Review: Papa's Pizza Oven - Lancaster NY

Our first encounter with “Buffalo style” pizza was a good one. The local newspaper had an article about a pizzaiolo who was getting great social media responses. His pizza shop, very unassuming as you see from the photo, is only 20 minutes away and next to a park where we wanted to go for a walk on a nice day. Of course, we had to check it out. 

Buffalo style characteristics include a crust that is described as bready, fluffy, or spongy, tomato paste-based sauce, lots of cheese, and "cup and char" pepperoni (sliced thin, curl up into a cup shape in the oven’s heat—similar to the upper layer of pepperoni on Detroit style pies).

Papa’s Pizza Oven has four locations in the Buffalo area; the flagship store in Lancaster is take out only and their pies are really large, although you can order a half or even a quarter pie. Their signature pizza seemed to be a "double cheese, double pepperoni" offering, but c’mon!  We went with the full sized pizza, getting pepperoni on one half with sausage and mushrooms on the other half. 

The $29 pie was huge with 12 hefty slices. It could easily feed four hungry people. The sauce, cheese and went all the way to the edges, with no cornicione.

The crust was as described, bready and chewy, but at the same time surprisingly light. It took a bit of attitude adjustment for those like us who savor the thin and crisp pizza at Papa’s Tomato Pies of Robbinsville NJ, but it was very enjoyable. The sauce was a nice balance between tangy and sweet, perhaps a bit more tanginess would be desirable, but still good. 

The cheese was flavorful, but we both felt that 75% of the amount used would have been sufficient. Pepperoni, sausage cooked on the pie (the only correct way), and mushrooms were all good and the amount of each was more than generous. The crust was held up well under the fairly heavy toppings, and, while not charred, it was fully baked, solid and substantial, especially considering its overall lightness. 

Nice browning underneath

We enjoyed our pizza very much (as I said, the pie was quite big, so we will enjoy more of it once, or perhaps even twice, more). It wasn’t the magical experience that one might have upon a first visit to DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies in NJ, the aforementioned Papa’sTomato Pies, Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit, or The Oakwood Pizza Box in Raleigh NC, but much of that is due, I suspect, to stylistic preferences. It was really interesting to discover a new regional approach to pizza and gratifying to learn that the approach could lead to thoroughly enjoyable results. 

If one reserves “destination pizza” for the best of the best, I would classify Buffalo style, as exemplified by Papa’s Pizza Oven, as “if you are in the area, you really should give it a try.”  

This review is a guest post from the Buffalo Roamers, who are long-time Jersey and Pennsylvania residents recently relocated to the Buffalo NY region. These folks know their pizza!