Brooklyn Bakery, Olean

On a recent family visit to Olean in Cattaraugus County, I hunted down Brooklyn Bakery. This wood-fired bakery/pizzeria has been open for a few years now, but I'd been unaware of it until recently.
And when I say that I hunted it down, I mean I hunted it down. Tucked away on a side street, and partially hidden from view even from that street, it's not the easiest place to find. But I managed to track it down, and it was worth the effort.
You can make good, bad, or just mediocre pizza in any type of oven, wood-fired, gas, electric or otherwise. But one constant I've found is that good pizza is baked by people who have a passion for what they're doing. And building your own wood-fired oven is a pretty strong indication that you are dedicated to the art of baking.
As is Michael DiPaola, the founder and owner of Brooklyn Bakery. DiPaola, who opened the bakery in August 2011, clearly has a vision of what he wants to do. It's a business, but it's also a craft, and one to which he's plainly dedicated.
A native of Olean, DiPaola started his pizza journey in, of all places, Pizza Hut. He's been "all over," he told me, but eventually decided to return to Olean and start his own place.
One aspect of Michael's story that I could relate to is that he did a lot of research before launching his venture. I don't do something as simple as buying a home appliance without exhaustively researching the subject, so I can only imagine what's needed for as major an undertaking as opening a wood-fired bakery and pizzeria.
But all that research paid off, as evidenced by the end result. Brooklyn Bakery utilizes a large brick oven, with separate chambers for the fire and baking, making it a so-called "white" oven. DiPaola uses a variety of hardwoods to fire the oven, which provides indirect but very effective heat to the baking chamber. He also uses some coal, which burns a lot longer than wood, so it needs less frequent stoking.
On my visit, I ordered an "American Pie," which is a basic pepperoni pizza. Had I been alone, I might've gone for something different, but I was sharing this with an 11-year-old daughter, and I was happy to oblige her.
Our pizza had a thin crust, which was spottily browned underneath. The slices were pliable, but not floppy, with a slightly bubbly edge. The edge was not charred, as is often the case with wood-fired pizza, but that is a result of the indirect heat of this oven. I didn't mind that, as I've been to too many places where they seem to think that cooking wood-fired pizza means simply shoving the pie close to the open flame, and giving it a quick rotation just before it comes out of the oven, to give the edge a surface char, while the bottom remains pale.
While a pepperoni pizza may seem rather pedestrian, this proved to be a good choice. The slices of pepperoni (nicely arranged, as you can see in the top photo) were crisp, meaty and flavorful. The cheese, a blend of mozzarella, provolone and Asiago, was just browned, and nicely straddled the line between stringy and chewy, while the sauce had a medium-thick consistency and a rich, tomatoey flavor.
Besides the American Pie, Brooklyn Bakery also offers a white pizza with basil pesto and sliced Roma tomatoes, a white oil & garlic pie with broccoli, Roma tomatoes, and fire-roasted red peppers, and sixteen toppings if you'd like to customize a pie.
And, of course, there's the bread. BB's naturally-leavened boules include basic Italian bread, a whole-wheat "peasant" loaf, and loaves stuffed with Kalamata olives, locally-produced cheese, and tart cherries with pecans. You can also get meat pies (meatball marinara, sausage & pepper and ham & spinach), cookies and brownies.
At this point, the pizza seems to be the star of the show; Michael told me that it represents the bulk of his business, with bread currently accounting for around 20% of orders.
Three-plus years into it, Brooklyn Bakery seems to have established itself, and I hope that local residents appreciate what they have in their midst. While it's become nearly ubiquitous in the Rochester area (not to mention in larger cities like New York), wood-fired pizza probably still faces hurdles to overcome in smaller towns and cities, where local tastes tend to run toward the safe, familiar and conventional. (And having grown up in Olean, I think I can say that from experience, not from any sense of cultural superiority.) If you live down that way, or find yourself in the area, do yourself a favor and stop by. This is good stuff.

Brooklyn Bakery, 111 N. 14th St. (just off West State St.), Olean
(716) 372-1800

Mon. - Sat. noon - 9 p.m.

Book Review: Food Substitutions Bible

If you cook much, you know the feeling:  you get started, but then you go to your cupboard, spice rack or pantry, and a key ingredient is missing.
I know the basic rule of mise en place:  have everything ready to go, before you start. It makes eminent sense. I just don’t always do it. Or I try to do it, only to discover as I’m getting everything ready that I’m missing a key ingredient. And I may not have the time or desire to go to the store to get it.
So what’s a home cook to do? The best alternative, if it’s possible, is to come up with a substitute ingredient. Sure, for some things there are no easy substitutes, but if comes down to a teaspoon of coriander or oregano, there must be some way around it, right?
At that point, I tend to get online and start searching for substitutes. That’s fine, but it can be time-consuming, especially when you start to find contradictory advice.
So it’s nice to have an authoritative book on hand to answer these questions. And that’s why I was so happy to receive a complimentary review copy of The Food Substitutions Bible, by David Joachim.
Joachim is the co-author of The Science of Good Food, has won the International Association of Culinary Professionals award and been nominated for a James Beard award, and has been involved in the writing of more than thirty cookbooks. So he knows whereof he speaks, foodwise.
This is, literally, not a lightweight book. It runs close to 700 pages, and lists more than 6500 food and ingredient substitutions. For sheer comprehensiveness, it warrants the “bible” monker.
There are the basics, of course, like brown sugar, eggs, and evaporated milk. But the book goes well beyond that. One of the pleasures of thumbing through this book has been to read about the myriad ingredients I’d never even heard of, like Bryndza, cupuaçu, and kefalotyri. Get familiar with these terms, and you’ll be a Scrabble champion in no time.
The list is not limited to ingredients, either. There are also entries about equipment, like rice cookers, electric mixers, and cheesecloth.
If that’s not enough, there are several excellent appendices. These include sections on measurement equivalents, and ingredient guides covering coffee, chiles, rice and other kitchen staples. One of the handiest is the guide to pan size equivalents, so you’ll quickly know, without needing a calculator and geometry formulas, whether your rectangular cake pan holds more or less than the round pan called for by the recipe.
I keep my cookbooks in a couple of places, with my frequent go-to books close at hand, and the “occasional” books on a shelf further from my stove. (Anything below “occasional” gets given away to my local library for their book sale.) This one’s going on the go-to shelf. It’s terrific.

The Food Substitutions Bible, by David Joachim
Paperback: 696 pages
Publisher: Robert Rose; (2nd ed.)

A Note on Reviews, Grades, and Reader Comments

I posted a review the other day of City Grill, which I gave a B. I hesitated about rating it at all, since it's been open for only about six months, but two friends and I shared three pies, which seemed like a pretty good sampling, and six months is not nothing, so I figured, why not?
We all liked our pizzas. My friends, I think, would've given them an A. But I found a few flaws, nothing too significant, so I gave it a B.
Today I see that a Facebook reader, Jason, went to City Grill the other night and pretty much hated the pizza. He'd give it a D. I was sorry to see that, because I hate to feel as if I've steered somebody wrong.
But I welcomed his comment. My reviews are based on one-time visits, and I'll be the first to agree that they are not definitive or comprehensive evaluations of a place. In writing this blog, I've found an inherent tension between wanting to provide a useful guide to local pizza and simply recording my experiences. So what I've tried to do is to record those experiences, with grades (most of the time), but with the caveat that they are just reports of individual visits, and that you take them for what they're worth. I simply don't have the time or money to pay multiple visits to each place before doing a review, and still keep up with all the pizzerias around here on a regular basis.
And that's why I invite reader comments, especially from readers who have been to the places I've reviewed. All I can do is give you my opinion, one visit at a time. If you go to a place I've reviewed, please take a moment to add your two cents here on the blog, to help other readers. Your opinion is as valuable as mine. All I ask is that you provide some specifics - "it was delicious" or "it sucked" doesn't help much.
So my apologies to Jason, but thank you for the feedback. I still think City Grill is worth a try, and I'll be curious to see what other readers think of it.