Gaetano's, W. Ridge Road: Sicilian pizza

I've previously posted on Gaetano's bakery, about a year ago, but it was just for one slice, which didn't seem especially fresh, and I've long meant to go back for a freshly made pie.
In that prior post, I said that Gaetano's Sicilian pizza sounded tempting, and that's what I opted for on a recent visit. "Sicilian" here does not denote a rectangular, thick-crusted, pan pizza, which is what I usually think of as Sicilian pizza, but a regular pizza topped with oil (presumably olive oil), black pepper, fresh garlic, parsley, Romano cheese and basil.
I don't know why, but somehow I had come to expect Gaetano's Siciilan pizza to be a red pizza, i.e. with tomato sauce, similar to a Grandma's or traditional pizza with just sauce and a sprinkling of Romano. But it's a white pizza, no sauce.
OK, well, my fault in thinking otherwise. I like white pizza.
But I don't really like a soft crust, which is what this had. The underside was a bit oily to the touch, and though it wasn't wet-sponge soft, it was definitely on the soft side. As was my slice last October, the underside of this pie was dotted with small, pinprick puncture holes.
The medium-to-thick crust was also a little gummy on top, where it met the cheese. The cheese - which I'm pretty certain was mozzarella - was browned, and formed a uniform blanket over the crust. The Romano cheese overlaid a little sharpness, but the mozzarella certainly predominated.
Bits of chopped, browned garlic also dotted the surface, and this pizza definitely left a garlicky aftertaste. The black pepper was a background presence, and the bits of dried parsley added little, either visually or on the palate. (We need a word for that in English - what's the sense-of-taste equivalent of "visual"?)
This pizza tasted pretty good, but its major shortcoming was the crust. That was one of the things I disliked about my slice last year, and though I guess I had no real reason to expect it to be different this time, I was still disappointed, because Gaetano's bread is so damn good. On an impulse, I found myself getting a gorgeous loaf of bread with my pizza. It had a floury, crunchy crust and a soft, chewy interior. If only some of that had been present in the pizza. I had the sense, in eating the pizza, that the dough was just fine, but that it had not been baked in a way that would extract from it its optimal flavor and texture.

*Sigh* Well, there's still the mini pizzas, which I have yet to try, and Gaetano's also sells pizza dough, so you could always try it at home. Aside from that, I'll pick up the occasional loaf of bread here, but I doubt I'll give the pizza another shot. It tasted good, so I'm not going to give it a truly bad grade, but that soft crust drags it down, so I'm giving it a C-.
Gaetano’s Bakery, 1439 W. Ridge Rd. 865-7810
Mon. - Thu. 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Kosher Pizzeria Opens in Brighton

Abba's Pizza is now open at the The Kessler Family Chabad Center For Jewish Life, near 12 Corners in Brighton. If my understanding of Jewish dietary laws is correct, that means you won't be finding any meat lovers' pizzas on the menu. But where else can you get corn on your pizza? I'll check it out sometime.
Abba's Pizza, 1037 Winton Road South, 360-9723
Mon - Thurs: 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Cordello's, Chili

I've done one previous post about Cordello's, concerning their location on Lyell Road in Gates. My slices from there wasn't bad, but they had some flaws, and I gave them a B-.
Recently I stopped at Cordello's on Chili Ave. in Chili. I got a cheese slice and a pepperoni slice.
These were a little better than the ones I got in Gates. They were about the same thickness, on the thin side of medium, and thinner toward the tip, getting gradually thicker toward the outer edge.
The undersides were charred and nearly blackened in some areas, but were also more evenly browned than the slices I got in Gates. They had a crackly exterior, and a toasty flavor and aroma. Despite the outer crispness, they were still reasonably pliable and foldable.
The interior of the crust was rather chewy, almost to the point of being "tough." I imagine that, like most pizzerias around here, Cordello's uses high-gluten flour, and the gluten in this crust seemed exceptionally well developed, which can give you a tougher, chewier texture. Between that chewiness and the exterior crispness, the crust on one slice tore apart when I took a bite.
The sauce was moderately applied, in good balance with the crust, and was just a little sweet, in a tomatoey kind of way. That was topped by a layer of mozzarella that was just barely browned. It was fairly thick, and in fact the cheese was thicker than the crust in many areas. All in all, though, there was a pretty good balance among the crust, cheese and sauce. The wide, thin slices of pepperoni were a little spicy.

As of now, there appear to be five Cordelllo's locations. I presume they share more or less the same menu, which you can see at the Irondequoit Cordello's Facebook page.
This pizza wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was better than what I got in Gates last year. The crust was too hard to chew, and as you can see in the photo, the cheese was a little unevenly applied, and only covered about two-thirds of the pepperoni slice.
But it did have several things going for it, including a crisp bottom with some nice toasty notes, good flavor, and pretty good balance. I'd say it rates a B.
Cordello's, 3774 Chili Ave. (at Union St.) 889-3333 Hours unknown, but the Gates location advertises very late hours.