, Gates, New York 14624

585-622-9000

cristosrestaurant@gmail.com

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

 

The Alley, Rochester

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

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

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

Macri's, Canandaigua

I happened to be in Canandaigua on a recent Saturday, so, ever on the hunt for new pizza places, I stopped into Macri's Deli & Cafe.
Macri's opened in 2013, but I just recently learned that they offer pizza, and I figured it was worth a stop. And indeed it was.
Macri's sits at a corner of a strip mall, along the same general stretch as the Canandaigua Wegmans. The exterior shares the look of the other retail establishments nearby, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Might be good, might be just another uninteresting, feels-like-a-chain place.
Inside, I found a large, high-ceilinged space, with tables near the windows, and a long food counter. I headed straight for the pizza counter.
Macri's offers "pizza al taglio," which initially meant nothing to me. Turns out, the Italian phrase just means, literally, pizza by the slice, or more specifically, by the cut. But apparently it implies more than that. According to Wikipedia, pizza al taglio is a variety of Italian pizza baked in large rectangular trays, and generally sold in rectangular or square slices by weight. The concept, and style, began in Rome, but has spread throughout Italy.
On my visit, there were three varieties available. The veggie pizza included mushrooms, which ruled it out, for me. The pepperoni looked good, but I zeroed in on the Margherita.
Technically, I guess this wasn't true pizza al taglio, because all Margherita slices are four dollars each, regardless of weight, although they were cut to generally the same size. But I had no complaints.
And technically, this wasn't a classic Margherita, which I associate with thin-crust, Neapolitan pizza. But labels aside, it was good. Really good.
My corner slice was thick - about an inch, at its thickest point - with a bottom that was golden brown, with a dark brown ring along the edge. It was crisp, with a faint hint of oil, as one would expect from a pan-baked pizza, but not overly oily at all.
The crust had a bready aroma and a tight crumb. Not just a base for the toppings, it had the flavor of freshly-baked bread. The well-formed edge was crunchy on the surface.
On top, the generous layer of sauce was proportionate to the thick crust. It had a rich, tomatoey flavor, with a hint of salt.
The shakes of grated Parmesan, though a bit nontraditional for a Margherita, added some welcome contrast to the slices of fresh mozzarella. The latter were just melted, not quite melt-in-your-mouth liquidy, but not rubbery either. The bits of torn basil were wilted just enough to maximize their flavor, and added an extra layer of complexity overall.
According to their menu, Macri's offers eight varieties of pizza al taglio, though obviously they're not all available, all the time. They've also recently added "New York Style Thin Crust Pizza," but for now that's only available by the pie, not by the slice. They also do paninis, subs, soups, salads, and breakfast items, as well as a wide variety of sweets. Wine and beer are available too, and there's a full coffee bar.
I was, frankly, quite impressed by this pizza. So much so, that I really couldn't find fault with it. Nice balance, good flavor, and well made. I can't see any reason not to give it an A. I intend to go back, to try the New York pizza, and some of the other pizza al taglio. I suggest you do the same.

Macri's Deli & Cafe, 699 S. Main St., Canandaigua

(585) 905-0866

Mon. - Thu. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Fri. 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sat. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sun. closed

Grappa

As the College Town development on Mt Hope continues to grow, pizza continues to be part of the mix.The latest entrant is Grappa, which opened in June.
Grappa which bills itself as "Italian nouveau." My regular-guy inner self recoils a bit at a term like "Italian nouveau," but my pizzaholic self can get over that, if the pizza's good. And on a recent lunch visit with a friend, it was.
Grappa offers six pizzas, although I imagine they could do custom pizza if you asked. I got a Margherita, my friend got a pepperoni, and we shared.
The crusts were thin, with an underside that was crisp, but not crackly, and spottily browned but not quite charred. (These are not wood-fired, by the way.) 
Which is not to say that they weren't good. I don't like limp, soggy pizza, but neither do I think that a thin-crust pizza has to be blackened and shatteringly crisp underneath to be good. These straddled the line between crisp and pliable.
Aside from that, the crust wasn't especially flavorful or aromatic. I had no particular complaints about it, but it was more serviceable than sublime. But the toppings were good enough to pretty much make up for any shortcomings in that regard.
My dining companion and I don't always see eye to eye on pizza, but we both enjoyed these. My Margherita was a little unusual for having both tomato sauce and sliced tomatoes; most places do one or the other. But it was a nice combination. The sauce was lightly applied, and not heavily seasoned, while the sliced tomatoes had an acidic edge that balanced the slight sweetness of the sauce.
With its two-tomato topping, the Margherita was not a minimalist version, and that carried through to the cheese. Some Margheritas are dotted with islands of slightly melted fresh mozzarella. This pie was blanketed by a uniform layer of processed mozzarella, which was slightly browned, with a good balance (there's that word again) between chewy and stringy. The shredded fresh basil added enough flavor and visual appeal to round out the pie nicely. The basil seemed to have been added right after the pizza came out of the oven, as it was still bright green and aromatic.
The pepperoni pie was highlighted by three different types of sausage, which I think is a great idea that I'd like to see more pizzerias adopt. Small, crisp, cupped slices, and meatier, wide, beefy slices were combined with thin strips, adding variety and interest with each bite. A moderate layer of basic red sauce and well melted cheese, which was applied nearly all the way to the thinly formed edge made for a very satisfying pie.
Grappa's additional pizza choices include:  a Mediterranean pie with artichokes, roasted red peppers, cured olives, feta cheese, arugula, and garlic pesto sauce (which I came very close to ordering, but I decided to stick with my usual Margherita); funghi (garlic bechamel sauce, roasted portabello and button mushrooms, and truffle oil); a white pizza with garlic bechamel, fresh herbs, ricotta, mozzarella and shaved Parmesan; and a spicy meatball pie, with house-made meatballs, ricotta and a Roma tomato blush sauce.
Beyond the pizza, Grappa's lunch menu includes several pasta options, panini, and a grab bag of other dishes, including a burger, grilled salmon, chicken cutlet, greens & beans, and "zesty Parmesan" wings. The dinner menu adds several more entrees, such as steak, pork osso buco, and frutti di mare, with a medley of seafood. Pricewise, pizzas run 10 to 12 dollars, entrees are mostly in the 20s, and pasta dishes in the teens.
The layout is partitioned into several dining areas. On this visit, we were given a table on the south side of the restaurant, which afforded plenty of sunlight at lunchtime. Since I had to get back to work, I didn't take the time to look around the rest of the dining area, but if you go, you might want to ask for a table in one area or another, depending on whether you want more privacy or to do more people watching.
I debated whether to give Grappa a grade, considering that it only opened a couple months ago, but unlike at some places, I didn't get the sense that they were still working out the bugs. These were well made pizzas, and it seems fair to rate them. That said, I found these clearly above average, but not quite among the top tier for our area. So I'll give them a B.

Grappa, 30 Celebration Drive (just west of Mt. Hope Ave. between Elmwood and Crittenden)

(585) 445-5750
grappa@delmontehotels.com 

Open for lunch and dinner daily
free parking

Pizzeria FAVO, Monroe Ave., PIttsford

Pizzeria FAVO opened last month in Pittsford Colony Plaza, on the northeast side of Monroe Avenue, across from Pittsford Plaza.
FAVO is among the first local examples of what I'm guessing is an emergent trend, or actually a combination of two trends: fast-casual pizzerias that use a gas flame, to mimic wood-fired pizza.
That sounds like something I would dislike, just on grounds of principle. But ultimately the end product is what counts, and this was good pizza.
At FAVO, you order at the counter, and in a few minutes you pick it up a little further down the line. There you'll see the Italian-made oven, which utilizes a gas flame and a rotating deck.
My Margherita came up quickly, in just a few minutes. It displayed a somewhat unevenly baked edge, with some charring, and not-quite-charred blistering along the other. The underside was firm, but not crackly crisp (that's not a criticism, just a description). The bottom was slightly dusted with either corn meal or semolina; whatever it was, there was too little of it, and it was too finely ground, for me to identify it.
One issue I have with some places these days, using open flames, is that the edge gets charred, but the underside remains pale. It's easy enough to get some blackened blistering along the edge, if you expose the edge of the pie to a flame for a few seconds. It creates a nice appearance, but with a thin-crust pizza baked in a high-temperature oven, I'd like to see some "leopard spotting" on the bottom as well.
The crust here was browned underneath, but not spotted. I don't want to make too much over some sort of pizza-snobbish criteria ("charred - check"; "spotted - check"), but I'll confess to being mildly irritated about a crust that's blackened along the edge, but not underneath. It seems to be done more for appearance's sake than anything else.
Having said all that, this crust was enjoyable. It lacked the toasty, slightly smoky notes of a great wood-fired crust, but it was bready, a bit chewy, and thin but not paper thin.
The toppings were good as well, both on my and my companion's pies. On my Margherita, a thin layer of tomato sauce was layered with slices of fresh tomato, melted rounds of fresh mozzarella, and a smattering of torn basil. One of my companions found the sauce a bit metallic; I thought it was acidic, in a tomatoey way, but maybe that's just a case of us coming up with two different adjectives for the same thing. But it was not a sweet sauce.
My friends both liked their pies. The pepperoni pie was a well balanced take on an American standard. My other friend's Paesano was very tasty, with a light layer of tomato sauce, topped with processed mozzarella, sliced sausage, mushrooms and tender, sweet grilled onions.
We got there relatively early, right around noon, and initally had the place almost to ourselves, though the crowd started to pick up quickly shortly thereafter. Service was efficient, and the manager seemed to be on top of things, making sure that everything ran smoothly.
FAVO's website doesn't seem to be fully up yet, although I did find an image of their menu on Yelp. They offer seven "classic" pizzas, and six "specialty" pizzas (I'm not quite sure how some of them ended up in one category or the other), and a very reasonably priced "build your own" option, which includes a choice of sauce, crust ("traditional" or "ancient grains"), cheese, meat, and unlimited veggie toppings for $8.95. They also offer gluten-free crust for an additional $2.50. There are a few salads on the menu, as well as self-serve gelato.
Pizzeria FAVO's menu states that they are "inspired by the spirit and traditions of classic brick-oven pizzerias from Naples, Italy to New York City." That's probably a good way to put it. This is an Americanized, neo-Neapolitan pizza, suited to the fast-casual format and at a relatively low price. For what they're doing here, I'd say they're doing a good job.
To grade, or not to grade? With new places, I often hold off on assigning grades. But having sampled three pies, and given its standardized procedures (which presumably result in some consistency), I feel safe in giving Pizzeria FAVO a B. I can't say it's among the very best I've tried in our area, but I was pretty pleased with it, as were my companions, so I do think it's worth checking out.

Pizzeria FAVO, 3400 Monroe Ave. (Pittsford Colony, opposite Pittsford Plaza)
(585) 310-7383

11 a.m. - 10 p.m. daily

Pi Craft, Henrietta

A few weeks ago, I spotted a new pizzeria in Henrietta, Pi Craft. It looked like it might be a chain pizzeria, though I'd never heard of it. But obviously I needed to check it out. So I  soon stopped by for lunch, with two friends, who are my usual, willing pizza guinea pigs.
Before I get to our food, a little more about Pi Craft. This is Pi Craft's second location, the original being in Tonawanda, just north of Buffalo.
The restaurant is part of the Develder Restaurant Group, which also owns Ember Woodfire Grill in Livionia. I reviewed Ember back in 2011, and was pretty pleased with it.

Pi Craft is aiming to tap into the "fast casual" trend. In their own words, "Pi Craft is dedicated to making healthy delicious menu items such as hand crafted pizzas, focaccia sandwiches and salads using fresh ingredients, served in a fast casual style. With our state of the art revolving pizza oven we can cook our American-Italian inspired fare in about 6 minutes. The toppings are unique and always fresh giving you thousands of topping combinations to create your own pizza for one price." So that's the concept.
You order your pizza at the counter. You can choose from a 12-inch round pie, or a smaller "Pi size," a 13 x 6 inch oval. Aside from its having a few digits in common, I have no idea whether or how that relates to the mathematical π, which is roughly equal to 3.1416. I'll leave that to the math majors to determine.
As you move along in line, to reach the cashier, you can see your pizza being hand-stretched, tossed, and put into Pi Craft's oven. The oven is an essential part of Pi Craft's formula, and again I'll let Pi Craft speak for itself:
"Our state of the art revolving stone oven reaches temperatures upward of 1000˚F, while the floor temperature typically ranges between 600˚ to 800˚ F. Because of this high temperature, we can cook pizza or sandwiches in about 3-6 minutes."
As I was standing in line, I could see that the oven uses a gas flame at the back of the oven. Kind of like a wood-fired oven, without the wood.
Pi Craft's oven also uses a revolving deck. I guess the concept is, with a flame in the back of the oven, you can cook several pizzas at once, without having to keep switching them around. But they still require attention from the pizzaiolo, i.e. the chef or oven attendant, who needs to rotate the pizzas, so that each pie bakes evenly.
I was surprised to see how fast Pi Craft's oven deck revolved. I don't have vast experience with revolving-deck pizza ovens, but I suppose that a faster rpm means that a pie won't burn too quickly along one side. But it's hardly foolproof, and still requires an attentive pizzaiolo to achieve optimal results.
I got my usual Margherita, and my friends got their usual pepperoni pies. We're not always the most imaginative folks when ordering pizza, but those pies do serve as useful benchmarks.
The crust was very thin, with a nicely formed, thicker cornicione along the edge. Aside from the cornicione, the crust was so thin that it didn't have much of an interior texture to speak of.
The undersides were generally pale with darker areas, and not very uniform in that regard, as you can see. Some areas were quite pale, others darker. It was dry to the touch.
On the positive side, the crust was crisp yet pliable. And the corncione was nice and breadlike, not just a "pizza bone" throwaway. So while the crust wasn't an exemplary work of the pizzaiolo's art, all in all it was decent.
The toppings were tasty, not applied in abundance, but in balance with the thin crust. The sauce was tomatoey and light on seasoning. The basil was good, as far as it went, but there wasn't much of it.
All our pizzas were topped with fresh mozzarella. To me, fresh mozzarella on pizza is best when it slightly liquefies in the oven. The trouble with that is, if it then cools, it tends to turn rubbery. And if it browns, well, it's overcooked.
This cheese had neither liquefied nor browned, and it wasn't rubbery. It was basically heated fresh mozzarella, and I liked it. But if you prefer your pizza coated with a blanket of melted, processed mozzarella, you won't find that here. The closest you can get is probably the white cheddar; your other options are ricotta and feta, or Parmesan.
You can peruse Pi Craft's menu here, but it's extensive, with an emphasis on creating your own pizza. There's a choice of sauces, meats, cheese, veggies, and the "afterbake," i.e. toppings added when the pizza comes out of the oven (like olive oil, fresh basil, hot sauce, etc.). Most items are included in the basic price, with a few premium items, like bacon, prosciutto, and blue cheese. Aside from pizza, Pi Craft offers a few sandwiches, salads and bruschetta.
In general, I think that Pi Craft's aim is to create handcrafted, "artisanal" pizza quickly, at a relatively low price, and to create a more or less foolproof method for doing so. I'm not trying to diminish the skills of the employees who make the pizza, but the setup seems to be based on an assembly-line system and a formula, which is typical of the fast-casual model. Based on this visit, I'd say the results are mixed. I liked this pizza, in some respects, but I wouldn't mistake it for a pizza made by a master pizzaiolo, from start to finish. It was, in short, about what I would expect it to be. Decent, but not stellar.
I generally don't rate places right after they open, and Pi Craft did just open recently. So I'll forego a grade here. I think my review speaks for itself, so I'll close by saying that if you're in the area and have a hankering for pizza, Pi Craft is worth a stop. You may not be blown away by the pizza, but I don't think you'll be too disappointed either.

Pi Craft Pizza
100 Marketplace Drive
Henrietta, NY 14623
(585) 424-2942

Open 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily

T.C. Hooligans Giveaway

Thanks to the generosity of the folks at TC Hooligans in Greece, I've got a $25 gift card to give away to a lucky reader.
My daughter and I shared a couple of pizzas at Hooligans recently, and I came away impressed. Their menu prominently features wood-fired pizza, and they do a very nice job.
I got my usual Margherita, which Hooligans tops with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, shredded basil, olive oil and garlic, while my daughter got her usual meat lovers (mozzarella and red sauce, bacon, pepperoni, ham and sausage). (Check out their other pizza offerings here.)

We sat at the bar, where we were able to watch our pizzas being prepared. The (gas-assisted) oven was blazing away with a hardwood fire, registering about 700 degrees F.

The results were good indeed. The crusts on both our pies were thin, crisp but pliable, with some charring underneath and along the edges. The toppings were tasty and well baked. All in all, they made effective use of their oven, to achieve pizza that was evenly charred, neither pale nor burned, and crisp but still bready.

Hooligans' menu is extensive, and includes, beyond pizza, wings, "hand pressed" burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads, and a range of sides and specialties, including "pickles and peppers" (fried pickle chips and banana pepper rings, served with cajun ranch dipping sauce) and mac 'n' cheese. My daughter doesn't yet have quite the tolerance for heat that I do, so we enjoyed a side of fries, which were nice and crisp.

As I said, we sat at the bar, right in front of the pizza oven. There's a separate dining area, but at dinner time on this evening, I had no problem sitting at the bar with my daughter. I don't know how things are later in the night, but the atmosphere was lively but civilized.

I'd go back, maybe to check out some of the other items on the menu. Those pickles and peppers sound very intriguing. But I'd also like to explore the pizza menu a little further. Based on this visit, they're doing a good job.

Why not see for yourself, on the house, to the tune of $25? To enter to win, simply email me at RocPizzaGuy@gmail.com, before noon next Friday, May 1. I will announce the winner here, on Facebook and Twitter, and directly by email. I will not use your email address for any other purposes. If you win, I will need your full name and mailing address.

The $25 gift card is good toward anything on TC Hooligans' menu, so you need not use it on pizza, but I highly recommend that you do. My thanks again to TC Hooligans for their generosity!

TC Hooligans, 134 Greece Ridge Center Drive (at Greece Ridge Mall)

585-225-7180

Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. noon - 2 a.m.

Blu, Pixley Road

I don't know what the breakdown is in terms of what sort of establishments sell pizza in Monroe County -- full-fledged pizzerias, convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants and bars, and whatever other vendors are out there -- but there are more bars and restaurants offering pizza than you might think. It's not as commonplace as, say, chicken wings or burgers, but you can find pizza on quite a few menus around town.
Which brings us to Blu, a restaurant and bar that opened about three years ago on Pixley Road in Gates, not far from the Buffalo Road exit off 490. They offer several varieties of pizza, and I went there recently for lunch with two companions.
One of my friends got a burger - which looked, and according to him, was very good - and the other got a basic pepperoni pizza. I opted for the "Westside Margherita," which was topped with garlic oil, red sauce, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella, with a drizzle of a reduced balsamic-vinegar sauce.
First, the good news. Where they had toppings, the pizzas were fairly tasty. More on that later. Now the bad news. The crust wasn't so good.
Both the menu and our server made a point of emphasizing that the dough for Blu's pizza is made in house, but you could've fooled me. I'm not sure what the explanation is, but the one adjective we agreed upon for these crusts was "dry," and the interiors lacked the puffiness that I like to see with freshly made dough. I don't know if Blu is making their own dough and then freezing it, but that's a possibility, to judge from these.
Now I'm not saying that the crust was godawful, or that it was bone-dry, to the point of being crumbly; the crust just lacked the aroma and liveliness of freshly made dough. It was serviceable, but no better than that.
The pies did taste good. The pepperoni pie was appropriately simple, with nicely melted mozzarella and crisp, meaty, spicy cup-and-char pepperoni. If only the toppings had been spread more fully around the pie, which had in some areas a wide area of naked crust along the perimeter. A little thicker application of the basic, tomatoey sauce might also to some extent have offset the dryness of the crust.
As for my Margherita, it was atypical but enjoyable. This isn't the first time I've had a pizza with a balsamic vinegar sauce, and I'm not complaining about it, since I knew from the menu that the pizza was drizzled with balsamic vinegar, but it's not traditionally associated with classic Margherita pizza. It did add an interesting flavor twist to the pie, with its sweet-yet-acidic tang playing off the other toppings, and the added liquid was particularly welcome atop this crust.
Flavorwise, the other dominant feature of the Margherita was the garlic oil. I love garlic, and the flavor here was prominent, but not harsh.
The red sauce and mozzarella were, I believe, the same as on the pepperoni pie, although the cheese seemed a bit more scattered than on the pepperoni pizza.
The sliced tomatoes were nothing special, but in fairness, one can't expect terrific fresh tomatoes around here in December. But if I might make so bold as to offer a suggestion to pizzeria owners, consider skipping both the sauce and the fresh tomatoes, and substituting canned tomatoes, of high quality. Crushed, drained and lightly seasoned, they'll more than make up for the absence of both the sauce and the fresh but flavorless sliced tomatoes.
That leaves the basil. This pie was dusted with tiny bits of basil. I think it was fresh basil, but it was chopped very finely. It did add a little background flavor, but I would've preferred some larger bits of shredded basil, added at the end.
Blu offers a few other specialty pizzas, including a beef on weck pie and the "J.M.G.," topped with garlic oil, banana peppers, spinach, asiago, ricotta, and fresh mozzarella. They also have an interesting selection of mac & cheese, from bacon cheeseburger to lobster.
Having written this review, it may appear to be more scathing than it should. I don't want to slam Blu too much. While based on this visit, I can't advise going there for the pizza, my friend's burger was good, and I can't speak to the rest of the menu.
Maybe, if anything, this points up the issue of places that don't specialize in pizza adding pizza to their menus. Good pizza takes time, effort, and expertise, in a way that some other menu items may not. So while I would be fine going back to Blu sometime for one of those meaty, half-pound burgers, the pizza was a disappointment. Perhaps with some tweaking, they can get it right.
In terms of a rating, well, it's always easier to point out a pizza's flaws than its strengths. And again, these pizzas tasted pretty good; the flavor wasn't really the issue. The biggest problem was the crust, which was not so great, but not so bad as to ruin the pizza either. So while I can't say these were average, a "D" seems a little too severe. Let's call these a C-minus.

Blu, 250 Pixley Rd., Gates

(585) 247-0079

Tue. - Thu. 11 a.m. - midnight
Fri. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
Sat. 4:30 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Closed Sun. & Mon.