For Home Cooks: Scaccia Ragusana

In my Jozeppi's post I mentioned pizza-like concoctions (calzones, strombolis, etc.). Over the weekend I tried my hand at this recipe. I'd never heard of Scaccia Ragusana until I ran across a reference to it recently. It's kind of a cross between a stromboli and lasagna, made with pasta dough (no yeast).
It didn't look quite as nice as the one in the photo, but it was pretty tasty and I'd make it again. If you do, though, I have some advice: construct it on the parchment paper, so you don't have to pick it up and move it before it's baked, which was difficult to do. Also, the 12 oz. of Romano cheese is apparently by volume, not weight - 12 oz. by weight would've been way too much.
If you've never made fresh pasta, don't sweat it - it was an easy dough to make and work with, easier in some ways than bread or pizza dough. I used a mix of Bob's Red Mill durum semolina flour and bread flour, and it handled easily.
Other than the use of some bread flour, I pretty much followed the recipe, but it would also be easy to do some variations - different cheeses, maybe some meat or veggies, just slice everything thin so you don't tear the dough.

Jozeppi's, Fairport, Revisited - CLOSED

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

The Distillery, Mt. Hope Ave.

Continuing my occasional series of reviews of bar pizzas, today takes us to the Distillery on Mt. Hope Ave.  The Distillery is more than a bar, of course - it has a very long menu, and plenty of people go there to eat, not to drink - but it's certainly not a pizzeria, either, and I'd say this pizza falls into the general category of bar pizza.
Except for those places that have dedicated pizza ovens or otherwise specialize in pizza, most bars around here don't turn out particularly good pizza. There are bars that make good pizza, of course, but most don't, in my experience. So I can't say I was expecting much, but I tried to keep an open mind.
I ordered a tomato & basil pizza, which sounded roughly like a Margherita, topped with tomato slices, red onions, tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh basil. All of the Distillery's pizzas are available on a "traditional" (white) or whole wheat 10-inch crust, and I opted for the white.
The crust was pretty thin, not very bready, but a little crunchy, with a golden-brown underside. It wasn't what I would call well integrated, by which I mean that it seemed more like a cooked flatbread with toppings added, than a pizza where the crust and toppings are all baked together. I don't know if this crust was prebaked at all, but that's how it seemed to me.
The flavor was fine, nothing out of the ordinary but not bad. The cheese and sauce, both of which had been pretty generously applied, consisted of melted mozzarella, Parmesan, and a basic tomato sauce.
The Distillery's other pizza offerings include plain cheese, pepperoni, a white veggie pizza, Buffalo chicken, and a Mediterranean pizza, with grilled chicken, pine nuts, basil pesto, diced tomatoes, green onions, and Kalamata olives. And as I mentioned, the rest of the menu is lengthy, ranging from bar food (including wings that are among Rochester's best, at least at the original Mt. Hope location) to more substantial entrees like grilled sesame ahi tuna and sirloin steak. And there is a full bar, with a decent, if not overly impressive, draft beer selection.
As far as the atmosphere goes, the Distillery is a sports bar, make no mistake, with TV screens everywhere you look, but unless there's a big game on, most of the crowd is there to eat and drink, not to watch sports.
This was not bad pizza, but it's not a pizza I'm likely to order again, except perhaps as a shared appetizer. The flavor was pretty good, and a slice or two could be a good warmup or accompaniment to wings or other bar food. But as an entree, it didn't quite match up to some of The Distillery's other menu items, such as the aforementioned wings, or just a basic burger with fries. The crust just didn't wow me, and the components didn't come together as well as they could have. So while I wouldn't turn it down if you offered me a slice, I'll peg it at just below average, and give it a C-minus.
The Distillery, 1142 Mt. Hope Ave., Rochester 271-4105
Other locations at 300 Paddy Creek Circle, Greece, 3010 Winton Rd. South, Henrietta, and 10 Square Dr., Victor.
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. noon - 2 a.m.