A Visit to 2 Ton Tony's

I found myself in Irondequoit the other day around lunchtime, which made a good excuse for a visit to 2 Ton Tony's. I've reviewed Tony's before, and have always liked both his pizza and his dedication to his craft. I won't recite the whole history again, but Tony's commitment to the pizzaiolo's art come as a surprise, since the roots of his pizza go back decades, to the long-gone Proietti's on North Goodman Street. In short, there's a lot of family heritage here. (And at Tony's uncle's place, Proietti's in Webster.)
I had a couple of pepperoni and banana pepper slices - actually, one giant slice, which is how they come, cut in half. They were thin and foldable, with a firm crust, somewhat herbal tomato sauce, nicely melted mozzarella, and meaty, spicy pepperoni. Fresh out of the oven, the aroma of the vinegary hot peppers and the meaty pepperoni was reminiscent of Buffalo wings, which is about as intoxicating as it gets, for my money.
Pizzas at Tony's spend some time on a screen, but are finished off on the oven's stone deck. I've never been a huge fan of pizza screens, but though a lot of screen pizzas that I've tried have a very soft, oily crust (which is the exact opposite of what the screen is supposed to accomplish), Tony's slices have a dry, firm, crisp bottom, with some surface crackling, especially nearer the edge. These weren't charred, or as crackly-crisp, as a New York style slice, but this is not New York style pizza. Tony's pizza falls more into the tradition of Rochester's indigenous style, which tends to have a somewhat thicker, softer crust than its downstate cousin. These were also well balanced slices, with a thin to medium thick crust, and a commensurate level of sauce, cheese, and added toppings, and I found the overall flavor quite good.
This corner of Irondequoit remains a hotbed of pizza competition, with Mark's, Cam's, Bay Goodman, and Little Caesar's - and Wegmans - within a block or two of each other. (I've reviewed several of those, and I will get around to the others eventually.) Apparently Tony likes it that way, because he'll soon be opening a second location in another pizza hotspot, near the intersection of Rts. 59 and 531 in Spencerport, where he'll be squaring off against Cam's (again) and Pontillo's, as well as several other places within a mile or two up the road. But from what I saw, 2 Ton Tony's is up to the challenge, and with competition, the consumer is the winner. If you live nearby, check 'em all out and decide for yourself.
On my prior post about 2 Ton Tony's (I'm not counting the post about his Ring of Fire pizza, which I didn't assign a grade to), I gave my slices on that occasion a B, for pizza that was well made, but lacking a bit of crispness underneath. This one was very similar, but a bit crisper, so they get a boost up a notch, to a B+.
2 Ton Tony's, 545 Titus Ave. (same building as the DMV), Irondequoit
Tel.: 266-TONY (8669)
Hours: Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sun. noon - 9 p.m.