Romans 4 New York City Pizza (Paradise Market), DeWitt

Over on my “Hearsay” page, a reader encouraged me to try Romans Pizza, in the Paradise Market. PM is a collection of shops, sharing the space once occupied by Hechinger on Erie Boulevard, open Friday through Sunday. Various performances are booked for the stage, which faces a comfortable seating area in the “food court” section. In some ways it has the feel of the Horticulture Building or Center of Progress at the NYS State fair, but a little more “permanent.” And of course, without the crush of the crowds. I don’t know if “Romans 4 New York City Pizza” is related to any other restaurant operation, either in town or elsewhere. Sure, I could interview the people behind the counter to find out these things, except that I prefer to remain anonymous when doing reviews.

On a recent Friday I stopped in for a sample slice of pepperoni pizza, which was 1/8th of an 18″ pie, $2.00 plus tax. Flipping over the slice for the photo, I noticed it was not just browned, but actually a little charred. This usually indicates a rather high oven temperature (when I bake pizza on the stone at home, getting above 500 degrees usually puts me in the range where I see charring as opposed to browning only.) Some pizza fans prefer the taste of quickly charred crust over slower-baked, browner crust. Personally, I’m still on the fence over which is truly better.

At any rate, when I turned it back over, I noticed that the crust rim was still very “blonde.” Further, biting into the light-colored rim revealed that the dough was underbaked and gummy. It didn’t spring back where I held it, leaving behind squished finger marks because it didn’t quite “set” in the rim. This can most certainly be blamed on the oven, with high heat underneath the pizza, and low heat above it. You certainly couldn’t leave it in the oven any longer, because the bottom would end up severely black.

Enough about the oven. Aside from the baking problem noted above, this was a decent-tasting NY Style thin crust, averaging just under 1/4″ thickness. There was some crispiness on the bottom, and the basic crust flavor was well-balanced.

The sauce saved the day for this pizza. I said in a previous review that I felt sauce was as difficult to get right, or even more so, than crust. In this case, the sauce exemplified exactly what I look for in pizza sauce – bright red, not too thin or thick, with fresh tomato taste, good texture (slightly chunky), just the right amount of salty and sweet notes, with a moderate spice load. This sauce was right up there in quality with the best I’ve sampled for this blog!

Cheese was a little oily, but otherwise good. The pepperoni was on the low end of medium spice. Taken as a whole, the taste of this pizza was very pleasant, with the obvious exception of the crust problem noted earlier. If I were in a nasty mood (which almost never happens with the Pizza Geek – how could you eat a lot of pizza and be in a bad mood?), I would ding this pizza all the way down to 3.5 because of the underbaked crust. But, plenty of people don’t eat the crust rim anyway. Since I want to reward the excellent sauce and general pleasant taste of the pizza, I’m going to post a Pizza Geek rating of 4 out of 5 slices for “Romans 4 New York Style Pizza” at Paradise Market.

Summary – Pros: excellent sauce. Cons: underbaked rim.

What do YOU think? Have you tried pizza from Romans at Paradise Market? Click the comment link below and tell us how it was!

Crust: ***
Sauce: *****
Cheese: ****
Toppings: ****
Bang/Buck: *****
Overall:

Romans 4 New York City Pizza (Paradise Market), 3179 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

Mario and Salvo’s Pizzeria, DeWitt

Some pizza shops are new, some have been around a little while, and some are “mature” – meaning that when you walk in, you can tell there is a lot of experience and expertise at work.  Mario and Salvo’s Pizza, at the corner of East Genesee and Jamesville Road in DeWitt, is in the mature category – it was established in 1992. And yes, Mario and Salvo both exist, and were both hard at work when I visited on a recent Friday evening during the dinner rush. Mario was handling the front end, and Salvo was working the dough in the prep area. At least six other employees were busy helping them shovel the pizza and wings over the counter to the long line of customers. UrbanSpoon shows Mario and Salvo’s as the #2 rated pizza shop, and the #14 overall restaurant in the Syracuse area, so we’re talking about a seriously important fixture on the Syracuse pizza scene.

For this review, I ordered a small (12″) with green peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives on half. The crust was very well browned on the bottom and rim, with a nice crispiness on the rim. I observed the pizza prep guys stretching the dough with minimal handling, and it shows with a larger than average bubble structure inside the crust. However, it was a rather chewy crust, taking more than average effort to bite off and chew. The general crust flavor was very good, but with just a little too much salt for my taste.

The sauce had some excellent qualities – good texture and color, and a very strong tomato flavor that was slightly acidic. There wasn’t very much of it, though. I couldn’t see much sign of spice flakes in the sauce, but it did appear that some spice was sprinkled on top after the toppings were added.

Speaking of toppings, they were very tasty and very good quality. The cheese had a little bit of oil separation, and was slightly orangey, which added to the general chewiness of the pizza.

Overall, this pizza was pretty good, and we enjoyed it, but it does still have a little room for improvement, in my opinion. I emphasize “in my opinion” because the VERY busy shop indicates a lot of happy customers – customers who might read this review and say, “He’s crazy to criticize ANYTHING!!” At any rate, I give Mario and Salvo’s a Pizza Geek rating of 4 out of 5 slices – meaning it is pizza well worth eating.

Summary – Pros: tasty toppings, tomatoey sauce. Cons: chewy crust, a little salty.

What do you think? Do you like Mario and Salvo’s Pizza? Click the comment link below.

Crust: ****
Sauce: ****
Cheese: ****
Toppings: ****
Value: ****
Overall:

Mario and Salvo’s Pizzeria – 4326 E. Genesee St, DeWitt – 446-8479

CiCi’s Pizza, DeWitt – Review

Few restaurant openings have generated the “buzz” of CiCi’s Pizza, which opened at 3237 Erie Blvd. East in DeWitt on Monday, June 28.  Several days after the opening, the line still stretched out the door for much of the day.  Is it the food?  Is it the price?  Is it just curiosity?

About a week before opening day, I posted the full text of an official news release from CiCi’s, and several hundred people came here to read it.  They still are. 

Opening day queue (Courtesy cnycentral.com)

Just before opening at 11am Monday the 28th, the line stretched way back in to the parking lot, and as I mentioned above, there was still a line several days later.  With pizza so easily available in so many places, what’s so special about CiCi’s?  I have to admit, the concept sounds fantastic – a long buffet table with numerous kinds of pizza, and you can eat ALL YOU WANT!  No need to order, no waiting for the food (in theory).

Pizza purists mock the idea of getting good pizza from a national chain, but to satisfy my own curiosity, and that of this blog’s readers, I decided to “take one for the team” and stop in for a review.  My visit began by joining the line at 1:05pm, behind about 25 people.  Before long, there were more behind me.  As customers left, I heard many comments similar to this: “It was worth the wait…and a little money…you can’t eat cheaper,” and: “Whoo!  I feel like a stuffed pig!”

The person directly behind me in line said, “I was here two days ago, it was good!”  Another person behind me said, “I hope it isn’t like the CiCi’s in Florida – they are TERRIBLE!”  He didn’t elaborate on exactly WHAT was terrible.

View from the rear, facing the entrance.

Once I entered the small vestibule, still several people away from the register, I looked through the windows and noted that there were many open tables, especially near the rear.  So, the line outside isn’t necessarily an indication of a lack of seating.  Rather, the logjam is at the register and buffet line.  When you pay, you are handed your drink cup, and you just move along to your right to pick up your food.  So, there was no waiting for tables, just waiting for the line to move past the register and along the buffet line.

A youngster ponders his choices

It took about 20 minutes for me to reach the register.  The cost for an adult buffet is $5.49 (lower prices for children), and a the drink is another $1.49 (endless refills, but you have to leave the plastic tumbler behind).  The cashier explained that if you want to take the drink home with you, you can upgrade to a larger, disposable cup for another 30 cents or so.  Adjacent to the register is the salad bar, with your basic iceberg mix (like you find in the bags at the supermarket), four or five vegetables, bacon bits, and four kinds of dressing.

Keep stepping to your right, turn the corner, and “Laaaaa Ahhhhh!” (angels singing), there is the pizza! (and soup, breadsticks, sauce, pasta, dessert.)  A busy staff (I should have counted them – at least 10) keeps pulling pizzas from the conveyor oven, slicing them, and placing them on the buffet.  Grab a melamine plate, grab your choice of pizza, fill your cup, and head to a table.

Yes, I took a bite before remembering to take the picture

The first time around, I chose a sausage slice, and a pepperoni slice.  These slices came from a rather small pie, just under 12″.  That’s a plus for anyone with small children.  (I apologize for the poorer than usual pictures – I forgot the good camera.)  The crust rim was pretty wide, so only the 8 or 9 inches diameter of the middle had any amount of toppings, which translates into just over 4″ from tip to end-of-toppings.  Small.  Some slices were also very narrow.  Give up any fantasies of grabbing slices from big 18″ pies!  This is the reality of an all-you-can-eat operation – portion sizes have to be kept small to reduce waste.

The best word I can find to describe the taste is: institutional.  Their news release says that dough is made fresh daily on-site.  If so, you would expect it could be much better than this.  I’ve had much better crust on frozen pizza.  My best guess is that the flour is largely responsible, and to some degree, the handling and the oven.  On the exterior it was very soft, with no crackle or crispiness.  Underneath it was evenly browned, and about 1/4″ thick.  When you pull apart the crust rim, it is a very uniform, finely bubbled, spongy, chewy texture.  The crust is “spiked” before toppings are applied, which is why you see little dimples on the rim and bottom.  I’m not sure what benefit this has – Papa John’s also does this, maybe it helps prevent excess crust bubbles while baking in the conveyor oven.

The sauce had an extremely fine texture, a slight hint of tomato taste, and a very mild, mostly indistinguishable spice load.  Cheese was generally adequate, in the right proportion to everything else, and lightly browned in spots.  The only toppings I sampled were pepperoni (mild and generally not offensive) and sausage (small bits, dry, generally tasteless).  Other types of pizza, such as ham and pineapple, Buffalo chicken wing, and other things I didn’t recognize were constantly going through the rotation at the buffet table.  With the large crowd, it wasn’t practical to get a good look, or a sample from each one.

A final sample of pizza, and some dessert choices

Interestingly, even with no slice of pizza surviving on the buffet for more than a few minutes, it wasn’t very warm.  I suspect that the oven was a little ahead of the buffet, so once it was removed from the oven and sliced, it sat in a holding rack until buffet space opened up.

Dessert choices include chewy, uninspiring cinnamon rolls; spongy, chocolatish something dusted with confectioners’ sugar; and something I actually liked – apple cinnamon pizza.

OK, so CiCi’s is relatively inexpensive, and fast (once the lines die down), which might make you forget that the pizza isn’t very good.  But is it REALLY worth it when you have such good options that are locally owned and operated, such as Gianni’s, Kosta’s and Sal’s?  Many local pizza shops have $3.99 specials (two slices and a drink), so the “CiCi’s is inexpensive” argument is harder to make.  If you are determined to try CiCi’s, go ahead.  But I challenge you to make a thoughtful, careful comparison with proper pizza from one of the shops I just mentioned, then post a comment on this review that describes the differences you noted.  The Pizza Geek gives Cici’s Pizza a rating of 2.5 out of 5.

Summary – Pros: (sort of) inexpensive.  Cons: “institutional” flavor, not served hot.

What do you think?  Have you been to Cici’s?  Will you go?  Click the comment link below and tell us about it.

Crust: **
Sauce: **
Cheese: ***
Toppings: ***
Value: ****
Overall:

CiCi’s Pizza – 3237 Erie Blvd. East, DeWitt – Phone 396-0717