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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Cordello's, Chili

I've done one previous post about Cordello's, concerning their location on Lyell Road in Gates. My slices from there wasn't bad, but they had some flaws, and I gave them a B-.
Recently I stopped at Cordello's on Chili Ave. in Chili. I got a cheese slice and a pepperoni slice.
These were a little better than the ones I got in Gates. They were about the same thickness, on the thin side of medium, and thinner toward the tip, getting gradually thicker toward the outer edge.
The undersides were charred and nearly blackened in some areas, but were also more evenly browned than the slices I got in Gates. They had a crackly exterior, and a toasty flavor and aroma. Despite the outer crispness, they were still reasonably pliable and foldable.
The interior of the crust was rather chewy, almost to the point of being "tough." I imagine that, like most pizzerias around here, Cordello's uses high-gluten flour, and the gluten in this crust seemed exceptionally well developed, which can give you a tougher, chewier texture. Between that chewiness and the exterior crispness, the crust on one slice tore apart when I took a bite.
The sauce was moderately applied, in good balance with the crust, and was just a little sweet, in a tomatoey kind of way. That was topped by a layer of mozzarella that was just barely browned. It was fairly thick, and in fact the cheese was thicker than the crust in many areas. All in all, though, there was a pretty good balance among the crust, cheese and sauce. The wide, thin slices of pepperoni were a little spicy.

As of now, there appear to be five Cordelllo's locations. I presume they share more or less the same menu, which you can see at the Irondequoit Cordello's Facebook page.
This pizza wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was better than what I got in Gates last year. The crust was too hard to chew, and as you can see in the photo, the cheese was a little unevenly applied, and only covered about two-thirds of the pepperoni slice.
But it did have several things going for it, including a crisp bottom with some nice toasty notes, good flavor, and pretty good balance. I'd say it rates a B.
Cordello's, 3774 Chili Ave. (at Union St.) 889-3333 Hours unknown, but the Gates location advertises very late hours.

2 comments:

  1. have you tried the more upscale pizza six 50 across the street yet?

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  2. http://rochesternypizza.blogspot.com/2013/09/six50-revisited.html

    ReplyDelete