I’m a junkie for pizza. Literally any pizza, all the time—thin New York style, Chicago deep dish, even a premade frozen pie from Aldi (yes, I said it). But that doesn’t mean I think all pizzas are created equal. Of course, there are some that outshine the others, and the slices at Salty Bread Pizza Cafe fit that bill. Simply put, there’s no knead to go anywhere else.
Involved in the restaurant business for nearly thirty years, Paul Padoleski wanted to do something different— something Rochester hadn’t yet seen. Along with his wife, Laura, Padoleski opened Salty Bread Pizza Cafe in 2022 in the Sea Breeze neighborhood, and recently opened a second location in Greece.
“We’re a pizza shop and a bakery,” Padoleski says. “Salty bread is becoming a Rochester staple. In ten years, it’s going to be like the garbage plate. It’s very different from any other kind of bread. We wanted to differentiate ourselves from everybody else, so we developed our own recipes, came up with some new innovative products, and decided to bake our own stuff. We make everything from scratch, in-house.”
“Differentiate” themselves is exactly what the Padoleskis have done. Aside from their use of salty bread, the creations they’ve built are utterly fascinating and savory. A lot of places make specialty pizzas, but nothing like Salty Bread Pizza Cafe. They’ve made a chicken french pizza, Monte Cristo pizza, French onion soup pizza, and even a grilled cheese and tomato soup pizza. The options are, quite literally, endless.
“I basically deconstruct items, like sandwiches or meals, and make them work for pizza while still having the same flavor profile,” Padoleski says. “I love the creative challenge of making something that maybe no one has ever done before, and that’s where our pizzas of the day come into play. Pizza is basically a blank canvas—you can do anything you want on it. It’s my art form.”
Original and unique, the soft, cheesy, salty dough creations are only a fraction of the food offered at Salty Bread Pizza Cafe. The Salty caprese panini is to die for—homemade, salted ciabatta-style salty bread layered with fresh mozzarella, pesto, sliced tomatoes, balsamic, and basil leaves, cut diagonally for easy eats, and served with marinara sauce on the side.
But what is salty bread? It’s light, airy, gets olive oil and sea salt before baking, and comes out with that salt soaked into the bread. It rises nicely and is fluffy with a crunchy shell; the cafe owners use it for every recipe they can.
“We currently have two different paninis that use salty bread, we do cheesy, salty hoagies with soup and also have garlic parmesan salty sliders,” Padoleski says. “We also give the option of top or bottom for our pizzas. The top is the part of the bread with the olive oil and sea salt on it, and the bottom is less salty.
“I always recommend different pizzas based on what they are. The Buffalo chicken I think is better on the bottom, and the roasted red pepper gouda is a lot better on the top—you get a bit more salt with it mixed with the white garlic.”
The Buffalo chicken pizza is delectable. Not too greasy and not too saucy but immensely flavorful and silky. It’s made with Padoleski’s “amazing sauce,” which is everything you would put on a chicken wing and more. The base of the pizza is a homemade buffalo sauce, chunky blue cheese dressing, and minced celery. Then comes fried chicken, mozzarella, crumbly blue cheese, and more amazing sauce.
The roasted red pepper and smoked gouda pizza, however, is even better. A creamy sauce and peppers packed with flavor create the perfect bite. And the salt on this one . . . top or bottom? Top.
Appetizers such as homemade tater tots and fried mozzarella rank just as high as the other meal options. The tots are red-skin mashed potatoes with scallions, shredded cheese, and seasonings, rolled into balls, floured, egg-washed, covered in breadcrumbs, and fried. Served with a side of spicy sour cream, they’re crunchy, soft, and the perfect in-between of moist and dry. And, most importantly, not too “potatoey.” (And the spicy sour cream is A+).
The fried mozzarella is cut to perfect-sized triangles and has all the gooey cheese your heart desires. And, it’s made fresh.
The other interesting aspect to Salty Bread Pizza Cafe is its bakery. Just like there are pizzas of the day, there are also cronuts of the day, one being the Cannoli Cronut. It’s croissant dough, cut, shaped, fried, and tossed with sugar, topped with cannoli cream, cannoli chips, ganache, and some chocolate chips as well.
“Something unique is our Cookie-Noli,” Padoleski says. “I started playing around with recipes for cookies and wanted a pistachio ricotta cookie with orange zest. It’s real fluffy and soft because of the ricotta, and we sandwich two little cookies with cannoli cream and crushed up cannoli shells in the center. Then we top it with our homemade ganache and powdered sugar. Very simple and delicious.”
Salty Bread Pizza Cafe also offers catering and can make items on request with notice. Dine-in is available at the original location and will soon be at the newer Greece location, and the Padoleskis credit the Sea Breeze community for helping them grow to the height they’re at.
“The people in this area are fantastic. They really go out of their way to not just support us but give us feedback, suggestions, and ideas. They keep it comfortable and are adamant about supporting their local businesses,” Padoleski says.
For catering menus and requests, email Laura and Paul through the contact form on the Salty Bread Pizza Cafe website, or through Facebook messenger. Additional information and daily specials are on Facebook.
Salty Bread Pizza Cafe
4615 Culver Rd., Rochester, NY 14622
(585) 270-8383
saltybreadpizzacafe.com
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of (585).
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