Joe's Brooklyn Pizza

One of Rochester's greatest culinary weaknesses is pizza. I thought I was strictly in the "even bad pizza is good pizza" school of thought until the last couple of places we've tried. And The Boy hails from the birthplace of "American" pizza and thus is impossible to please. So last week when I was craving a bacon and artichoke pizza, I knew I would have to do some research to try to find a place that would not disappoint for a change.

I turned to a fellow blogger, who seemed to rate Pizza Stop and the sibling-related Joe's Brooklyn Pizza as the tops in the Roch. We went with Joe's mostly because it's on Jefferson Road in Henrietta, so I figured I could find it and it would have more seating than the downtown Pizza Stop.

Expectations were not high, since this was in the same strip mall as Moe's and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Perhaps a little too clean and well-lit to be authentic. However, they had the classic NYC set up with lots of different pizzas to order slices from and then a good list of toppings to create your own pie. I also personally think every great pizza place should have a smart-mouth working the register to bust your balls. The guy running the front was certainly a lot less surly than my favorite spot in the Bronx, but he was just as chatty and downright friendly and helpful.

Joe's has two different crusts: Brooklyn (which is thin but not as thin as The Boy would like) and Sicilian (which they say is thick, but typically just means square). It came out hot, with a little too much cheese, and an excellent bright sauce. I probably would have preferred a white for the pizza we ordered and may try that another day, but the sauce was good. The crust could have used a little more flavor or could have been thinner so as to be crispy. It was definitely foldable, and thus true to the Brooklyn style (if you disagree, they'll give you a full refund). As for toppings, we also got roasted sweet peppers, but those weren't quite roasted enough. The bacon was also a little under-represented, but when you get three toppings, you know they've got to scale back somewhere.

All in all, this is definitely my favorite pizza place in Rochester. Unassuming, buzzing in the evenings, and serving up simple, quality pies without the high prices or the attitude.