Journey to Corn Hill Part II: Coal Fired Pizza and Addictive Caesar Salad

"You must get the Caesar Salad... Have you ever seen me eat salad? I have dreams about that salad!" Was what my former housemate told me about this next place. If I take away nothing else from my time in Rochester; the main lesson will in matters of food, Katie is never wrong :-)

My companions for this one are a few of my classmates from my masters program. We went to Tony D's in Cornhill (http://tonydsrochester.com/). And we did exactly as Katie had instructed. The three of us orders Caesar salads and a large Carciofi Pizza to split.  

Tony D's Caesar Salad.

 As Katie said, I might be also be having dreams about this salad. They put just enough dressing on it so as not to overpower some of the other flavors that are happening here. I also like the touch of the lemon to add a little more acidity to the salad if you so desired (personally never saw that before). Another little thing about this salad: instead of bacon they used dried prosciutto. I loved the texture and the taste the prosciutto gave it; not over powering but balancing.  

I ordered it without chicken while my classmates had it with the chicken. I wish I would have taken a picture of theirs. It was breaded and cooked in the coal oven. Theirs looked amazing.  

Carciofi with Artichoke Hearts, Sundried Goat cheese topped with Pecorino on a Pistachio Pesto base.

Pizza arrived at the table on the wooden slab from the oven. Yes the picture is of the pizza half eaten, we were too quick for the camera. I am not usually a fan of thin crust pizza except when it made on a grill or in a brick oven. I don't know exactly what the direct flame does to make it so amazing but yes, it was amazing. Like salad, everything was perfectly balanced. Artichoke which can be at times a double edge sword (its usually cooked in lemon juice which can be overpowering), was nothing of the sort. It had a good crunch to it partly from the cooking process but also because I think they might have been par cooked by steam.  The sundried tomatoes were a nice surprise as well adding some more earthy flavor to the pizza. 

My companions were eager to go back. I wonder if my agenda will give me time to go back once more..