Early in August, we biked a 3 day, 150 mile loop from Painted Post (Corning), NY, through North Central PA, and back through Binghamton and it’s adjacent towns. I choose this route to visit historical Post Offices and to photograph the artwork that resides in many of those beauties of 1930’s governmental architecture. Really, they’re cool buildings and the artwork is INCREDIBLE!
ASIDE – I’ve not updated my Post Office database in a while (see link). I promise that I will. Since I started 5+ years ago, I’ve learned about the New Deal Post Offices, their architecture and their artwork. I’ve become fascinated. (if you want to learn more about this, see this link). I need to go back and revisit some PO’s that I’d already viewed and catalog that art.
Additionally, several “Southern Tier” towns (see link) held large Italian immigrant populations that worked building the railroads and in factories, especially the Endicott-Johnson shoe factory (see link). And, as with other bike trips, finding Italian immigrant hamlets leads to Italian Bakeries and pizza! Endicott, NY has a nice Little Italy, and you guessed it, a FABULOUS Italian Bakery.
ASIDE #2 – I didn’t expect to find Revolutionary War sites along this bike route. As I biked out of Elmira, NY along the Lackawanna Rail Trail (see link), I biked through the Newtown Battlefield (see link).
This battlefield was part of the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition (see link). Some call it genocide, I call it “winners and losers”, and not all win and get a trophy like Sunny-D sucking, 6 year old soccer players. Maybe, soon, I’ll be “woke”n up!?
Maybe, it’s a result of having grown up in Ohio where the Revolutionary War was largely absent in our curriculum. During the Revolution, Ohio was wilderness and had few, if any war battles until the War of 1812. I’m guessing our Ohio forefathers were out looking for flat land to line with chalk to make up football fields back then!
Well, anyways, let’s talk ITALIAN BAKERIES AND PIZZA!
Jim Roma’s Bakery
While on the subject of Endicott’s Little Italy, we visited Jim Roma’s Bakery. It’s a PROPER Italian Bakery (see Bakery Pizza for definition!)
Date – 8/19/22 — Neighborhood – Little Italy, Endicott, NY
Style – Bakery/Grandma Style
Toppings – Moozedell, Parmagian and Sauce
Cheese – great combination of cheese tastes.
Sauce – Thin, but great amount, a little watery after the first bite, but oh my….WHAT A TASTE!
Cheese to Sauce Ratio – Sauce Amount – medium, Cheese Amount – Medium, as mentioned above, it was watery after the first bite, but the taste was great. The goo combination of sauce and cheese…wow! Kinda’ left a sloppy mess on the waxed paper wrapping, but you can see my finger swipes on the paper licking up the goo!
Crust – Medium/Thick and dense, not super airy, nicely baked with a slight browning likely from the “fry” from an oil coated pan
Comments – we ordered a slice each, I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED MORE!
Overall Rating – Good, almost great
Would I go back? – Yes
Soprano’s Italian Market & Bakery – Reviews 1 & 2
We visited Soprano’s in Wavely, NY twice during the 3 days of the bike trip! We really enjoyed the bakery as it was an “Italian” Bakery as defined in my last post (see link here). Let’s say the second time we didn’t go back for the pizza (even though I purchased pizza both times). BUT, they’re biscotti, especially the almond, & SFOGLIATELL, are fabulous!
Visit 1 – Date – 8/17/22
Style – Bakery/Grandma Style
Toppings – Cheese (moozedell) and Sauce
Cheese – lots of moozedell, too much in the center, looks like the center was lower and thinner than the ticker edges and it seems that as the cheese melted, it pooled to the middle of the pizza.
Sauce – Thin could use a little more, no discernible taste
Cheese to Sauce Ratio – Sauce Amount – A little Cheese Amount – Medium, it was pooled toward the center, and then little on the edge. Not a good ratio for my taste since I tend to like lots of sauce.
Crust – Medium/Thick, NOT COOKED WELL, Chewy
Crust Cook – Soft, under cooked, no char or bottom bake (after thinking about it, this might have been take-and-bake pizza, BUT there was no indication of that)
Comments – we purchased a 1/2 sheet and the price was outstanding, but the price did not make up for the lack luster crust.
Overall Rating – Meh, which is not good
Would I go back? – Yes, but for the bakery
Visit 2 – Date – 8/19/22
As mentioned above, I said we’d go back for the bakery, so on the way back through Waverly at the end of the bike trip, we stopped in for more biscotti! I couldn’t pass up a chance to get more pizza though. This time, I went for a different style
Style – Thin NY/Brooklyn Style
Toppings – Cheese (moozedell) and Sauce
Cheese – lots of moozedell
Sauce – Thin, some tomato taste, but it was so thin that it was lost in the cheese
Cheese to Sauce Ratio – Sauce Amount – A little Cheese Amount – Medium. Not a good ratio.
Crust – Thin and crunchy, lots of semolina/corn meal on the bottom which I like for this style
Comments – only purchased a couple of pre-wrapped slices. Like the previous, it was very underwhelming.
Overall Rating – Meh, which is not good
Would I go back? – Yes – the pastries and cookies are fabulous
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