The Rochester NY Pizza Blog

Iverson's Pizza, Subs & Wings

2026-09-29T18:44:19.760-04:00

Recently I happened to be driving up North Winton Road when my eyes fell across a sign for Iverson's Pizza, near the corner of Blossom Road. It was around lunchtime, so why not?

This was previously a Bay Goodman Pizza location, and it's adjacent to the Boot Room Pub, which is on the site of a previous bar, which was on the site of a previous bar, ... it's fair to say the building has seen a number of tenants over the years.

I arrived in the early afternoon. I was hoping to get a slice or two, but they don't offer slices. So I ordered a small cheese pie, which took about 15 minutes. That was fine, as it gave me some time to chat with a couple of the people working there.

I won't endeavor to lay out their background, which has been well set out here. But as my pizza was baking, I spoke with Griff, who explained that he learned the craft of pizzamaking in a 20-plus year stint at Menezes on Chili Ave., which has since closed but was a fixture on Chili Ave. for many years (read my last blog post about it here ). I have fond memories of Meneze's, and it would surely have been a fine place for the education of a pizzaiolo.

I took the pie home, but not before a quick look and sample in the parking lot. The bottom was firm, well browned and screen-marked underneath.

As I have said many times, to me with pizza, balance is key, and the crust, cheese and sauce were in good balance here. The cheese was nicely stretchy, the crust had a bready flavor, and the sauce was neither too sweet nor too salty, and complemented the other components well. To nitpick, the crust seemed a tad dry, and the cheese was a bit too browned for my taste, but I had no trouble finishing off the entire pie.

Griff told me that the oven temp is 475, which strikes me as a bit low, unless you're talking about a thick pizza. I'm sure he knows far more than I do about baking pizza, but I wonder if a higher temp and faster bake would be worth a try.

Overall, I enjoyed this pizza. At the risk of being presumptuous, I think a tweak or two might bump it from good to great. But Iverson's is off to a good start, and I plan to revisit.

Iverson's Pizza, Subs & Wings

198 N. Winton Rd.

(585) 287-6054

Open daily 11 a.m. to midnight

Peels on Wheels Pizza Garage

2026-09-04T09:43:59.250-04:00

During my lengthy hiatus in writing this blog, there are places I visited but didn't review, on the blog at least (I occasionally posted reviews elsewhere). One such is Peels on Wheels Pizza Garage on Culver Road. Peels on Wheels started as a food truck in 2019, and opened a brick-and-mortar location in 2021.

In 2025, the owners of Peels on Wheels put it up for sale. That never resulted in a deal, and they have decided to remain open.

When Peels on Wheels started, they were shooting for a cross between traditional Neapolitan and New York style pizza. They have now modified and expanded their offerings, as I discovered on my recent visit. Pizza options currently comprise NY style, Sicilian, Grandma, and Detroit. All are baked using flours and oven temperatures appropriate to the particular style. (Read more about that here.)

On my visit, all of those were available by the slice, as seen in the photo, but I had previously ordered a large NY style pepperoni pie, which was plenty enough for me.

While waiting for my pizza, I looked around a bit, and was impressed that the slice stack had a list for each pie stating what time it came out the oven and what time it should be discarded. I also could see that the five employees were all hard at work, at various stages of preparing various pizzas.

I got my pizza to go, and it took me about 30 minutes to get it home.

Overall impressions: very thin overall, especially in the center, with a rather thick cornicione. I would've liked a little thicker interior throughout. To me, a classic NY pizza is not super-thin, but should have enough thickness to give it some chewiness and visible air holes, and the cornicione should be just thick enough to hold in the toppings and make for a nice finishing touch. But stylistic concerns aside, the crust was good, with some crackling and charring underneath. The cornicione, thick as it was, was crisp but chewy, and I could appreciate the results of their use of naturally leavened dough, with its more complex flavors and good gluten development.

So much for the crust. Let's move on to the toppings.

The individual toppings were good, although for my taste the pie could've used a little more sauce. I don't want my pizza slathered with a heavy layer of sauce, but this pie struck me as a bit dry, with just a few dollops on top of the cheese. And when the sauce is on top, it's going to evaporate more in the oven. Great pizza, of whatever style, is about balance, and this seemed a little out of balance in that regard.

Having said that, the cheese was very good, with a combination of processed and fresh mozzarella, and a little Parmesan. The trio made for a nice blend of flavors and textures.

I wouldn't say the cup 'n' char pepperoni was sparsely applied, but this pizza was certainly not blanketed by pepperoni. That was fine by me, as I like the occasional bite of pepperoni rather than pepperoni in every bite. If you're a pepperoni lover, I would ask for extra when ordering.

Lastly, the few shreds of fresh basil were a nice touch, and added some visual appeal and subtle addition to the overall flavor.

I enjoyed this pizza, even if it had some minor shortcomings in my opinion. The pluses certainly outweighed the minuses. And I would like to try their other styles, for sure. They are clearly dedicated to their craft, and Peels on Wheels will remain on my to-do list for a future visit.

Peels on Wheels Pizza Garage

1157 Culver Rd., Rochester NY 14609

https://peelsonwheelspizza.com/

Wed.-Sat. 11am - 8 pm

3 Daughters Pizzeria

2026-08-08T15:59:03.846-04:00

May 2026 saw the opening of 3 Daughters Pizzeria on East Avenue, in the former location of Big City Deli & Pizzeria (which I never got around to trying). I happened to be in the area recently around lunchtime, so I stopped in to check it out.

It's a small place with a modicum of seating (two tables, as I recall), so I got a couple slices to go.

They had four varieties available: cheese, pepperoni, Margherita, and the "113 East Ave Special" (garlic pesto marinara base, sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, finished with hot honey drizzle). I opted for a cheese slice and a Margherita slice. The counter person / pizzaiolo rewarmed them prior to handing them over.

Both were thin-to-medium, from about a quarter-inch thick near the tip to a half inch nearer the outer edge. They had a chewy interior and a very crisp bottom. Much of the latter was surely due to the reheating, but the Margherita slice was crisp enough that I could hold it horizontally without folding and with no "flop" at the tip. When I did try to fold it, it cracked down the middle. All of which is OK with me; I'll take that over a soft, limp crust any day, and while well browned, these weren't burnt.

The cheese slice was covered with a layer of what I took to be mozzarella and cheddar. It was nicely melted and stretchy. This is purely subjective, but I would've been happy with a lighter application of cheese, as it overwhelmed the sauce, which was rather tasty, with some subtle notes of garlic and herbs. But I was only able to taste it near the outer perimeter where the cheese was absent.

(As an aside, I should note that if you look closely you may see what appear to be creases in the cheese. That resulted from the server putting both slices in the same bag, and the cheese slices was on the bottom, so it did indeed get some indentations from the wax paper separating it from the Margherita slice above. It's more of an esthetic issue, so I didn't mind, but it's some indication of the thickness of the cheese.)

I noticed when making my selections that I didn't see any basil on the Margherita, which seemed odd, but I almost always go for a Margherita when it's offered, and it looked pretty good regardless. When it came out the oven, the server gave it a drizzle of some sort of sauce. I need to learn to speak up more, because I should've asked what it was, but I didn't, and all I could make out from the label on the bottle was "Glaze."

I'm still not sure what it was. I thought perhaps it was some sort of basil-infused condiment, but I didn't detect any basil notes. It was sweet but not spicy, so it wasn't hot honey. I was thinking balsamic, and the color was consistent with that, but I didn't really pick up any vinegar. To confuse matters further, the menu describes the Margherita as topped with "red sauce, fresh mozzarella, Roma tomato, oregano, finished with olive oil and fresh basil." No fresh basil here, and the glaze was not just olive oil, I'm certain of that. So for now it remains a mystery.

Regardless, I enjoyed the slice. It was definitely heavy on the tomatoes, with a thick layer of sweetish tomato sauce (some of that sweetness might've been from the mystery glaze), as well as slices of Roma tomato. The fresh mozzarella was applied over the tomato slices, and tended to blend in with them rather than stand out as distinct islands of cheese, but overall the slice had a good flavor, particularly if you like your pizza on the tomatoey side. Margherita? Mmm, no, but nomenclature aside, I liked it.

Aside from the four sliced pies available that day, 3 Daughters' pizza menu has some interesting choices, many of them sandwich-inspired, including a BLT pizza, a Cuban pizza (garlic base, carnitas, ham, salami, mozzarella, Swiss, pickles, Cuban creamy creole mustard drizzle), a Reuben pizza, and a Spicy Pickle pizza (garlic Cajun base, mozzarella, cheddar, jack, dill pickles, and house pepper ranch and Sriracha drizzle), which despite my predilection for pizza purism, sounds intriguing enough that I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

I should also mention that 3 Daughters Pizzeria is next door to 3 Daughters Tap & Tavern, which has a separate food menu (which includes flatbreads but no pizza). The bar is in the space formerly occupied by Temple Bar & Grill, although it appears that 3 Daughters' owner retained most of Temple's staff, and 3 Daughters' website still refers to it in spots as Temple Bar & Grill, so I gather there is a certain amount of continuity there.

All in all, I was pretty happy with my two slices. I could quibble about a few things. Both seemed a little out of balance to me: the cheese sauce was almost too cheese-laden, and the Margherita was heavy on the tomatoes, but I know that where pizza's concerned, a lot of folks have a more-is-better attitude, so maybe that's just me. And then there was the whole no-basil Margherita thing, but hey, it tasted good. I don't get downtown as often as I used to, but 3 Daughters has earned a spot on my options list when I do.

3 Daughters Pizzeria

113 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14604

(585) 355-4027
3daughterspizzeria.com

NOTE: the hours listed below were lifted from a Google search result. I strongly suggest calling to confirm before going.

Friday 11 AM–2 AM
Saturday 11 AM–2 AM
Sunday 12–10 PM
Monday 11 AM–11 PM
Tuesday 11 AM–12 AM
Wednesday 11 AM–12 AM
Thursday 11 AM–2 AM

The PIzza Shoppe

2026-07-23T11:21:45.465-04:00

When I first read about "Detroit style" pizza a few years ago, I was skeptical. My gut instinct said, the pizza industry needs to keep coming up with new styles to sustain interest and drive business. And I wasn't sure whether Detroit pizza was genuinely a style unto itself, or just a marketing gimmick.

Since then, I've come around to realize that yeah, OK, it's a real thing. I've never been to Detroit, I've barely been to Michigan (and didn't have any pizza on my one brief foray), but I've read a fair amount about the parameters of the style, and I've had some versions of Detroit-style pizza locally. Some have been very good, and based on what I know, seem to come close to the definition of Detroit style. (I won't try to lay it all out here, but here and here are descriptions as good as any.)

So it was with some interest that I got around recently to trying The Pizza Shoppe in Penfield, which bills itself as "your casual neighborhood spot for Detroit-Style Pizza," "with that iconic thick, airy crust, crispy caramelized edges, and bold toppings." It opened in 2022, but I have had it on my to-do list since then.

I ordered a single (10"x14") pizza, half cup 'n' char pepperoni, half sweet peppers and onions, for pickup.

Upon inspection, in some respects it hit the mark, with a thick crust and toppings that extended to the edges. So far, so good.

In other respects, however ...

Let's talk about the crust. Detroit style pizza should have a thick, but light, crunchy crust. The underside shouldn't be particularly oily, but should have an almost fried quality from baking in an oil-coated, dark steel pan.

This crust, I'm afraid, fell short in that department. If I didn't know what it was supposed to be, I would've said it was what around here we know as sheet pizza. I mean, it was okay, but it certainly wasn't crisp. Granted, it took me about 20 minutes to get it home, but even allowing for that, it just didn't have the crisp surface I expected. The creases evident in the photo also indicated that in spots, it wasn't making full contact with the pan.

Another marker of Detroit style pizza is that the crust should have a light texture: thick, but not dense. The Pizza Shoppe's website itself references its "airy crust."

In that respect too, this pizza didn't fit that description. I wouldn't describe it as dense, but it was quite chewy, and lacked the multitudinous tiny air pockets that are associated with the style.

Moving on to the cheese, with Detroit-style pizza the cheese is typically laid directly on the dough, then sauce is layered over the cheese during or immediately after the bake. This allows the cheese to adhere to the crust, and also creates a barrier between the crust and the sauce, which helps keep the crust from getting soggy.

I was frankly not concentrating on that aspect while eating this, and with the additional toppings it's a little difficult to tell from the photos, but I believe that the cheese was applied on top of the sauce. Again, that's more typical of ordinary sheet pizza than Detroit-style pizza.

Not to get nitpicky, but I'll mention that purists will also tell you that authentic Detroit-style pizza uses Wisconsin brick cheese. The Pizza Shoppe uses a mozzarella blend with a little Parmesan. I won't hold that against them, because brick cheese is hard to come by in these parts, although there may be a better substitute than straight mozzarella. (I could swear, by the way, than when I was growing up down in the Southern Tier, my dad, who always kept our fridge stocked with a variety of cheeses, would buy brick cheese on occasion. Where he bought it, I have no idea, but I can still remember what it looked and tasted like.)

Finally, and again to quote The Pizza Shoppe's website, Detroit-style pizza is also typified by "a crunchy, caramelized cheese edge," thanks to the application of cheese all the way to the edge. The cheese melts and essentially fries in its own fat as it comes into contact with the sides of the pan. If you've baked pizza on a baking sheet, you know that a little cheese often ends up on the sheet as it bakes, and if you're like me those bits are like a bonus treat when the pizza comes out of the oven. This pizza did display some of that caramelization along the edge. Not to a great extent perhaps, but it was there, certainly.

I realize I've dinged this pizza on a number of aspects, and it may sound as if I didn't much like it. That's not the case. I repeat that I have never had Detroit pizza at its namesake place of origin, but with that caveat I've tried to describe the extent to which this pizza measured up, or fell short of the parameters of the style. In short, it checked some boxes but not others. I liked it well enough; treating it as a sheet pizza, it was fine. I'm just not too sure that a Detroiter would consider it authentic.

The Pizza Shoppe

1601 Penfield Rd #19 (Panorama Plaza), Rochester, NY 14625

(585) 203-1122

Menu: tpsroc.com

Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 7 pm
Sat. noon - 7 pm
Closed Sundays

Grappa

2026-05-28T17:07:51.628-04:00

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

Sagra Italia

2026-05-13T16:15:04.254-04:00

My wife and I recently had dinner at Sagra Italia on St. Paul St., which opened in late 2025 in the former site of Fifth Frame Brewing in downtown Rochester. Sagra had been on my radar screen for a while, after I learned that they offer pizza made with house-made focaccia.

Sagra Italia doesn't accept reservations, but although it was Saturday, I hoped that if we got there relatively early we wouldn't have much trouble getting a table. Fortunately, I was correct. They were moderately busy at around 5:30, but we were seated within a few minutes after our arrival.

Sagra is a fast-casual operation, with the food counter and kitchen on the right, and bar at the left. After making our choices, my wife put in our food order while I fetched us a couple drinks at the bar.

Any time there's Margherita pizza on the menu, I'm probably going with that, and so I did here. Rather than order an entire pizza, we got a single square-cut slice, which allowed us to try a second variety, the La Bianca (white pizza). We also shared a bowl of Shellfish Scoglio, which the menu describes as comprising Italian bronze-cut spaghetti, mussels, shrimp, grape tomatoes, marinara, white wine, garlic, chili flakes, fresh parsley, and Parmigiano/Romano (both? either? don't know).

Not long after putting in our order, our food was delivered to the table. The Margherita was topped with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil pesto. The crust was an inch or so thick (it's focaccia, remember), and though my predilections run toward thin crust, I very much liked it. It was airy and crunchy, which indicated good gluten development. The flavor was quite good as well, and I was happily surprised by the use of basil pesto rather than fresh basil. I don't think that would've worked quite as well on a thin crust, but on a focaccia pizza, the pesto added basil flavor plus a bit of olive oil that helped balance the thick crust, in a way that fresh basil alone wouldn't have done.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like the La Bianca, but I was again pleasantly surprised, particularly by the lemon ricotta. Frankly, I've never been a huge fan of ricotta on pizza. Maybe it's just me, but it's always seemed like a substitute for fresh mozzarella. And lemon on pizza? Giddouttaheah!

But this was good. It would be easy to overdo lemon, but this was subtle enough that with the other toppings, it worked very well. Whoever is coming up with these ideas clearly knows what they're doing.

Oh yeah -- our shellfish was good too, as were the wine, beer, and service. I was also happy to see them busy, and I encourage you to check them out.

Sagra Italia

155 St. Paul Street

Wed. - Sun. 11 am - 10 pm, closed Mon. and Tue.

Wildflour

2026-04-20T16:11:00.003-04:00

After resuming this blog, I realized that there were places that I'd been to during my extended hiatus that I had been to in the interim, but needed to get back to, to do a blog post. One such is Wildflour, which opened in 2023.

As a sourdough bread baker, I was intrigued by Wildflour's use of naturally leavened dough. That's not necessarily the exact same thing as sourdough (it might be, but let's not get into that here), but it's definitely not the same as dough made with added yeast, which is what you will get at most pizzerias. Nor is one necessarily better than the other. But they are different. How? Let's see.

From among the six varieties of pizza on offer that day, my wife and I shared a seasonal Sicilian slice, topped with roasted garlic sauce, Calabrian chilies, mustard greens and mozzarella, and a thin slice with amatriciana sauce (think red sauce with a little heat; go here for more info), guanciale (cured pork jowl, which I believe was an ingredient in the sauce rather than a separate topping -- I did not attempt to dissect the slice), shallots, and fresh mozzarella.

Let me start with the thin-crust slice. I don't agree with the menu's description of it as on a "NY style crust." It was thin, sure, but this wasn't what you would expect to get at a typical NYC slice joint.

I'm not saying it wasn't good; far from it. But Wildflour's dough is different from classic NY style pizza dough, primarily because of the flour. Wildflour uses whole grains in its dough, whereas classic New York style pizza is typically made with high-gluten white flour. Again, that in itself doesn't make one better than the other, but there are noticeable differences in terms of texture and flavor.

OK, so aside from style points and nomenclature, how was it?

It was very flavorful, and not surprisingly a lot of that flavor came from the crust. Think of a freshly-baked, warm, crusty loaf of whole-grain sourdough and you'll get the idea. The underside was charred in spots, but unlike a typical NY-style slice, it was more firm than crackly crisp. The interior was chewy, but the crust was so thin that there wasn't a lot of interior to speak of. It did pass the "fold test," though, meaning that I could pick it up and fold it in one hand without the slice flopping down.

The toppings were also tasty, if not assertively so. The cheese blend had a nice edge, thanks to some shaved hard cheese (Parmesan?) on top, with a few dollops of fresh mozzarella here and there. The sauce, which was applied with an appropriately light touch, was well cooked and provided a tomatoey-sweet accent with just a bit of spicy heat in the background.

Now on to the Sicilian slice. It was maybe an inch thick, with a crisp, well-browned underside. That relative thickness allowed for a more interesting interior, with air hole pockets that showed good gluten development.

I didn't pick up much heat from the Calabrian chilies, but I've developed a high tolerance for peppery heat. My wife is a lightweight, pepper-wise, and she was fine with it, so I feel confident in saying it wasn't spicy.

The greens, on the other hand, were quite tasty. They were well cooked, a little browned, but not overdone, and added a subtle touch of bitterness. "Bitter" doesn't often strike people as a desirable adjective for food, but these worked well with the melted mozzarella and breadlike crust.

Final thoughts:

The dough/crust takes center stage at Wildflour. That's not a knock on the toppings so much as a nod to the crust.

As much as I like thin-crust pizza, at Wildflour I preferred the Sicilian slice. Its thicker crust allowed me to more fully appreciate the flavor and texture of the dough.

One of the things I love about pizza is that it's subject to so many variations. As a home bread baker, my go-to is a baguette or boule (round loaf) using bread flour. But now and then I do a loaf with whole grains, for a change of pace. That's how I look at Wildflour. It's very well made, and I would encourage you to check it out.

Wildflour Pizza

620 Winton Rd N, Rochester, NY 14609

Phone: (585) 340-6034

Menu: https://wildflourrochester.com/lunch-3

Wed. - Sun. 11:30 - 8:00

Pat's Twice Baked

2026-03-27T11:42:00.001-04:00

During my sabbatical from this blog, I tried to keep up on local pizza places that were opening and closing, for future reference.

A place that popped up on my radar recently is Pat's Twice Baked, which opened last year on Mount Hope Avenue. It's in the former location of OTR Woodfire Tavern, which sadly I never tried before its demise.

But I did get to Pat's recently for lunch with a friend. We agreed to share one pizza.

The brisket pizza (BBQ sauce, smoked brisket, onions & jalapenos) sounded interesting, as did the pickle pie (white sauce, dill pickles, chipotle ranch drizzle), but on a first visit I like to keep it simple, so we went with the pepperoni pizza.

The crust was quite thin, chewy but just firm enough to allow it to be picked up, folded and eaten out of hand. The cornicione was considerably thicker, with a bit of crunch and a chewy texture.

If I'm nitpicking, the outer rim was noticeably more blackened on one side than the other. The underside was pretty uniform, so presumably one side of the pizza was nearer the flame for a little longer than the other. With a wood-fired oven, getting even charring along the edge requires turning and comes down to a matter of seconds. From what I say the pizzaiolo was attentive to his pies, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the pizza. At the least, it provided an interesting comparison.

And yes, there was a wood fire in there. The pizzaiolo occasionally put a cover over the opening (as you can see in the photo), to keep the heat from escaping. But I did see a wood fire in the back, and an ample supply of fuel underneath.

All the toppings were very good, with stretchy, nicely melted, stretchy mozzarella atop a layer of red sauce. The sauce was applied a bit on the light side, but that was appropriate given the thinness of the crust. The cup and char pepperoni was crisp along the edges but not overdone, and quite tasty. Between the cheese and the pepperoni, there was a bit of oil as well, but not so much as to require sopping up. All in all, a very enjoyable pie.

Pat's offers a number of other items, as you can see from the menu, but pizza is the star of the show. On my next visit, though, I may just have to try their Twice Baked potato chips.

And I expect there to be a next time. As I mentioned, several of the pizzas sounded good, and now that I've gotten a basic pepperoni pie literally under my belt, I'd like to explore some of the other choices.

Pat's Twice Baked Bar & Grill

1551 Mt Hope Ave
Rochester, NY 14620

(585)-340-6419

patstwicebaked@gmail.com

Mon 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Wed 3:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Thur, Fri, Sat 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sun 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM

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Pizza NOTA

2026-03-09T15:53:00.004-04:00

Pizzerias open and pizzerias close, but I was more than a little intrigued when I saw recently that Pizza NOTA had opened in the Neighborhood of the Arts in Rochester. They bill themselves as offering something along the lines of New Haven (Ct.) style pizza, which as far as I know is a first for this area.

So why is that a big deal? In a nutshell, New Haven style pizza is sort of like New York style pizza, but not exactly. And devotees of each will tell you why one is better than the other. There's an abundance of stuff about it online, but for a primer, go here or here. I've been to New Haven and tried a few of places, and I've read quite a bit about it, so I had an idea of the style going in.

NOTA seems a bit unsure of where they stand; their website describes their pies as "Inspired by New Haven’s iconic char," but "finished with a touch of New York influence." Not quite sure what that means, but my interest was piqued by seeing that NOTA has a coal-fired oven. I don't want to get into a long digression here, but coal-fired ovens are typical of New Haven's long-established pizzerias, and some of NYC's older pizzerias as well. Coal was the fuel of choice way back when primarily because it was more readily available, and there are some differences between coal- and wood-fired ovens in terms of temperature, maintaining the fire, oven humidity, and so on. Read more here.

My wife and I shared one pizza, along with a salad. So the question was, which pizza to order? Several sounded interesting, but since this was our first time here, I figured we'd go with a classic New Haven pizza, the tomato pie. NOTA's version is described as topped with Bianco DiNapoli tomato, garlic, pecorino, Parmesan, Sicilian oregano, and EVOO (no mozzarella).

Upon its arrival at our table, our pie was blackened along the edge and blistered underneath. There was almost no cornicione to speak of; the edge was just barely thicker than the rest of the crust, and the sauce was also applied nearly all the way to the rim.

One of the most striking aspects of the pizza was how thin the crust was. It was literally translucent.

So there wasn't much interior. It was a nicely charred bottom and the toppings, but with almost nothing in between.

At this point I will pause to address "authenticity" and style points, as in, is this how New Haven style pizza is "supposed" to be?

I'll digress long enough to say that (1) I've had New Haven pizza, but I'm no expert; (2) there are differences among New Haven pizzerias, so there are no hard and fast rules, just general characteristics; and (3) I don't put too much emphasis on that sort of stuff anyway. If I were judging this in a competition in the category of New Haven style pizza, sure.

But as much as I enjoy trying different pizza styles, as a blog writer I try to focus more on simply describing the pizza, allowing for some subjective impressions, with less emphasis on measuring it against some Platonic ideal. Perhaps I hold a more Aristotelian view of pizza. It's hard to say because neither Plato nor Aristotle were familiar with pizza, although they probably did enjoy the occasional flatbread.

Wait, where was I?

Oh yes. In my estimation this fell within the parameters of the New Haven style, based on my own experience and what I've read and seen about New Haven pizza: thin, charred, and chewy.

But to re-digress for a moment to the subject of style, if I were a stickler for that sort of thing I could ding NOTA in a few nitpicky respects.

For starters, I was a bit surprised to see that they offer no clam pizza, which is perhaps the most iconic New Haven variety. I'm not even saying I like clam pizza, just that I was surprised.

Second: too round. Yes, too round. For reasons that have never been explained to my satisfaction, purported authorities on the subject have asserted that New Haven pizza is not supposed to be circular, but sort of oblong or "roundish." If you don't believe me, ask AI, which is never wrong about these sorts of things.

That was actually a valuable piece of information, though, as I've discovered that shapewise at least, I've been making New Haven style pizza all these years; despite my best efforts I have yet to get a pie to come out perfectly round. I'll have to remember that next time I serve homemade pizza to guests. ("Uh, yeaah?! It's New Haven style! It's supposed to look that way!")

Third: it's all described as "pizza." As the pizza intelligentsia (fancy word for snobs) know, in New Haven, it's not "pizza," it's "apizza," which for still more inexplicable reasons is pronounced "ah-beetz." Maybe that's where the New York attitude comes in? ("Ah-beetz? What da **** is ah-beetz? Whaddaya, from Noo Haven or sumpin?")

Next digression. When I went to New Haven a few years ago I had a serious dilemma about how to pronounce the word when I got there. Say "pizza" and you sound like a tourist (which I was, but that doesn't mean I want to sound like one). Say "ah-beetz" and you seem like you're trying too hard to sound like a local. My solution was to avoid saying the word at all ("I'd like a clam pie"). Not once did "pizza" or anything close to it come out of my mouth.

I also got a look at Pizza NOTA's oven. I saw flames, but I couldn't directly see the source of them. It didn't directly resemble a coal-fired oven like those I'd seen at some of New Haven's oldest pizzerias, where there's a pile of burning coal in the back of the oven chamber. The flames were coming up from some hidden source at the back of but beneath the oven deck.

I wanted to ask questions, but they were getting busy, so I didn't, but I was left with some questions. Like, is the oven "gas-assisted"? How is the coal used? Coal or charcoal? If coal, what kind? And not least, what kind of legal and regulatory hoops do you have to jump through to use coal as a heat source these days? I'm guessing one cannot have an old-style coal oven anymore, and that you're looking at quite an expense to meet current standards.

Questions for another day. Which there will be. This was very good pizza, and I can't say I've had another in our area that quite compares to it. One of the most heartening things over the years since I started this blog is how the range of choices in our area has expanded. Pizza NOTA offers something genuinely different, and it was no one-and-done kind of place for me. I plan to go back to try some other varieties, and to learn more about their pizza.

Pizza NOTA

192 Anderson Ave.

Rochester, NY 14607

Thu. 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Fri. 12:00 pm – 08:00 pm

Sat. 12:00 pm – 08:00 pm

Sun. 3:00 pm – 08:00 pm

Closed Mon. - Wed.

Suavé Kitchen

2026-02-27T17:25:00.001-05:00

The other day I had to take a drive to drop off our tax forms with our tax preparer up near Ridgeway Avenue, so I thought to look for nearby pizza places. Lo and behold, there was one I hadn't heard of: Suavé Kitchen, on Spencerport Road. Checked out their website, photos looked good, so I gave it a shot.

I didn't order ahead, as I wasn't sure how long I'd be at the tax place. So I ordered on the spot and was told it would take about 20 minutes. I ordered a large pie with cup-and-char pepperoni. I asked for it a tad on the well-done side.

From there, I took it to a friend's house, where we shared it for lunch (although there's a small table it's pretty much takeout). Initial impressions, looked good on top, with nicely crisp pepperoni. The cornicione was well-formed.

I was a little dismayed after a check underneath, however. The underside was browned but not at all charred, and not crisp. I don't think that all pizza needs to be blackened on the bottom, but I generally like a little bite to it, and this didn't have that. There was an imbalance between the doneness of the bottom and the top.

That was my main issue with this pizza. It was in most respects typical of Rochester pizza, with abundant sauce and cheese. The sauce had a cooked-down flavor, and the cheese was stretchy.

The crust didn't quite match up, though. Medium thick, but not much in the way of crispness, chewiness, or gluten development. Or flavor development from the heat of the oven. The cornicione, though nicely formed, wasn't so good that I would want to finish it off. Too soft and bland.

As I've said before, to me it starts with the crust. I'd rather have a great crust with mediocre toppings than a mediocre crust with great toppings.

This was closer to the latter.

It was okay, don't get me wrong. It didn't go to waste, apart from some of the cornicione. The crust was serviceable, it got the job done, but if they can get it better, Suavé Kitchen could achieve pizza greatness.

I will add that the service was very good. I got the sense that they are trying hard, which is encouraging. And I did go there around noon, which might or might not matter, in terms of how long the dough had to rise and the oven to heat. Shouldn't matter, but it's a variable.

On a non-pizza-related note, I noticed a sign on the wall advertising their "10 Wings 10 Minute Challenge." "Finish 10 Bomb Ass Spicy Wings in 10 Minutes to Win!" Do it and the wings are free, you get your photo on the wall, a t-shirt, and a social media shout-out.

I could absolutely do that, in terms of the heat. I just don't want to eat ten wings in ten minutes. Hell, I don't want to eat ten wings in an hour. Not that I don't like wings, I just know how I'd feel afterwards, even if they were mild. But I'm thinking about it.

Suavé Kitchen

489 Spencerport Road, Rochester, NY 14606

585-212-2222

Open daily 11 am - 10 pm

Rabbit Hole Tavern

2026-02-13T15:43:00.002-05:00

So my wife and I had dinner at the Rabbit Hole Tavern in Rochester. I had it on my to-do list, since they offer "'12' Pizzas prepared in our stone deck oven, baked to perfection."

When I see "to perfection," that's generally a red flag for me, as it's meaningless and overused, but okay. Let's check it out.

We ate in the dining room, not far from the bar. I didn't realize when I made the reservation that the Bills game would be on at the time (they went on to lose to the Broncos), so it was rather loud. But that's on me.

We shared two pizzas: the "Pipin Hot" (described as "Louisiana style red pizza sauce (spicy), Grande mozzarella, crushed red pepper, jalapenos and pepperoni"), and the "Simply Cheese" (tomato sauce base, melted Grande mozzarella and Romano cheese).

The crust didn't wow me. The cornicione was rather dry, and not particularly interesting. The underside showed a bit of browning here and there but I didn't pick up much in the way of gluten development or flavor. I would describe the crust as dull.

There was no lack of cheese. And they use Grande mozzarella, which is a good brand, but that didn't help matters. If anything, these were overloaded with cheese. It was stretchy, but to my taste too gloppy. That's a subjective opinion, but that's my opinion.

I didn't see a whole lot of difference between the two pizzas. My "Pipin Hot" was not all that hot. I put hot sauce on almost anything but ice cream, and I occasionally eat raw hot peppers as a snack, so I admit I have developed a tolerance for the stuff, but I was expecting more heat.

I wish I could say more about this pizza. Thick, stretchy cheese, a serviceable but soft and uninteresting crust, and okay toppings. It was all right, but about what I would expect from a bar where the pizza is a menu item more than the focus.

Which is fine. It is a bar. And if you're out with friends or on a date and you want some drinks and pizza, it was okay. But based on this visit, it seemed like more of a bar that serves pizza than a pizza restaurant that serves alcohol.

Rabbit Hole Tavern

284 Exchange Boulevard
Rochester, NY
14608

Hours
Closed Mondays
Tuesday - Thursday 11:00am - 10:00pm
Friday 11:00am - 12:00am
Saturday 12:00pm - 12:00am
Sunday 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Kitchen closes 1 hour before closing

https://rabbitholetavern.com/

The Pizza Stop

2026-02-02T15:19:00.009-05:00

From the time that I started this blog, and many times thereafter, I published posts about The Pizza Stop, primarily the original location on State Street. That was no coincidence, as it was (1) close to my workplace and (2) the made terrific New York style pizza, which is my favorite pizza style.

The original owner, Jim Staffieri, sold the business in 2023, at which time I was taking an extended break from blogging.

After resurrecting this blog in 2025, I got a query from a reader asking whether I'd been back to The Pizza Stop, as some folks claimed that the quality of the pizza had slipped. I hadn't, largely because I retired last year, so it's no longer convenient.

But spurred by the reader's inquiry, I recently went back, for a lunchtime pizza to share with a friend. I ordered a medium pie, half regular pepperoni and half beef pepperoni. I also asked for it well done, thinking that since I wasn't planning on reheating it after getting it to my friend's house, the bottom would be a bit more crisp.

After picking it up, I put the pizza in an insulated pizza bag and got to my destination in about ten minutes. In general, it looked like the Pizza Stop pizza I remembered. But I suppose I gave it more scrutiny than I ordinarily would, so I did notice a few things.

The baking was just a bit uneven, with one side of the pie noticeably more charred underneath. Not to a great extent, but a bit. Not a criticism, but an observation. A few seconds is all it takes in a pizza oven, so I'm not faulting them.

The crust was crisp, but not crackly, with some charring, and quite thin. The sauce and cheese weren't skimpy, but not over-applied either, and balanced each other and the crust. The sauce had a basic, cooked-tomato flavor, without much in the way of herbal notes, which is as I recall from before. The cheese was melted and slightly browned, not stretchy but not congealed, as one finds with some lower-quality cheese.

As for the pepperoni, I was intrigued by the choice of both regular and beef pepperoni. I've seen beef pepperoni, but never gave it much thought. It's like bologna: there's regular (usually a combination of beef and pork) and all-beef. Never really thought about it, frankly. I guess it's primarily for people who don't eat pork, for religious or cultural reasons. Or if you just prefer it.

I found the beef pepperoni chewier and meatier than the regular, which was saltier and oilier. It would be difficult to say I preferred one over the other. The regular was more what I would expect from a New York slice, and I did sop up some of the exuded oil with a napkin. The beef pepperoni had more flavor without the saltiness, but it wasn't "classic" NY style pepperoni.

So, how does this compare with The Pizza Stop pizza of old?

Alas, I cannot honestly say. Memories fade, and nostalgia takes over. All I can do is describe my current impressions. I've re-read some of my old blog posts, but even so I can't fairly compare this to what I had so many years ago. Even having re-read them, some Pizza Stop pizzas looked a bit different from others.

With that in mind, this was good, for sure. As I said, it's been too long to compare it to pizza I last reviewed over nine years ago, but I enjoyed it. Despite my nitpicking from scrutinizing it more than I ordinarily would, it's still good NY style pizza.

The Pizza Stop

131 State St., Rochester

Sunday 1:00PM - 6:00PM
Monday - Thursday 11:00AM - 6:00PM
Friday 11:00AM - 8:00PM
Saturday 12:00PM - 8:00PM

(585) 546-7252

Brandani's

2026-01-10T16:42:00.002-05:00

Back when I started this blog, one of my favorite spots was Brandani's on West Henrietta Road. I posted about it a number of times, and was generally impressed by its pizza.

The original location closed some years ago, and when I stopped updating the blog I wasn't keeping track of places as closely as I had been, so I kind of assumed Brandani's had just gone by the wayside.

So it was with some surprise when recently I happened to notice Brandani's on Crittenden Road in Brighton, just off West Henrietta Road. It's in the former site of Piatza's, which I wrote about way back when. I'm sure I must've seen it before, as they've been open for several months (maybe longer, I neglected to jot that down in my notes), but it just never registered.

They had a nice selection of slices, as I remember from when they were on West Henrietta Road, and the slices looked to have about the same thickness as before.

I got two slices, a pepperoni & banana peppers slice (always one of my favorite combinations) and a mango-habanero slice. I don't typically go for sweet/hot combos, but it sounded intriguing.

I opted to have them reheated to crisp up the crust a bit, and then gave them an additional quick reheating on a cast iron pan when I got them home about 15 minutes later.

The crust showed some internal air holes from the dough's rising, and the underside was dry in a good way, as in not oily. Thanks in part to the two reheatings, it was also crisp, with some spotty browning, but the cornicione was a bit more pale than I would've liked. I realize this wasn't baked in a wood-fired oven, so the perimeter is not going to get blistered and charred from direct exposure to a flame, but I found it a bit underdone and uninteresting. With great pizza of any type, I enjoy the "bones" as much as the interior. Not so much here.

The toppings were okay. The cheese was nicely melted, but not stretchy. The tomato sauce was fine but very much in the background. Nothing wowed me, but it was ... okay.

The mango habanero slice was surprisingly good. The flavors both contrasted and complemented each other.

In writing this post, I went back and read my prior posts about Brandani's. In many respects, these slices were comparable to those I had before. So I don't know if my standards have changed, or if Brandani's pizza has changed, or both. I dunno, but at some point I have to publish this post, so I will just admit to some personal uncertainty and leave it at that.

Having said all that, I want to emphasize that this wasn't bad pizza by any means. For a medium-thick, tasty slice, not bad at all. But with acknowledgment of my subjectivity, it wasn't quite as good as I remembered. That's about all I can say.

Brandani's Pizza

1703 Crittenden Rd.

Rochester, NY 14623

(585) 272-7180

Sunday 12pm-7pm

Mon-Sat 11am-9pm

CompTin

2025-12-20T17:06:00.003-05:00

I have been working my way through pizzerias in and around Fairport, so that journey recently took me to CompTin Pizza & Provisions. According to one report, the name "is a portmanteau of the partners' current business ventures,'" i.e. Compané Trattoria and Tin Cup Social.

I got a large (16-inch) pizza, with cup-and-char pepperoni on half and sweet peppers and onions on the other half.

The crust was extremely thin. I wondered if they use the same amount of dough for a large that they do for a medium 12-inch pizza and just roll it thinner.

Frankly, the crust wasn't great. I ordered online and considered requesting "well done," but I'm glad I didn't, as this was heavily blackened. Charring is one thing, but this was blackened, and well, yeah, burnt.

The crust had also separated, top from bottom in some areas, so there was just a wafer-thin layer on top and underneath, with a gap in between. Not everywhere, but even where that hadn't happened there wasn't enough substance to the crust to make it interesting. I like a good thin crust as much as anyone but this was just thin.

Before I move on, I will note that the pizza was in the box (which I put in an insulated bag) for about 30 minutes before I got it home. That may have had some effect on the crust but obviously that had no effect on the thickness (or should I say thinness) or the heavily blackened bottom.

The toppings were good. Just what I ordered, and flavorful. The cheese was nicely melted, soft and stretchy. The cup and char pepperoni was well done, although some of the slices were upside down. I guess I never thought about it before but for some reason some slices were like upside-down cups. Were they applied the wrong way? Were they turned over after the pizza was done? This requires some thought and perhaps experimentation.

Sometimes I write a post and it feels as if I've made the pizza sound worse than it was. This might be one of those times. It had some issues, for sure. Could've been better, no doubt. But somewhere in there was a good pizza, just waiting to burst out with better execution. CompTin, if you are reading this (and you may not be, because I don't claim to be an "influencer"), you can do better.

CompTin Pizza and Provisions

1276 Fairport Rd, Fairport, NY 14450

(585) 203-1312

Fri. & Saturday 12–10 PM
Sunday 12–8 PM
Mon. - Thu. 12–9 PM

Fiorella

2025-11-28T13:48:00.011-05:00

Just over ten years ago, I posted a review of Fiorella, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in Rochester's Public Market. I had some issues with the crust, which was unevenly baked underneath, but I otherwise enjoyed it. Since Fiorella had only recently opened I considered it "a work in progress," and worth checking out.

I guess ten years is enough time to allow for a revisit. So my wife and I recently went there for dinner.

We ordered a Margherita (plum tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil) and one of that night's specials, a white pizza with mortadella, basil, oregano, roasted onion, fresh and smoked mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, hot chili flakes, finished with grated Parmigiano cheese *whew* - there would've been still more had we not asked them to leave out the honey drizzle -- not a fan of honey on pizza.

Alas, while the flavor was good, the crust again disappointed. The problem this time wasn't so much an unevenly baked crust, but too ... what?

I want to say too soft, but that doesn't quite capture it. I've used "flabby" before, and that comes closer. But ultimately it just wasn't interesting.

As I've said before, I do not think that pizza necessarily needs an exceptionally crisp, crackly crust to be good. I've had terrific pizza that needed to be eaten with a knife and fork. But even a soft underside benefits from a contrast with a crusty cornicione. To me, it's that mix of flavors and textures that elevates pizza to greatness. This was just soft and chewy all the way around.

Having said all that, I should add that I still enjoyed the pizza. The white pizza was flavorful, although I didn't detect the chili flakes.

The Margherita was pretty good, a bit heavy on the sauce perhaps, but the fresh mozzarella was softened just right. The fresh basil made a cameo appearance but I would've liked it to be a little more prominent.

Fiorella's menu states that they make wood-fired pizza, with dough "made with 100% organic NY stone-ground wheat, water and sea salt only and naturally leavened for better health." All of which is great, but I was frankly hoping for more from this pizza.

There were plenty of patrons at Fiorella eating pizza, seemingly happily, so maybe it's just me, but I was disappointed with our pies. That of course is a subjective judgment but my wife serves as a check on my idiosyncrasies and she pretty much agreed with me, so I don't think I'm too far off base.

Baking pizza, like baking bread, involves a complex mixture of ingredients, time, handling and temperature. I've tried to describe objectively where this pizza fell short for me subjectively. To summarize, it was good. But I was hoping for better.

Fiorella

5 Public Market

Wed. - Sat. 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Sun. - Tue. Closed

DoughBoyzRoc/Sager-Stoneyard Pub

2025-11-06T16:09:00.002-05:00

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

Native

2025-10-27T16:11:00.000-04:00

On October 3, my wife and I had dinner at Native on South Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester. They describe themselves as offering "a casual upscale dining experience," and they do pizza, so here we go.

I quite liked the place, which is in 3 City Center, at the corner of South Clinton and Woodbury Boulevard. It was a warmish late afternoon and the patio doors were open. We ate inside, which had a very relaxed feel. Dark walls but not dim, high ceilings. Very nice.

The pizza options were limited, but I understand this is not a pizzeria, just a restaurant that offers pizza. We passed on the "Blu Mela" (apple compote, bacon, mozzarella, blue cheese and pearl onions), which sounds unappealing for a number of reasons that I may get into on my Facebook page, but the more options the better.

We decided to split a "Rossa" with house red sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, and a "Senza Nome" (which translates to nameless or literally "without a name"), topped with white bean puree, leeks, NYS cheddar, shredded mozzarella, fried Brussels sprouts, and Gochujang sauce. I confess to having had to look up the latter, which AI tells me is a Korean chili sauce made from the fermented gochujang chili paste. "Chili sauce" on the description would've sufficed for me (or an explanation of what it means), but OK.

Both pies had a thick, puffy corncione. The undersides were noticeably dusted with what I believe was cornmeal.

The crust was chewy, and had some flavor; it wasn't just a vehicle for the toppings. For me, though, the graininess underneath diminished its impact somewhat. The Senza Nome was quite darkened, well beyond "spotting," but was still enjoyable. It also seemed puffy underneath, with visible dough bubbles.

The Rossa was, shall I say flatter underneath, had some dark spots and was crisp but more evenly browned.

The cheese on both was melted quite nicely. Getting the cheese and the crust to come out right at the same time may be one of the trickiest aspects of making pizza, as so many variables are involved, but the cheese on both of these was right where I wanted it: melted just shy of being overdone.

I was also impressed with the toppings as a whole. The cheese melted beautifully and the tomato sauce was nicely balanced, with tomatoey sweetness and a hint of acidity. And although it would never occur to me to put a white bean puree on a pizza, this particular combination worked surprisingly well. It's not often I run across a pizza I prefer to a pepperoni pie, but I liked this one better. Kudos!

If I have a complaint, it would be about the crust. The crusts were good but I'd like to see more consistency. And although I understand the use of cornmeal (or rice flour or whatever it was) underneath, there was a graininess on the bottom of this crust that got in the way of my enjoyment of it.

But I shouldn't end this on a bad note. It was good pizza and a good experience. Recommended.

Amore

2025-10-24T16:13:00.001-04:00

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

2025-10-06T20:42:00.004-04:00

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

Gianni Mazia's, Clarence

2025-09-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

OK, so a bit out of the geographic scope for a Rochester, NY Pizza Blog, but really not all that far, and this is a blog, after all, meaning a web log of my personal pizza experiences, wherever they happen.

My wife and I recently drove to Clarence to hit some antique stores. If you're not familiar with it, Clarence, which is about 20 miles east of Buffalo, is for reasons unknown to me a center for antique shops. You'll find antique malls and individual shops. Well worth the drive if you're looking for vintage items.

We thought we should grab some lunch, and my maps app came up with Gianni Mazia's On Main. We arrived about !2:45.

I was intrigued to see that Gianni Mazia's offers two basic pizza options: "traditional" and wood-fired. I was tempted to get one of each, but we were thinking of going out for dinner later, so we decided to share just one pizza for lunch.

But which? That was a tough call, but we settled on a wood-fired "Native New Yorker," described as "sliced tomatoes and fresh basil on top of red sauce and fresh mozzarella."

It took some time to arrive--I wasn't timing it, but it seemed like a long time, considering that they weren't busy and that wood-fired pizza typically bakes very quickly--but that gave me a chance to take a peek at the oven.

I saw a gas flame, and a temperature reading of 744 degrees, which is certainly high though well below what wood-fired ovens are capable of. There was a large wood pile outside, so I don't doubt that they use wood, but I didn't see any, nor did I pick up any whiff of wood smoke. I can't say for certain that there was no wood flame at the time, as I didn't see the entire interior of the oven, just that I neither saw nor smelled any indication of one. I suppose I could've asked, probably should have, but I'm naturally reticent so I didn't. Something I need to work on.

It hardly mattered, though, as the pizza was quite good. My one complaint is that is was extremely thin. Paper thin. I like thin crust pizza, and I expect wood-fired pizza to be thin, but this was as thin as could be. A teeny bit of interior would've been welcome.

That aside, it was still good. The underside showed some "leopard spotting," meaning blistered but not burnt. The outer edge was also nicely charred, which gave it an added depth of flavor. While insubstantial in terms of its weight and volume, the crust made a nice base for the toppings.

Which were very good. I always say that pizza is all about balance, meaning all the components must complement and balance each other. This pizza was unbalanced, in the sense that the toppings were far more substantial than the crust, but it was still good. That doesn't necessarily disprove my premise, as I think I would've liked this even better had the crust been a bit thicker, to add some chewy substance. But it was the fact that the crust was good that made me want more of it.

Oh yes, the toppings. I don't know why they decided to call this the Native New Yorker, as I didn't see much particularly New Yorkish about it, but I'm not going to get too hung about about labels.

I'm a tomato guy. Red over white pizza every time. Red sauce vs. Alfredo? No contest. I'm even one of the few who prefer Manhattan clam chowder over New England.

So while the crust fell short of greatness by my standards, the toppings largely made up for it. The sauce and tomato slices and fresh mozzarella (baked just to the edge of rubbery), and basil, were very tasty. Was it a Platonic ideal of pizza? No. Was it good? Well, I gobbled it up, so yes.

In evaluating pizza, I have to remind myself once in a while to stop thinking in terms of categories. It's not all about "authenticity," or how close the pizza came to some predetermined standard. Bottom line, did you like it? Yes, and I hope I've described it well enough that others can decide whether they might like it.

As we go antiquing pretty often, and we find ourselves in Clarence now and then. Next time I want to go back and try the "traditional" pizza. One of these days.

Gianni Mazia's on Main

10325 Main St, Clarence, NY 14031

Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sun. 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

REDD

2025-09-02T19:34:00.000-04:00

Even before I resumed writing blog posts, REDD had been on my to-do list. I'd gotten more than one personal recommendation and it gets rave reviews online. After several attempts to book a table a few days out, I realized I was looking at at least a week, but I finally had the forethought to get a table for my wife and me on a Friday evening.

All that is by way of background. When I hear and read that much good about a place, part of me is thinking, "this is going to be great!," and part of me is thinking, "don't believe the hype." But I try to keep an open mind.

We got seated and served promptly. I'd been here years ago when it was 2 Vine, and it seemed better laid out and less noisy, despite being busy.

After sharing a beet salad, which was quite good, my wife and I shared two pizzas: a mozzarella pizza, with tomato, basil and Parmesan, and a prosciutto pizza with fontina, arugula and Parmesan. So a red and a white pizza.

I knew that REDD uses a wood-fired oven for their pizza, and my immediate impression was that the cornicione (edge) didn't have the blackened blistering that I usually see with wood-fired pizza. A check of the underside showed it to be a little spotted but not much.

That in itself didn't raise alarm bells. I've had too many "wood-fired" pizzas where they just briefly expose the outer edge to a flame to get it blackened, but the crust still sucks. It's not all about blackening.

But wood-fired or otherwise, it starts with the crust. And this was, well ... hmm.

Quite thin, up until I reached the cornicione, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't enough to sustain or balance the toppings. It was floppy and more significantly, it wasn't interesting.

What I mean is, with great pizza, the crust should be so good that I'd be happy to eat it with no toppings at all. This wasn't that.

Nor did it improve as I worked my way to the cornicione. Again, with top-notch pizza, that's almost the best part, as you get to enjoy the texture and flavor, unadorned. This was reminiscent of supermarket Italian bread. Not "bad," exactly, but bland and lifeless.

I don't claim to be an expert baker, but to quote one of my favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I know a little," and my first reaction was that it goes back to the intitial fermentation process, i.e. the rise. Use enough yeast, rise at warm temperatures, and you can have pizza or bread dough ready in no time. But it won't be particularly good. Low and slow and (somewhat) cold is the way to go, to develop more complex flavors and an interior structure in the crust, with more gluten development. But that takes time. I got the sense this was a crust made from a dough that wasn't given enough time.

I also know that the best wood-fired pizzerias I've been to get their ovens to a very high temperature, often 800 or above. A thin-crust pizza can bake in 90 seconds or so. REDD's was at 655 degrees, hotter than a typical home oven but not what you want for getting the most out of a wood-fired oven.

I also noticed that the crust of the prosciutto pizza had separated between the top and the bottom. When properly done, that shouldn't happen. There are reasons why that might happen, but I'm not diagnosing the problem, just identifying it.

OK. Enough about the crust. Let's move on to the toppings.

They were good, although I must say not great.

The mozzarella pizza was well-laden with tomato sauce, but to me the sauce was over-applied. Pizza is also about balance and there was too much sauce, for my taste, on such a thin crust.

Nor was the sauce especially interesting. It tasted like sauce you'd get out of a jar. Not that you can't get good sauce from a jar, but this wasn't it. It tasted to me like generic spaghetti sauce.

I was expecting a salty kick from the prosciutto on the prosciutto pizza, and I didn't get it. The pie was bland. I like a nice white pizza now and then, but without tomato sauce I'd like a bit of a flavor boost from the toppings, and this didn't deliver.

Not to drag my wife into this, but she agreed with me on all these points, and I can assure you she is unafraid to disagree with me, so I am pretty sure she was being honest. Toward the end of our dinner, I mentioned to her a thought that had just occurred to me: as a bcnchmark, could I make a better pizza at home? I have had the good fortune to have pizza at various pizzerias that I couldn't possibly hope to match, due to the limitations of my home oven and my pizza-making skills. But we both agreed that I can make and have made better pizza at home, than what we had here.

Now all this sounds as if I've been trashing and bashing REDD. I suppose I have, but that was not my intent. Despite all I've said, I liked the pizza.

Not too many years ago I would've been amazed to get pizza this good anywhere around here, much less at a restaurant, where pizza is just an add-on to the menu. But the bar has been raised. That's a good thing, as the general level of quality and the range of options have both gone up.

But if you're running a high-end restaurant, and you want to include pizza on the menu, I think it's incumbent on you to make sure it's damn good pizza. I can't honestly say that this was.

REDD Rochester

24 Winthrop St.

Rochester, NY 14607

https://reddrochester.com/

Mon. - Thu. 5 pm - 10 pm

Fri. 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5 pm - 10 pm

Sun. closed

Strangebird Brewery

2025-08-18T11:01:00.001-04:00

It took a while, but I finally made it to Strangebird Brewery recently. Strangebird, which focuses on two things I love - pizza and beer - opened in 2021, but it took resuming this blog to get me over there.

I went with my wife on a Thursday evening at about 5:30. They don't accept reservations, but I was hoping at that relatively early hour it wouldn't be too difficult to get a table.

That was a false hope. There were a few vacant tables outside, but they were reserved. Inside, the place was pretty close to packed.

Which was fine, I get it, it was happy hour and I was glad they were doing well. But the setup was rather odd - we were told we could order food at the food counter, drinks at the bar, and grab seats when, where and if we could find them. Which presented a bit of a quandary as to what to do first.

We ended up ordering two pizzas at the pizza/food counter, where they gave us a number. We headed back to the bar, where fortuitously two stools opened up, and got drinks. So it worked out but it was odd and a little inconvenient from my perspective. Surely there's a more orderly way to do this (in fact other restaurants and bars have various means of doing so).

At the bar, I ordered a Gouden Boom, which is described as a Belgian-style golden ale. Quite good.

Not too long (20 minutes?) afterwards, our pizzas showed up. In a departure from my usual rule, I didn't order the simplest pizza, which would've been the cheese pizza (from the description, basically a Margherita). Instead, we shared a "Greens" pizza (roasted garlic, kale, pickled chilis, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan) and a Mortadella, with its eponymous pork sausage, roasted garlic, pickled onion, salsa verde, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

The only part of me that regrets not sticking to my keep-it-simple-rule is that it was hard to evaluate the crust on its own or to set a benchmark. But both of these were very tasty pizzas.

Let's start with the crust. It was very thin. The cornicione was well formed and chewy, but the rest of the crust, where the toppings were, was so thin as to have almost no interior chew. That was a bit of a shame as the cornicione tasted quite good, and I could tell it was good, well-made dough. I would've liked it a tad thicker.

As I said, the toppings were very good. I'm a pepperhead, and put hot sauce on just about everything but ice cream (hmm ...?). The pickled chilis added a nice kick for me, but weren't too much for my wife, who has a low tolerance for heat. The entire ensemble was very good, with a medley of flavors that worked well together.

Same for the Mortadella. The salty, thin-sliced sausage, pickled onion (I need to keep "pickled" in mind for pizza toppings) and garlic were terrific together. I love garlic almost as much as I love hot peppers, so it doesn't take much to convince me once you put garlic on a pizza.

Complaints? Well, again I would've liked a bit thicker crust. To nitpick, a bit more charring underneath would've been welcome. The top side on both was nicely done, but the underside was a bit pale. I know it's a tricky thing to get it just right, but the point of this blog is to record my impressions, and that's one of them.

I got a photo of the oven, but I couldn't see the interior. I was told that it is gas-fired, not wood-fired, but is clay-lined and heated to 800 degrees, which is certainly comparable to a lot of wood-fired ovens. And though I generally love wood-fired pizza, in the end what matters to me is the product. Electric, gas, wood, coal, whatever.

I liked this, a lot. A bit thicker and a bit more done underneath and I would've loved it. But it was good, and I need to go back and try the cheese pizza. I think I'll try a different night of the week and/or a different time of day, though.

Strangebird Brewing

62 Marshall Street
Rochester, NY 14607
585-505-8700

Thu. - Mon., 12 p.m. - 11 p.m. (Kitchen closes at 9 p.m.)

Closed Tue. & Wed.

Gia's Pizza Kitchen, East Rochester

2025-07-29T16:15:00.003-04:00

After checking out one pizza place in East Rochester, which I liked very much, I decided to try another. And I liked this one too.

I know East Rochester has historically been home to a large Italian-American population, and some very good Italian restaurants. But Gia's Pizza Kitchen, which opened last October, just came up on my radar screen recently.

I ordered a large pie to go, half cup and char pepperoni, half onions and sweet peppers.

I didn't realize until I got there to pick up the pizza that Gia's is a full-service restaurant. There is a small bar near the door and several tables to the right as you enter; the kitchen is in the back and is visible from the bar.

I got it home quickly and was quite pleased with the pizza. The underside, though a bit heavily dusted with cornmeal (or maybe it was rice flour; I should've paid closer attention, but hey, I'm out of practice), was slightly charred, and firm though not crackly crisp. The crust had a chewy texture, with a well-formed cornicione and bread-like flavor. It was on the thinner side. Quite nice overall.

It all starts with the crust, but that's not to discount the importance of the toppings. They need to be good, and applied in balance with each other. And these were good.

The sauce was a tad sweet, but not in a sugary way, more tomatoey. The cheese was nicely melted. And both were applied in good proportion to the crust. I'm not a fan of heavily laden pizza, with a lot of sauce and cheese, especially with a thin crust, and this was just about right.

The pepperoni was done right: browned and crisp along the edges, chewy in the middle. On the other half, the use of yellow bell peppers was unusual but not unwelcome. They have a milder, slightly sweeter flavor that the usual green variety. Both the peppers and the onions were softened but not browned.

I came away rather happy with this pizza. I'm not sure how I would classify it, not that I need to, but it worked for me. Good job, in my opinion.Gia's Pizza Kitchen

211 Main St., East Rochester

Wed. - Fri. 11:30 am - 9 pm
Sat. 4 - 9 pm
Sun 12 - 7 pm

Closed Mon. & Tue.

GG's, East Rochester

2025-07-19T13:57:00.001-04:00

During my long hiatus from updating this blog, I never stopped wanting to try new pizzerias around Rochester, and I maintained a to-do list, which I updated any time I found out about a place I hadn't tried before. Although I would occasionally manage to cross one off the list, it wasn't often enough to prevent the list from getting longer and longer.

Now that I'm back to blog writing, I'm hoping to whittle down the list. My current goal is to visit at least one establishment a week. Last week, I got to work on that goal by ordering takeout from GG's Pizza in East Rochester, which came highly recommended by a friend and former coworker.

Deciding what to order was a bit daunting, as they offer various specialty pizzas and 26 different toppings, as well as several options like well done, par bake (for reheating at home), square cut, thick crust, thin crust, etc.

My first time trying a place, I try to keep it relatively simple, so I went with a large, half cup 'n' char pepperoni, half onions and green peppers. I did not specify any other options, and as to crust thickness the first time around I always want to try their default crust.

Got it home in about 20 minutes, for family dinner. The three of us polished off eleven of the twelve slices (I'm not sure which of us was the slacker who only ate three.)

As I mentioned, GG's offers thin and thick crust options, and this was indeed medium. Thick around the edge, quarter inch maybe inside the perimeter.

I was a bit disappointed at the underside, which was heavily screen marked and a splotchy brown. It was firm but not particularly crisp underneath. But that was a relatively minor matter as the crust was quite good.

My litmus test for pizza crust is, is it good enough to eat on its own? And this was. It was bready (which my autocorrect insists is not a word, but it is in my vocabulary), meaning it had the texture, aroma and flavor of freshly baked bread.

The sauce was slightly sweet and applied in good balance with the crust. Another test that pizza has to meet is the balance test. The crust and whatever is on top of the crust, be it sauce, cheese, or other toppings, need to stay in balance. Now if you want to pile on the toppings and get five kinds of meat and extra cheese, go right ahead. I'm not about to tell you you're wrong. But that's not how I evaluate a basic pizza.

The cheese was also good, nothing but processed mozzarella as far as I could tell, but it seemed to be a good quality cheese as it was nicely melted, without a lot of exuded fat. Pepperoni was crisp, and the onions and peppers were nicely done, and would have been quite at home on an Italian sausage sandwich.

My takeaway was that this was a great example of Rochester-style pizza. Not that we have a particularly unique style of pizza; by "Rochester style" I mean, the style that came to be predominant around Rochester. A little thick on the crust, a little sweet on the sauce, a bit heavy on the cheese. In many ways, it's the template for what became American pizza.

I'd certainly like to go back to GG's, to explore their other options, but as I said at the start I have a long list to get to, so it may be a while. Next time I might ask for the pie to be baked directly on the oven deck, to crisp up the bottom. A slice I reheated at home on a cast iron skillet was nicely crisp. I could also go with the par-baked option but generally I don't want to have to finish baking an entire pizza after I get home.

That, however, is a minor quibble in light of how enjoyable this was. For classic Rochester style pizza, I can well recommend GG's.

GG's Pizzeria, 326 W. Commercial St., East Rochester

585-360-2050

Mon. - Thu.11:00 AM - 7:45 PM

Fri. & Sat. 11:00 AM - 8:45 PM

Sun. 12:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

2025-07-07T12:40:00.003-04:00

At a reader's suggestion, I decided to check out Anatolia Mediterranean Grill, a Turkish restaurant across the street from Seabreeze Amusement Park. Not because they serve pizza, exactly, but something akin to pizza.

The idea of flatbread with toppings is an ancient one that's found in many countries, especially around the Mediterranean, where wheat is the staple grain. In my highly subjective opinion, that concept reached its apotheosis with the development of what we know today as pizza. But in addition to the myriad forms that pizza itself has taken over the years, it also has many close relatives that are well worth exploring.

Some of those can be found in Turkey. Lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey boasts a national cuisine as delicious as it is diverse, as I've written about in this blog, first in 2011, and again in 2016.

On those occasions, I had tried lahmacun, which is sometimes referred to as "Turkish pizza," although in my opinion that's neither particularly accurate nor fair. It's a thin flatbread, usually topped with well-seasoned ground or minced meat, most commonly lamb.

I'm no lahmacun connoisseur, but Anatolia's was quite enjoyable. The crust (strictly speaking, I'm not sure if "crust" is the correct term for it, but for lack of a better term I'll go with that) was thin, chewy, and on the line between pliable and crunchy: not as foldable as a wrap, but not brittle or crackly either. It provided a good base for the tasty lamb mixture on top, which was packed with flavor.

We also ordered another dish, pide ("pee-deh"), which is a closer relative of pizza, both etymologically and culinarily. We chose the "mixed" pide, topped with cheese, pastrami, Turkish sausage, and ground beef.

The crust was thicker and chewier, and far more pizza-like than the lahmacun. The biggest differences between this and traditional pizza were the shape (sometimes described as a boat shape) and the toppings. I particularly enjoyed the pastrami, which added a burst of salty meaty flavor that made me wonder why it's not a more common pizza topping. I think I will try it next time I make pizza at home.

Oh yeah, the other food was good too. We got a chicken plate, with fried chicken, rice, bell peppers and salad. It was flavorful yet simple and there was a lot of it. We ended up taking some home, which made for a very nice lunch the next day.

Oh, and the dessert bar. That's a blog post in itself, but I'll just say that no trip to Anatolia should be considered complete without a visit to the dessert bar.

So ... to whoever recommended Anatolia, thank you.

To my readers, if you want pizza, this is not a pizzeria. They don't serve pizza, as such.

But if you like pizza and are interested in exploring the many variations and cousins of pizza, you should check out Anatolia. I don't think you will be disappointed.

For me, I intend to return and try some of their other dishes. If they are this good, there's a lot more worth exploring.

Anatolia Mediterranean Grill

4671 Culver Rd., Irondequoit, NY 14622

585-226-7578

Sun., Mon. Wed., Thu. 11 am - 9 pm

Fri., Sat. 11 am - 10 pm

Closed Tue.