Tony D's Pizza

Tony D's coal fired pizza has been in Corn Hill Landing for awhile now. We went there not long after seeing a review in City Newspaper. I wasn't that wild about it at the time. If memory recalls, I had the carciofi -- artichoke -- pizza. This was before they had their liquor license and maybe they were just figuring stuff out. (Also, it was raining and I almost died slidding on their slick floors in my boots).

Well, after a few raves from friends (and after running out of any other casual Italian places to try), we visited again last week. I don't know if it was just happenstance but this time the food was much much better. The pizza is crispy and the portions are huge.

We started with a meatball appetizer. The meat quality could have been better, and I wasn't wild on the sauce, but the balls were huge and satisfying. (that's what she said). The sauce tasted just like tomatoes, but it did have a certain brightness. I would have liked something thicker, but it worked.

We then each got pizzas: I had the special and the Boy had the Vognole -- clams. The Vognole had clams, garlic, parsley -- all the usual clam pie contenders. Doesn't hold a candle to Pepe's of course, but it was balanced and satisfying. I think it's my favorite on the regular menu. Maybe some of my initial hesitation about loving the restaurant stems from the fact that nothing really grabs me on the menu, despite my rather broad-ranging love of pizza toppings. I was debating to make my own (although half of the great toppings aren't available on the make your own list) when the waitress shared with us the specials.

The special pizza that night was spinach, Italian sausage, garlic and ricotta. Why, yes please! Had I not gotten that last-minute option, I might not have had such an enthusiastic reaction. Always trust in the specials, people!


It would be remiss of me not to mention that they do now have their alcohol license. They have a decent stock of bottled beers (including Peroni in keeping with the Italian theme). And their wine list is rather extensive and of average price. I had been meaning to try a Primativo and was elated to find one by the glass for $8. It ended up being a little too drab with too quick a finish, but at least I got to give it a try!

One day I will have to also give their desserts a try -- the cannoli and the HUGE chocolate mousse cake both looked fantastic!

Frank Pepe's

Hey kids, the only thing I really have time for on this catch-up post-holiday very-Monday Tuesday is a quick post about Frank Pepe's in New Haven.

It is the best pizza ever. It can make you fly, open the doors of perception, make you invisible, transport you through space and time, basically make you shovel giant delicious mouthfuls of it into your mouth without noticing your immediate surroundings. Until you are so contendedly distended that you roll down Wooster Street in semi-comatose glee. The end.

We didn't wait as long as most do, mainly because this was Yale's commencement weekend and the only upside of that is that no one wants a table for two on such occasions. I've included the menu for Pepe's so you can get an idea of the scene -- pretty much unchanged non-ergonomic restaurant interior, and as the menu indicates, just pizza. You get pizza and soda or beer. Because that's all you need. Ever.

We got a large, half white with clam and the other half red with bacon and onions. I have trouble committing to a favorite topping combination, but not anymore so long as clam pizzas are available. That garlicy cheese bliss is all you really need. I won't bore you with a description of my eyes-rolled-in-the-back-of-my-head reaction. Though after taking down about 6 slices of the clam, I must say the bacon and onion made an impression as well. The fact that I could eat any of it all means it was far superior to all other pizzas previously consumed.

So why so great? I think mostly it has to be the crust- thin but with chewiness that allows you to savor it longer. But of course doing one thing really well means attention to quality and being able to replicate that. So the fact that the bacon was almost whole slices, not just bacos, and that the onion was chopped very finely and cooked beforehand shows you that Pepe's isn't just sliding by on reputation alone.

I must admit that after my no-holds-barred take-down of this pizza (a large with only two slices left to take home) I did go into a bit of a shame spiral. Moments of decadence can unfortunately have that side-effect. And thus I did not make it back over to Little Italy to try out Sally's. So the feud must continue without my weighing in. But we'll be back in New Haven soon. And I'm already training for another pizza.

Sally's v. Pepe's

We're going to New Haven for the holiday weekend, home of the first hamburger in America, the Boy, and a world-class pizza face-off. In corner #1: Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. Corner #2: Sally's Apizza. Down-the-street rivals that have both been in business for over 70 years (1925 and 1938 respectively).

Like Donny, I know I'm out of my element. So I'm trusting a local and we're going to Pepe's (expect a review next week). But I would be remiss in my attempt at pseudo-journalism if I did not mention that for the June issue of GQ, Alan Richman rated the top 25 pizzas in the US-- and Sally's came in 6 while Pepe's came in 12. Pretty impressive for a town of that size (San Francisco and Manhattan got 3 apiece). I've had Totonno's in Brooklyn, and seen Pizzeria Bianco on the Food Network, but never heard of the rest.

In his blog post ranking the top 10 pizza cities (New Haven is 7th) Richman also called out Bar, a stop on our itinerary, for serving mashed potato pizza, which is clearly an abomination.

Maybe we'll have the Great New Haven Pizza-Off this weekend and see if Richman's rankings stand.

Big Deal Pizza

Big Deal Pizza just opened up this week on Monroe Ave, near Meigs. Their number is 697-2491.

The crust was medium-thin and chewy, which I like (the Boy is strictly Team Crispy). The sauce was a little too sweet for both of us, particularly when it was in clumps at the top of the crust with nothing else to even it out. Maybe a bit too cheesy. But the toppings were phenomenal -- really fresh veggies and perfectly cooked bacon for ours. Sidenote: we were told we were the first to order broccoli, red pepper and bacon. Score!

The service was excellent -- very friendly and ready right on time. All the young guys running the place seem very interested in making return customers.

I've forgotten to bring the menu with me to give you guys the scoop, but they have a pretty extensive menu. They make subs in house, have calzones and pasta, serve Big Slices, and even have a bakery section. The bakery has mini cannoli (so hard to resist!), cupcakes, cream puffs, and cookies. Our large pizza was around $20, so maybe the prices are a bit high, but we did get three toppings.

BD is currently cash only (with an ATM across the street at Nick's Market), but they are setting up the line for credit card transactions ASAP.

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.

Pizza Delivery to the White House

People Magazine's website ran a story that Obama had the owner of a St. Louis pizzeria flown in with dough and sauce to make pizzas for the First Family and staff.

The pizzeria, Pi, specializes in "San Francisco style" pizza, according to the magazine. I'm at a loss for what SF style is exactly-- a gayer version of California Pizza Kitchen? [Ed. Note: actually it's deep-dish with a cornmeal crust]. At any rate, the menu on their website has both deep-dish and thin crust, and all the versions have names related to Chicago exurbs and neighborhoods, so all signs point to a Midwestern-roots-appropriate choice.

Hoping there'll be conservative backlash? You're welcome! Yes, it certainly isn't very "green" to have someone fly in from St. Louis just to make dinner. And of course, the owner of Pi was an Obama supporter (hence why Obama ate there while on the campaign trail in the first place). But seriously, this isn't exactly blasphemy, or a renunciation of his Chicago heritage and environmental policies. Security doesn't allow pizzas to be delivered, and it's not like DC has quality deep-dish anyway.