OT -- High Praise for Buffalo Pizza

[Drunkard]

31 minutes ago, jsb said:

Too much cheese??? WUT?? There's no such animal in my book as TOO MUCH CHEESE on a pizza. 

If you're being sarcastic..... I apologize but too much cheese??? I just can't wrap my head around someone who says too much cheese in a pizza post. I know you're not the only one complaining about too much cheese on a pizza so please do not tell my pizza maker that they are putting too much cheese on a pizza.

A ton of cheese can sometimes make it feel like there's not enough sauce on the pizza though, so it's important to maintain a balance. I enjoy Buffalo style pizza and whenever I go up there I make sure to eat pizza at least twice. Then again we usually went to pizza places for Mexican food as well, so we went to a lot of pizza joints.

My neck of the woods is mostly filled with chain restaurants but there are a few places that make good pizza. My rule of thumb is to only go to places that either have an Italian name or they need to reference New York in some way (NY Pizzeria, Big Apple Pizza, Brooklyn Pizza, etc.). It's NYC style but that's as good as we can get since there's no place that serves Buffalo style pizza in my area. Anything else and you might as well buy some frozen tombstones.

[LGR4GM]

Balance is key and that's what is great about Buffalo Style. You have this big airy crust that you can sauce up and dump cheese on. It really is amazing. 

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, darksabre said:

I was always fine with Salvatores. They were pretty close to Buffalo style. Marks sucks. 

Mark's doesn't suck.  It just simplyis a very basic pizza w/ nothing special about it.

One place to get Buffalo style in Ra-cha-cha is J&L's in Perinton.  The crust isn't quite as sweet as typical Buffalo, but other than that it is pretty much a dead ringer for Blasdall Pizzeria near the football stadium.

[erickompositör72]

First, let me say, there is a lot of mediocre pizza in NYC. But for me, the good ones are my favorite.

But when I'm back in Buffalo, the pizza is a real treat. It's nice to mix it up, and there's really no pizza anywhere like Buffalo. And I feel it's much easier to get a good pizza anywhere in Buffalo than in my neighborhood in NYC (I live uptown). The place we're stuck ordering from (because my wife likes it) isn't as good as the average pie you can get in Buffalo.

Edited August 16, 2018 by erickompositör72

[jsb]

15 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Not sure if it is still any good.  But Geppeto's west of the city (from google appears that it's in Sugarland, had thought it was slightly north of that) was opened by a Buffalo ex-pat & had good wings & very good za (at least by Houston standards).  There had been a better location on 1940 north of the main metropolis but not sure if it is still open.

51 min (31.4 miles) via I-69 according to google from the house. Way too far unless I'm in the area. I'm wondering if you're thinking of 1960 instead of 1940, but I don't see anything but the Sugarland restaurant.

[Amerks8796]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Mark's doesn't suck.  It just simplyis a very basic pizza w/ nothing special about it.

One place to get Buffalo style in Ra-cha-cha is J&L's in Perinton.  The crust isn't quite as sweet as typical Buffalo, but other than that it is pretty much a dead ringer for Blasdall Pizzeria near the football stadium.

I don’t think Mark’s sucks either. Basic is a good word. But it’s so low on the ladder of good pizza in Rochester. Speaking of Perinton, Perinton Pizza is pretty good. Joe’s Brooklyn right down the road is very good. 

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, jsb said:

51 min (31.4 miles) via I-69 according to google from the house. Way too far unless I'm in the area. I'm wondering if you're thinking of 1960 instead of 1940, but I don't see anything but the Sugarland restaurant.

Taro says 1940, he means 1940.  It was the year he voted for Willkie so he probably remembers it well.

[Taro T]

30 minutes ago, jsb said:

51 min (31.4 miles) via I-69 according to google from the house. Way too far unless I'm in the area. I'm wondering if you're thinking of 1960 instead of 1940, but I don't see anything but the Sugarland restaurant.

Yep.  1960.

[TheAud]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

Pizza Junction is the place you are thinking, I am certain.  You could only eat a slice of their pizza before you were stuffed.  It was novel, but again, too much cheese.

I used to have the Pizza Junction sheet pizza from time to time. Agree it was heavy on the cheese and also it had a distinctively sweet sauce. as you say, novel, but it worked. I never viewed it as a "staple" pizza but rather something to enjoy at a party or a change of pace. My understanding is that the original owner got into some unrelated (to pizza) financial/legal problems and it folded. Then someone opened up a place that attempted to copy the recipe, but that may have folded too. 

[Taro T]

27 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Taro says 1940, he means 1940.  It was the year he voted for Willkie so he probably remembers it well.

Easy there, big guy.  Ain't nobody in here that old, 'ceptin' PA of course.

[Taro T]

31 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

I don’t think Mark’s sucks either. Basic is a good word. But it’s so low on the ladder of good pizza in Rochester. Speaking of Perinton, Perinton Pizza is pretty good. Joe’s Brooklyn right down the road is very good. 

Have heard a lot of good things about Perinton Pizza.  Need to try it sometime.

[That Aud Smell]

Lovejoy Pizza -- the original store in/on Lovejoy.

It is the gotdam truth.

[LTS]

2 hours ago, jsb said:

Too much cheese??? WUT?? There's no such animal in my book as TOO MUCH CHEESE on a pizza. 

If you're being sarcastic..... I apologize but too much cheese??? I just can't wrap my head around someone who says too much cheese in a pizza post. I know you're not the only one complaining about too much cheese on a pizza so please do not tell my pizza maker that they are putting too much cheese on a pizza.

Haha.  Yes, there's too much cheese, and I love cheese, but I want to enjoy the pizza, not just the cheese.  If all I wanted was cheese I would just eat the cheese straight.

 

[SwampD]

4 hours ago, Weave said:

We get Salvatore’s at work.  It’s OK.  Mark’s has been inconsistent in my opinion.  There is a Mark’s not too far from me.  When they are on,  which is a coin flip,  they are on par with Salvator’s.

There used to be a Guida’s near work.  Their pizza was terrific, but different.  Closer to NYC style I think.

When we want good pizza we travel south about 30 minutes.  Little place in a little village that makes a fantastic Buffalo style pizza.  The have a double pepperoni, double cheese pizza that is a bang on replacement for a pizza joint that used to be in North Tonawanda.  I forget the name of the joint, but they were known for being over the top with the amount of cheese and meat that they used.

edit- Pizza Junction?  That might be the one in NT

I had a friend of mine pick up a half baked pizza from there when he was coming down to visit. Man I miss their pizza.

Didn't the owner get into a fight with another owner after he closed up shop because that guy was "stealing his recipe"?

[bobs0108]

I do love the Buffalo style pizza and I have to go to my local shop when ever I make it back into town. I always get Capozzies in Gowanda since that’s where I’m from. I also really like Blasdel pizza and La Novas. 

 

Here in CT we have some amazing pizza that I like almost as much. It’s thin crust and Frank Pepe’s uses the thick pepperoni that makes greasy cups. 

[Weave]

5 hours ago, LTS said:

Pizza Junction is the place you are thinking, I am certain.  You could only eat a slice of their pizza before you were stuffed.  It was novel, but again, too much cheese.

Guida's was good... not sure if they have ANY locations left.  The pizza place in the town next door was Guidas.  It's now Ruck's and that's the pizza we choose all the time.

I mean, bottom line, it's pizza.  You have to work really hard to make a pizza I won't eat.  I can eat Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, even Little Caesars... I won't enjoy it nearly as much but it's still pizza.

Apparently you live nearby my employer.  Ruck’s makes a mean salad for lunch.

[ubkev]

Great thread!

I like Buffalo pizza just fine and dandy. Lived on it much of my college years. Plenty of good slices in Buffalo.

NYC has far too many pizza joints trading on the name of NY pizza. There are many great joints there, of course, but in my travels I have found a few to be well below my standards.

I like Chicago style lasagna when the mood strikes me. My best friend lives out there and when I visit we usually grab a slice. It's freaking lasagna. Lol

Being from CNY I love tomato pie. I know it's not pizza but I always snag a couple pieces when I head home. And I have a hometown pizza joint that I love above all else on the planet.

 

[Hawerchuk]

Going to give a pizza shout out to NINO's Pizza in Orchard Park! One of the best!!

[Doohicksie]

It's on Orchard Park Road, but just over the border in West Seneca.  I've eaten there.  My mom's house is about a mile and a half away off Reserve Road.  And yep.... good pizza!

[Hawerchuk]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

It's on Orchard Park Road, but just over the border in West Seneca.

Whoops, West Seneca, my bad. 

[SwampD]

10 hours ago, darksabre said:

The thing about Buffalo is it's hard to find bad pizza around here. There are so many pizza places fighting over such a small population that you can't suck and stay in business. 

If anyone here has instagram or twitter and isn't following Buffalo Pizza Review (Sexy Slices), then you need to be doing that. 

https://twitter.com/SexySlices

 

This is a really good point. Whenever someone from here is visiting Niagara Falls or Buffalo and they ask me where to get good wings from, I always pause and say, "they're all good." You only know where the bad wings are and don't go there. I never thought about it with regard to pizza, but you are right, it holds true for pizza, as well.

I do like me some Good Guys from NT, though.

 

[SDS]

13 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I'm actually pretty fortunate that as a Buffalo expat in Texas I still have a supply line to Buffalo food.  A guy from Kenmore was working as a chef at a high-end restaurant and got his boss to back him to open a bar called Buffalo Bros. 3 miles from my house.  Perfect Buffalo pizza, great wings, beef on weck (with kimmelweck rolls sourced locally to his specs), Sahlen's hot dogs, Bison French Onion Dip, loganberry on tap, even fried bologna sandwiches.  It's the Bills Backers site for Fort Worth so on game days it's hard to tell whether you're in Texas or WNY when you're there.

 Why would people from Texas give an F about a buffalo restaurant? 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

 Why would people from Texas give an F about a buffalo restaurant? 

Same reason ex-pats here flock to Galla Pizza here and bring their friends.  Same reason Ted's in Tempe AZ has a line out the door at lunch and dinner.  Buffalo food is great and once others get a chance to try it, they love it to.  My Georgia born wife and my kids love Galla Pizza, Wings, Ted's hot dogs and Frozen Custard.  Some things are just better.

[SDS]

7 hours ago, LTS said:

Haha.  Yes, there's too much cheese, and I love cheese, but I want to enjoy the pizza, not just the cheese.  If all I wanted was cheese I would just eat the cheese straight.

 

 I am getting a little tired of agreeing with you… 

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

Same reason ex-pats here flock to Galla Pizza here and bring their friends.  Same reason Ted's in Tempe AZ has a line out the door at lunch and dinner.  Buffalo food is great and once others get a chance to try it, they love it to.  My Georgia born wife and my kids love Galla Pizza, Wings, Ted's hot dogs and Frozen Custard.  Some things are just better.

My understanding is that native people from Texas don’t give a about the rest of the country. As for Arizona, that was a popular destination when there was a mass exodus out of western New York. 

[Eleven]

14 minutes ago, SDS said:

 Why would people from Texas give an F about a buffalo restaurant? 

It's the expats.  Same type of folks who used to go to Grevey's in Virginia or who go to that Sahlen's hot dog place in Sanibel FL.  Plus the expats introduce locals to the food, and, well, it's great!  So they love it.  

6 minutes ago, SDS said:

 I am getting a little tired of agreeing with you… 

My understanding is that native people from Texas don’t give a about the rest of the country. As for Arizona, that was a popular destination when there was a mass exodus out of western New York. 

This part is right, but they sure as hell like to eat down there.