OT: WNY Pizza... What's the best?

[Gatorman0519]

Penoras Pizza in Depew is pretty darn good.  Love the burnt edges of the pepperoni. 

[Taro T]

16 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

That’s...odd...almost every single local place I get pizza from in Roch has cup and char...

Guess it must just be out in this portion of their suburbs then.  

[JoeSchmoe]

2 hours ago, Thwomp! said:

Anyone have any good recommendations for good buffalo style pizza and wings close to the I-86 corridor/southern tier/ southern finger lakes area?  I'm visiting in July and after reading all this, I have to try and find something.  

If you're going as far west as Ellicottville, Tim and Bonnie's is really good legit Buffalo pizza.

The first Tim and Bonnie's was in Springville and used to be a Blasdell pizza. That was our usual stop on the way back from Holiday Valley.

When the switched over to Tim and Bonnie's, the food all tasted the same. When they opened the Ellicottville location we started going there instead.

One hockey connection is that Bonnie told me Rob Ray bought the bowling alley next to the pizza joint in Springville and closed off the door that connected the two. Apparently that caused her to lose their bowling alley customers.

Now the Ellicottville location has its own bowling alley and arcade attached.

Edit: I just looked at their website and it looks like they're now advertising the Springville bowling alley in connection with the pizzeria.

Edited May 21, 2021 by JoeSchmoe

[PASabreFan]

The moral of the story seems to be you can't throw a piece of pepperoni without hitting a top notch pizza joint. Yet, the times I've had La Nova pizza I've been disappointed. Where would one go to have a 100% shot at great "Buffalo pizza"?

[SDS]

16 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The moral of the story seems to be you can't throw a piece of pepperoni without hitting a top notch pizza joint. Yet, the times I've had La Nova pizza I've been disappointed. Where would one go to have a 100% shot at great "Buffalo pizza"?

I had La Nova pizza once since it delivered to the hospital. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza, expecting ham and pineapple. Well we got one that unexpectedly also had two jars of maraschino cherries on it and it was awful.

[LabattBlue]

3 minutes ago, SDS said:

I had La Nova pizza once since it delivered to the hospital. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza, expecting ham and pineapple. Well we got one that unexpectedly also had two jars of maraschino cherries on it and it was awful.

🤮

[darksabre]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

The moral of the story seems to be you can't throw a piece of pepperoni without hitting a top notch pizza joint. Yet, the times I've had La Nova pizza I've been disappointed. Where would one go to have a 100% shot at great "Buffalo pizza"?

LaNova sucks. 

If you want can't-miss I think you're looking at Bocce, Lovejoy, Picasso's, Imperial, and Macy's Place.

[darksabre]

Also, if you're looking for the definitive collection of reviews:

http://www.sexyslices.com/

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

The moral of the story seems to be you can't throw a piece of pepperoni without hitting a top notch pizza joint. Yet, the times I've had La Nova pizza I've been disappointed. Where would one go to have a 100% shot at great "Buffalo pizza"?

Bocce, Imperial, and I still like mister pizza but understand if their crust isn't thick enough. 

Francos is fine but the others are better. LA Nova is hit or miss. 

 

[Zamboni]

24 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Bocce, Imperial, and I still like mister pizza but understand if their crust isn't thick enough. 

Francos is fine but the others are better. LA Nova is hit or miss. 

 

Yea, I think LaNova is running mostly on reputation as opposed to current high quality, greatly sought after delicious pizza. Is it good? Yes. But it misses the mark for me to regard it as great.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, darksabre said:

If you want can't-miss I think you're looking at Bocce, Lovejoy, Picasso's, Imperial, and Macy's Place.

Interesting about Macy’s: My last 2 experiences were uneven. I think their social media content is more consistently excellent than their pie? Maybe they started reading their own press clippings too much. Or maybe I had 2 outliers.

[SwampD]

Man, I love Good Guys in North Tonawanda.

http://www.sexyslices.com/2020/07/12/wk44-good-guys/

Edited May 21, 2021 by SwampD

[Doohickie]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

The moral of the story seems to be you can't throw a piece of pepperoni without hitting a top notch pizza joint. Yet, the times I've had La Nova pizza I've been disappointed. Where would one go to have a 100% shot at great "Buffalo pizza"?

Buffalo Bros in Ft Worth, TX. Tell Ed I sent you.

[Zamboni]

Checked out that sexy slices website … other then maybe maybe someday trying a couple joints he had ranked higher than Bocce’s, I came away shrugging my shoulders and thinking …. Oooook a guy eating pizza and telling others his opinion. Whatever. Thing is, my tastes are different than his tastes, which are different than your tastes, which are different than your friends tastes etc etc etc…. Should I take his ranking seriously? Not really. So I chalk it up to a dude having fun hardening his arteries and sharing it with anyone who will listen. 😂

[SDS]

4 hours ago, SwampD said:

Man, I love Good Guys in North Tonawanda.

http://www.sexyslices.com/2020/07/12/wk44-good-guys/

That looks utterly awful in every possible way. The pictures are gross. 

[Andrew Amerk]

5 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Yea, I think LaNova is running mostly on reputation as opposed to current high quality, greatly sought after delicious pizza. Is it good? Yes. But it misses the mark for me to regard it as great.

I tried La Nova last time I was in Buffalo. It was okay, nothing special. 

I left confused as to why it was so hyped up. 

[JoeSchmoe]

56 minutes ago, SDS said:

That looks utterly awful in every possible way. The pictures are gross. 

Yeah... Where's the cup pepperoni?!?! 😁

SDS... My guess is you're naturally very lean. I have some friends and acquaintances that would be grossed out by WNY pizza like you.

I always say their ability to stay thin is not a function of their incredible discipline, but rather a complete distaste for foods that make you fat and/or an ability to feel legitimately full after eating small portions.

A couple guys i work with bring in the sorriest-a$$ plain-jane lunches and when they eat its almost a daily routine... and not something they look like they're enjoying. Yet they're perfectly happy that way... and very lean despite not really exercising too much.

Edited May 22, 2021 by JoeSchmoe

[SwampD]

55 minutes ago, SDS said:

That looks utterly awful in every possible way. The pictures are gross. 

Nope.

I agree with all of this.

Overall: (A-/A)

If you want to eat the most intense, heaviest, most overindulgent and blown out slices in the Buffalo area, treck your ass out to NT and prepare to choke yourself out on farts all the way back to wherever it is you reside. Eating Good Guys’ is like eating a delicious pizza cake. I don’t want to know the caloric value of these slices, because I probably would have jogged back to the city. Although every ingredient was maxed out, they were all individually amazing, and that’s what kept it an excellent slice regardless of size. This will absolutely be a new staple for me every time I’m in the area. I hear the wings are dope on a rope as well. You think they deliver to Xanders? Thank you, Good Guys’! It was an experience.

[SDS]

39 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Yeah... Where's the cup pepperoni?!?! 😁

SDS... My guess is you're naturally very lean. I have some friends and acquaintances that would be grossed out by WNY pizza like you.

I always say their ability to stay thin is not a function of their incredible discipline, but rather a complete distaste for foods that make you fat and/or an ability to feel legitimately full after eating small portions.

A couple guys i work with bring in the sorriest-a$$ plain-jane lunches and when they eat its almost a daily routine... and not something they look like they're enjoying. Yet they're perfectly happy in their that way... and very lean despite not really exercising too much.

Lean? Nah. I would be lean if I lost 25 pounds. That said, I’m not 100lbs overweight either. 

I wish I had a good analogy, but when I think of worldly chefs trying to make a thoughtful, well balanced pizza, I imagine Eddie from Christmas Vacation scratching himself and then dumping an entire bag of cheese on a pizza and being completely proud of his creation. 

The rest of the stuff is fine. I like cup and char. It doesn’t matter to me if the sauce is sweet or not. If the crust is thin or not or has different structure. Those are all reasonable trade offs to make different styles. 

But when you read a review and the reviewer says that sometimes they take a bite of pizza and the only thing they bite is cheese, that’s ***** up. At that point you’re really just fingerpainting in a world of fine art.

[SwampD]

10 minutes ago, SDS said:

Lean? Nah. I would be lean if I lost 25 pounds. That said, I’m not 100lbs overweight either. 

I wish I had a good analogy, but when I think of worldly chefs trying to make a thoughtful, well balanced pizza, I imagine Eddie from Christmas Vacation scratching himself and then dumping an entire bag of cheese on a pizza and being completely proud of his creation. 

The rest of the stuff is fine. I like cup and char. It doesn’t matter to me if the sauce is sweet or not. If the crust is thin or not or has different structure. Those are all reasonable trade offs to make different styles. 

But when you read a review and the reviewer says that sometimes they take a bite of pizza and the only thing they bite is cheese, that’s ***** up. At that point you’re really just fingerpainting in a world of fine art.

Bread is overrated.

I will never understand someone who eats crusts.

Give me a middle piece of a Good Guys sheet pizza. Give me cheese.

[JoeSchmoe]

17 minutes ago, SDS said:

I wish I had a good analogy, but when I think of worldly chefs trying to make a thoughtful, well balanced pizza, I imagine Eddie from Christmas Vacation scratching himself and then dumping an entire bag of cheese on a pizza and being completely proud of his creation. 

After following this thread, I've learned that there's a lot of history and multiple generations of people making pizza this way... mostly from Italian immigrants. It's more than a chef boyardee cardboard crust and a bag of cheese made by cousin Eddy 

A simple alfredo sauce which no foodie would turn their nose to is just mainly whipping cream and butter. Just before the lockdown here in Niagara Canada I had a chef prepared porchetta at a winery that was likely no leaner than a slice of La Nova. Ummm... pork belly!

Edited May 22, 2021 by JoeSchmoe

[KC Scouts]

Southtowns

 Ninos - West Seneca or  Hamburg

Cappellis - Orchard Park

[SDS]

11 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

After following this thread, I've learned that there's a lot of history and multiple generations of people making pizza this way... mostly from Italian immigrants. It's more than a chef boyardee cardboard crust and a bag of cheese made by cousin Eddy 

A simple alfredo sauce which no foodie would turn their nose to is just mainly whipping cream and butter. Just before the lockdown here in Niagara Canada I had a chef prepared porchetta at a winery that was likely no leaner than a slice of La Nova. Ummm... pork belly!

I didn’t say anything about the crust. I actually said the difference with other styles was a fine differentiator. 

[JoeSchmoe]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

I didn’t say anything about the crust. I actually said the difference with other styles was a fine differentiator. 

Sorry, what i meant to say is the heap loads of cheese that might be throwing you is similar in over the top richness as an alfredo or other respected foods.

[SDS]

38 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Sorry, what i meant to say is the heap loads of cheese that might be throwing you is similar in over the top richness as an alfredo or other respected foods.

This picture is disgusting. It also requires no talent to achieve.  It also serves no purpose beyond of some cheese is good, then 5x more must be better. That’s my point and it’s my opinion of what I consider to be the worst part of Buffalo-style pizza. It’s probably not coincidental that the vast, vast majority of the world doesn’t eat anything that looks like that either. 

I completely reject any notion that you can’t make incredible tasting pizza by using balanced ingredients. 

If you talk about a bomb going  off in your stomach or about  the intestinal distress a food causes - that’s probably a sign you are doing it wrong.