Culinary visionary behind some of Rochester's best restaurants ventures into casual Italian fare

The former home to Bay & Goodman Pizza at North Winton Road and Browncroft Boulevard is now home to ― well, a pizza shop.

But Wildflour is an altogether different concept than its predecessor. It has an approach that's a hallmark of Dan Martello, who has been co-owner and the culinary force behind the wildly popular Good Luck for the past 15 years, as well as Lucky’s, Cure and Jackrabbit Club.

"Conceptually all of our restaurants are known for doing a lot of things in-house," Martello said. His philosophy is to treat food as a craft; from sausage to pates, pizzas to pastas, they are almost always hand made. The same goes at Wildflour, which has a concise menu of four pizzas, four pastas, four sandwiches, a salad and arancini.

"It’s always been something that I have wanted our restaurants to be ― chef-driven restaurants," he said.

The pizzas, made with a whole-grain sourdough crust, include the basics — a plain cheese and a pepperoni ― plus seasonal creations based on what's available from local farmers and through Italian importers. The current mushroom-and-pesto pizza plays especially well with the flavor of the wheaty crust.

Beyond the straightforward but dialed-up Italian sandwich, filled with prosciutto cotto, hot capicola, soppressata and sharp Provolone, the other three sandwiches are predictably cheffy. The meatball cutlet sandwich, as an example, has the addition of pancetta, agrodolce (a reduced sweet-and-sour Italian condiment), arugula and lemon mayo.

Wildflour's owners

Martello's co-owners at Wildflour are veteran restaurateur Mike Calabrese, who owns Java’s Café on Gibbs Street and is co-owner of Good Luck, The Jackrabbit Club and Lucky's, along with Taylor Wilde, 29, a first-time business owner.

Wilde started got her start working in hotel kitchens in the Finger Lakes until she landed a job at Good Luck in 2016. After working her way up to chef, she headed to Portland, Maine, to expand her horizons. Ten months later, Martello called her to discuss the possibility of her becoming partner in Wildflour.

"This last year has been such a wild ride," she said. "I’m a line cook and all of a sudden I’m a partner in this new project with the best to do it in Rochester. It’s definitely a humbling experience. I really never thought this was going to happen ― and if it was going to happen, I thought I was still another 10 years out.”

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The dough

A key differentiator at Wildflour is the whole grain dough used to make a thicker, Sicilian-style pizza crust as well as focaccia for sandwiches. Martello started experimenting at home in October, comparing variables like how fermentation time affects flavor and texture. “It’s a lot to figure out," he said.

In the end, nailing the dough proved harder and lengthier than expected. "We delayed opening because we didn’t feel like it was in its final form — which was stressful," Wilde said.

The end result is made with two flours from Farmer Ground Flour in the Finger Lakes, combined with Italian burrato flour. The naturally leavened dough is fermented for 72 hours, making it a sourdough. "They're a little better for you, a little easier to digest," Martello said.

The dough has a high amount of hydration, which makes for a sticky dough that is mixed by hand. It is baked in cast iron pans in a high-temperature electric brick oven. The end result is crispy on the outside, light and moist on the inside, with a wholesome wheaty flavor.

The staff continues to explore ways to tweak the process, Wilde said. "I think bread's a never-ending learning process and you have to be open to it," she said.

The place

Wildflour has a cozy dining room with four tables of two and two tables of two, all standard height. The room is accented by a colorful, large mural that evokes the Italian countryside.

Shelves are stocked with Wildflour's dried pastas, as well as olive oil, vinegar, sea salt, honey and spreads. A deli cooler offers fresh pastas by the pound as well as sauces, pickles and other items.

What's next

Wildflour is working to expand its retail pastas to include hand-cut sourdough ravioli and gnocchi. The chefs are also experimenting with gluten-free flour. The future will also bring dinners with set menus on weekends.

"I still feel like it’s growing," Wilde said. "We’ve set good bones and a good framework and have a lot of freedom to expand on it. There’s a vagueness to it that leaves it open."

If you go

Wildflour, at 620 N. Winton Road, is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

It is currently selling pizzas only by the slice, but plans to offer whole pizzas in the near future. It also plans to expand hours and eventually offer the ability to call in or order via an app and pick it up. Call (585) 340-6034.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester NY restaurant Wildflour opens, serves pizza and sandwiches