- PHOTO PROVIDED
- A couple of Pizza Wizard's Detroit-style pies.
Pizza Wizard
760 S. Clinton Ave. | 585-565-4557
pizzawizard.pizza
What sorcery is this?! A win for Pizza Wizard solidifies it as a force on the burgeoning local pizza scene. Specializing in Detroit-style pizza, Wizard serves square pies that hit all the notes a native Michigander would look for and that Rochester obviously wants: An airy but crisp crust; Wisconsin Brick cheese piled high and to the edges; and two thick stripes of red sauce topping it off. Behind the restaurant’s success are chef James Revels and Brian Van Etten, chef and co-owner of Playhouse/Swillburger. Pizza Wizard’s pizza is serious business, but as its name suggests, the restaurant is creative and playful with its rotating menu. Pies called “El Meat Man” and “The Side Piece” make it hard not to laugh with your mouth full.
Finalists: Mark’s Pizzeria | Peels on Wheels | Pizza Stop
- PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH
- Luis Perez with a couple of Neapolitan pizza pies outside his Peels on Wheels Piaggio Ape
1157 Culver Road | 585-355-4111
peelsonwheelspizza.com
I thought I was passionate about pizza until I met Peels on Wheels owner Luis Perez. Turns out, I was only passionate about eating it. Perez can talk for hours on end about dough fermentation alone. His devotion to the craft is evident in every slice. Peels marries elements of New York-style and traditional Neapolitan pizza, and the results are glorious. Like a true master, Perez shows his versatility and prowess in other popular styles, offering Detroit-style pizza on Motor-City Wednesdays and Sicilian and Grandma (my personal favorite) pizza on what he calls “Thicc Thursdays.” Following years of Peels being on wheels, Perez has parked the Italian-imported Piaggio Ape truck oven in the Beechwood garage/pizza shop his operation has called home since 2021. Perez himself is constantly on the move, though, traveling for education and collaboration. — DARIO JOSEPH