Revisited: Scubbers – Colonie, NY

Nostalgia is a crazy thing, especially when it comes to food.

During the four years that I was a student at Siena College, saying that 20% of my meals were eaten at Scubbers in Newton Plaza is probably accurate, as scary and ridiculous as it sounds. My order of small tenders (medium heat) and small mozzarella with raspberry sauce was pretty much the standard. There was a time where I started getting the tenders wrap, but that didn’t last long, and neither did the Atkins diet stage where I ordered just wings.

You’ll probably recall that I’ve said all that before. Well, it was worth saying again.

Scubbers has been at their Wolf Road location for over two years now, and it’s taken me that long to stray from my usual and order a pizza. That’s not actually fully accurate. The plan was to order my usual for lunch and to take a pizza home for dinner later that night.

That was the plan, at least.

For good measure, as if I wasn’t ordering enough, I threw on a side of onion rings. I’ve been enjoying them a lot lately. There’s something unique about their breading that I can’t quite figure out.

So, as I ate all of the above, Bernice, the owner, was working on my pizza.

It only seemed natural to order the Buffalo Chicken Pizza (Chicken tenders, hot sauce, mozzarella, and blue cheese – $10.99). After a brief discussion over what level of heat is the most popular, I decided on mild.

Scubbers has a small wood-fired oven, and their pizzas are larger than typical restaurant wood-fired pizzas and smaller than large (standard) pizzas at most pizzerias. Being that I took mine to go, I couldn’t help but snap some pictures and try a slice while it was still hot. [Don’t worry; I had leftovers from the above stuff; I wasn’t that hungry.]

Their Buffalo chicken pizza is sauced on the crust with their Buffalo sauce. It’s topped with mozzarella cheese, and bite size pieces of their Buffalo chicken, and then their rich and tangy blue cheese is dolloped on top.

It’s pretty much exactly what I imagined it being, two of my favorite foods, pizza and Scubbers Buffalo chicken tenders, smooshed together. The dough is interesting as it falls right in between the crispness of a good wood-fired pizza and the chew of NY pizzeria pizza. The mozzarella melted perfectly and didn’t leave pools of oil everywhere; it also tastes great! Having the tenders on top is a true indulgence, and the blue cheese really puts the whole thing over the top (although, there may have been just a little too much blue cheese in spots).

Truly awesome!

So there will definitely be a dilemma next time I go back, but, regardless of how that turns out, I know I’ll be eating good!