pizza

Guida's has five locations around town, two of which - Empire Blvd. and Elmgrove Rd. - I've reviewed before (I've done several posts about the Empire location, so enter "Guida's" in the search bar to bring up all of them).
Recently I visited the Honeoye Falls Guida's, which also allowed me to sample some Guida's varieties I hadn't tried before, their Buffalo chicken pizza and their pan-risen Sicilian.
Although I've only tried a small fraction of the Buffalo chicken pizzas in this area, the ones that I've had have been broadly similar, up until this one. Most of the Buffalo chicken pizza I've had has been topped with either tomato sauce, with hot-sauce-laden chicken chunks added, or a thin layer of hot sauce, in lieu of tomato sauce. Blue cheese has usually been added in minimal quantities, if at all.
This pie, though, was striking for being topped with a thick layer of blue cheese sauce. It wasn't particularly pungent, and was essentially a mild version of the stuff that typically comes with an order of wings.
But more on that in a second. Let's start at the bottom, with the crust.
One thing I've tended to like about Guida's pizza is the crust, which is typically bready and usually crisp. This crust had the breadiness, but was rather soft. It was dry on the bottom, with no grease, and medium thick. There were several large bubbles along the edge, which was, again, nice and bready, with good flavor and a chewy, airy texture.
Atop the crust was a thin layer of medium-hot sauce, a moderate amount of melted mozzarella, a copious amount of breaded chicken chunks, and that creamy blue cheese sauce. With all those toppings, this was one filling pizza, and not for the diet-conscious. Even the individual slices were physically heavy (so lifting them does burn some calories, I suppose). With no tomato sauce, just chicken, hot sauce and blue cheese, this was indeed very reminiscent of Buffalo chicken wings, lacking only a side of celery.
I was perhaps looking more forward to the pan-risen Sicilian pizza. Although I've long known that Sicily has a distinctive style of pizza, it's often seemed to me that the name "Sicilian" tends to be slapped onto what otherwise would simply be called sheet pizza. And sheet pizza is all too often characterized by an overly crunchy, greasy crust that tastes as if it's been fried rather than baked, making it little more than a bigger but less desirable version of a pizzeria's regular round pie.
After trying some Sicilian pizza at places like Nino's, Joe's, Vinny's and Pizza Stop, however, I've come to appreciate that not every pizza labeled "Sicilian" around here is a mere greasy sheet pizza, and that the style has something to offer beyond mere thickness. A good Sicilian pizza can be crisp and bready, complex and subtle, and a welcome (if occasional, for me) alternative to thin-crust, New York or Neapolitan pizza.
Maybe, then, those changed perceptions heightened my expectations for Guida's version, but I was a bit disappointed with this pizza. To paraphrase Seinfeld, not that there was anything wrong with it, it just didn't thrill me.
The primary reason, I guess, was the crust. It was not oily, so it certainly got points for that, but it was quite soft. I know that I cannot expect a pan-risen pizza to have the same crispness as a good New York style pie, but to my way of thinking, there ought to be a bit of bite in the crust, and this one didn't have that.
That said, the crust did have an appealing bready flavor and good interior texture. So it wasn't bad, even if it fell a little short of my hopes or expectations.
The Sicilian was topped with a moderate amount of sauce, cheese and pepperoni, all of which were added in pretty good proportion to the crust. The sauce was a pretty basic tomatoey sauce, with some herbs in the background, and the cheese seemed like straight mozzarella, which struck the right balance between melted and browned. The pepperoni was of the ordinary wide and thin variety.
These two pizzas further showed that Guida's turns out some pretty good pizza, but of course not every pie will please every palate. Confounding my expectations, I actually preferred the Buffalo chicken pie over the Sicilian, although it was a bit too filling for my taste, kind of like eating chicken wings with a loaf of bread on the side.
The Sicilian was all right, but I wouldn't rank it among my favorites in this area. Think of it as a non-greasy version of sheet pizza, which isn't a bad thing; it just wasn't up there with what I consider the best of the bunch for this style.
I haven't been rating Buffalo chicken pizza, and I think I'll stick with that approach. This pie only confirmed that there are so many variations on this style that it's difficult to compare one to another, plus I haven't really formed any sharply delineated preferences yet. But if you want a pizza that combines the flavor of Buffalo chicken wings with the stomach-filling qualities of pizza, Guida's is for you.
The Sicilian? It was enjoyable, but not outstanding, and I'll peg it at just a cut above average, for a C+.
Guida's, 166 W. Main St., Honeoye Falls, 624-9380 Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. noon - 10 p.m.

ZiaMo's Pizzeria is a relative newcomer to Honeoye Falls. It's in the same building as "Brongo Bowl." There used to be a pizzeria in the same spot called Bucciarelli's, which I never tried, and this was my first visit to ZiaMo's.
I don't usually go for a lot of toppings, but there were some slices with pepperoni, hot peppers, and roasted red peppers that looked good, so I went with that.
This was a big slice, any way you cut it (pun intended) - it was wide, thick, and heavy. It had been screen-baked, and the underside was browned and not at all crisp. Despite its thickness, it was quite foldable.
The mozzarella was pretty thick and chewy, adding to the heft of this slice. There was a sprinkling of oregano flakes visible, which were distinctly noticeable on the palate. The tomatoey sauce got a bit lost among all the other toppings.
The slice as a whole had a good flavor, but would've benefited from a crisper crust. For all its thickness, this crust was kind of wimpy. It was soft, and the bottom of the crust separated a bit from the top, which I imagine is something that happened during the baking process, though I'm not sure exactly what the explanation is. It may have something to do with the top being wetter than the bottom, because of the the sauce and other toppings, and also more insulated from the heat of the oven.
Overall, the crust had a bit of an undercooked bread dough flavor. And the edge, which I often like because it tends to crisp up nicely, instead had a texture that I can best describe as "tough." Chewy, but not in a good way.
ZiaMo's has a pretty big menu, with all the standards - fried appetizers, wings, hot subs (no cold subs, apparently), wraps, burgers, etc. They also have several chicken and fish entrees, including a Caribbean Chicken with pineapple salsa, and parmesan-crusted tilapia.
The pizza menu features six specialty pizzas, including "Tony's Favorite," which must be what I got, and a white pizza with garlic, grilled chicken, tomatoes, artichokes, onion and green peppers.
This one's a little bit of a tough call. I mean, I liked it OK, it tasted pretty good, but it was mostly the toppings that I liked. And to me, the best toppings in the world can't save a mediocre crust. From some comments I've gotten about other places, I know there are those who feel differently. But I can only rate ZiaMo's according to my own preferences. So with that in mind, I'm giving it a C. Not bad, but no better than average.
ZiaMo's Pizzeria, 126 W. Main St., Honeoye Falls, inside Brongo Bowl. (The bowling alley and adjoining bar were closed on my lunchtime visit.) 624-3810. Current summer hours: Mon. 11 - 8, Tue. - Sat. 11 - 9, Sun. 4 - 8.

Tony and Enzo's Slices is on Main St. in the village of Honeoye Falls. It's your typical small-town pizza joint, the kind of place where locals stop by to have a quick lunch, grab an after-school slice, or to pick up a pizza on the way home from work.
I had a cheese slice at lunchtime. It was pretty thin and foldable, and I might've been inclined to call it a NYC-style slice until I checked the underside, which was a uniform, medium brown, and which was pockmarked with tiny holes and dimples that I couldn't figure out. It had a faint aroma of cooking oil or grease, and was soft and chewy.
The sauce had a slightly herbal flavor, and the cheese was nicely browned. Both were applied in moderation, which I mean as a compliment, as they were in good balance with the crust.
Slices offers "traditional" and pan pizza, with a decent range of toppings, and some interesting "gourmet" pizzas, includiing chicken bacon ranch, cheeseburger, and greek pizzas. They also have hot and cold subs, calzones, regular and breaded wings, salads, and grilled and fried items like burgers, fries, etc. Plus chili, fried chicken and wraps. Lots of stuff.
Some things I liked about this pizza, some not so much. The sauce had good flavor, the cheese was baked just to the point of browning, and both were in balance with each other and with the crust.
That crust, though, didn't thrill me. Very soft, no crispness or charring, and that faint whiff of grease. I'm not saying this was badly made, but that's just not my idea of a great crust, and without a great crust you can't have a great pizza. The slice overall tasted good, the toppings were good, and overall it was satisfying, but to me, this pizza fell a little short of what it could've been. I'll give it a C+.
Tony and Enzo's Slices, 10 N. Main St., Honeoye Falls. 624-4930
Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 9 pm, Sat. 3 - 9 pm. Closed Sun. Some seating. Delivery available after 4:00.