Rochester recs

Lento is known as the area's locavore place, and Good Luck has gotten notice for creativity and innovation. Both are in the City, in a neighborhood called Neighborhood of the Arts (home of the biggest art gallery, street sculptures, performing arts sites, etc.). Lento is in Village Gate, and Good Luck is around the corner; both venues are repurposed factory sites and have lots of charm. If you want a great steak or seafood, try Black and Blue in Pittsford Plaza. Setting is less charming (suburban strip plaza), but you won't know that once you are inside, and the food is great. Tony D's offers excellent casual Italian, including outstanding wood-fired pizza. It's in a great location in Corn Hill, just south of downtown and on the river. Not a stuffy joint among those mentioned. Enjoy Rochester!

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Good Luck
50 Anderson Ave, Rochester, NY 14607

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Best Fish Fry in Rochester

Dicky's at the corner of Meigs and Caroline. It is a genuine neighborhood joint, with all that implies. Gracious, continental service? No. Quiet refinement? No. Stunning decor? No.

Good food, good drinks, and an always interesting crowd? Yup, yup, and yup. The fish fry is great. I can take or leave the fries that come with it; ask for an extra serving of the slaw as a substitute.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Rochester (Greece Area) Restaurant Suggestions

You'll find The Distillery right in that little hotel cluster where you are staying; an easy walk, especially given a pedestrian bridge over Rte. 104. It's a small local chain - there are 3 or 4 of them in the greater Rochester area. Fine dining it is not, but it has a full menu, heavy on sandwiches, burgers, wraps, etc., but also a selection of dinner entrees. It should fit nicely within you budget, and eating at the bar is OK. Always been a friendly crowd when I've visited.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Downtown Rochester Dinner Recs

I should have included Tapas 177 on St. Paul Street in my original reply. I go there more for cocktails than for dinner, but the food has been excellent on the couple of occasions that I have dined there, and the kitchen's skill is demonstrated for all to see with the free appetizers offered during the Friday happy hour. It is only about a block and a half from the hotel. A few steps further will get you to Scotland Yard, which has gotten a few nice write-ups in the local press. Never been myself; it seems more bar-like, but it does have a kitchen.

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Tapas 177 Lounge
177 Saint Paul St, Rochester, NY 14604

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Downtown Rochester Dinner Recs

You might want to try Eros (notwithstanding a post of mine from a month or so ago carping about the service; maybe it was a bad night?). The food is great, and it is an easy walk from the hotel. Besides the unfortunate name, it has the look of a "gentleman's club" from the outside and is kind of out of the way ("behind Spot Coffee" is how most people will locate it), but it is totally legit.

Not sure about Virtu - there was a report a week or so back that it had closed for failure to pay taxes. If it's open, it is worth a visit.

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Eros Restaurant & Bar
37 Charlotte St, Rochester, NY 14607

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

c'mon, Eros - you can do better

A nice spot in downtown Rochester is in danger of slipping off the list. It seems that the owner's split attentions (he's opened another spot on the other side of town, at High Falls) has allowed service standards to slip precariously. We dined there last night, and an overwhelmed service staff damaged the experience. OUr request to share an appetizer of crab cakes resulted in the dish coming on a single service platter, leaving us the choice of reaching far into the middle of our two top or moving our portions onto our bread plates. We took the bread plate option, but then we shared the table with those dirty dishes, plus the empty bread basket and the partially depleted olive oil dipping plate (plus my empty cocktail glass) for the duration of the meal That's not exactly a horror show, but given the very long wait between appetizer and entree, it was also far from pleasant. A second cocktail might have helped, but we had not even a walk-by visit from our waiter during the wait. Perhaps this was all intended to add new nuance to the meaning of "waiter" ...

We liked everything that went into our mouths (the crab cakes, the bread, the three souvlaki skewers, the flat iron steak, the veggies), but the tired, disinterested service made us wish we had grabbed some burgers and a few beers at the corner tavern. Prior experiences at Eros did not prepare us for this. C'mon, you guys - we SO want to like you. Don't make it impossible.

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Eros Restaurant & Bar
37 Charlotte St, Rochester, NY 14607

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

What are YOUR 9th Avenue favorites?

Bocca de Bacco (828 9th) has provided nothing worse than "very good" and the BEST octopus I've ever had (and I've had my share ... maybe a few other folks', too).

The Eatery has also been consistently good, especially the mac 'n' cheese (of which I've had ... oh, never mind ... I just stopped in here for a bit on my way to a Big and Tall clothing site ...).

Have only had fish at Uncle Nick's, and it has always been quite good. The dining companion has ordered some of the "usual" Greek fare and found it OK, sorta ...

Halo Berlin makes up with taste what it lacks in atmosphere. The 10th Avenue version sounds like it's worth trying; taste and atmosphere may be on a par there.

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Hallo Berlin
626 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036

Eatery
798 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

Uncle Nick's
747 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

Bocca di Bacco
828 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10019

budgetrick in Manhattan

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

What if a poster began to reply to your question AND HE NEVER LEFT? No need to wonder: Here I am again.

Another update on the Man vs. Food filming in Rochester - the "challenge" aspect of the show was just filmed at the previously-mentioned Sticky Lips BBQ (the original on Culver Road, not the new one on Jefferson Rd.). I think I had said it was "usually pretty good;" I may need to reassess after learning that they indulge in this kind of nonsense. I'm not sure of the details, but it's something like a 4 pound burger, pulled pork, assorted slop, all to be consumed in 30 minutes. Makes for neither good eating nor good television, although host Adam Richman is seemingly an engaging guy.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

Bombers!! That's what they were called !!! I don't think that Campi's is still around - the one on Empire Blvd. is gone for sure, the one on Scottsville Rd. probably is.

The Elmwood is still going strong, but it has upscaled its menu a bit. Wings can still be had, but Jeremiah's Tavern is probably the gold standard locally for wings (even 'tho' there are now two branches of Buffalo's famed Anchor Bar (which reputedly 'invented' chicken wings) now in town). The Distillery, just up Mt. Hope from the Elmwood, is popular, and it has expanded to 3 - 4 other locations. Alas, they no longer brew beer in-house.

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Jeremiah's Tavern
1104 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY 14620

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

The local TV news just ran a feature stating that Adam Richman and the "Man vs. Food" crew were in town to film a piece on Nick Tahou's and the Garbage Plate. I'm not aware of Nick's doing any of these "eat 10 of these in 10 minutes and you get a t-shirt" challenges, so I'm guessing that this will be one of the "while we were in town, we also visited ____" parts of an otherwise hideous show. One ought not to fight with one's food ... No air date for this segment was given.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

Please forgive me. I have no idea what fuels my obsession with undermining your son's health, but here's more:

I just returned from the Public Market, and it is, indeed, a 'must do' while in Rochester. Lots to enjoy there, and much of it is healthy. However, I urge he patronize Zimmerman's stand at the west end of the Market and order a Balogna Supreme: a thick-cut piece of grilled balogna, a fried egg, grilled onions, and melted cheese on a soft roll. The healthiest part of this may be the paper plate upon which it is served. Start you day with one of these, end it with a Garbage Plate, and you are a few steps closer to heaven (literally ...).

A few Market basics: It operates on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (barring special events, of which they have lots). Hours are from 'way before any college student is awake (say 5:30 - 6:00 AM) to about 2:00 PM. Relatively few vendors are there on Tuesdays, and Saturdays can be VERY busy / crowded during the growing seasons. It operates year-round, but, again, in deepest winter, the number of vendors drops 'way off.

They lay-out can be confusing: It consists of two open-air sheds, one of which is 'C' shaped, and an enclosed, heated 'winter shed.' There is also a row of shops immediately to the north of the market proper. These are known as the commission houses, and, for all practical purposes, are part of the market. A number of coffee roasters, a cheese vendor, a game (as in bison, elk, etc.) vendor, an outstanding bread bakery, and a few other neat places are to be found there.

Other than these commission houses, the prepared food is mostly to be found at the south side of the Market in small stand-alone shops with counter seating. Highly recommended are Empanada Stop, Scott's, and the aforementioned Zimmerman's. Cherry's - featuring eastern European fare - is also good, but it seems to keep spotty hours.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Visiting from Baltimore for a couple days - Odd request

Since you make specific mention of mac 'n' cheese for the BF, I recommend The Eatery NYC at 798 9th Avenue. Best I've ever had (and I've had LOTS ...), and an 'American bistro' menu that could offer some other promising choices. Not too pricey, and we've always enjoyed pleasant service.

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Eatery
798 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

budgetrick in Manhattan

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

And yet more of my opinions!! Hope your son breaks from his eating adventures and gets time to study... RIT is no walk in the park.

My favorite pizza in Rochester can be found at John's Brooklyn Pizza in the Top's Plaza at Jefferson Road and East Henrietta (in the small, stand-alone strip of stores by Jefferson). These are the same guys who ran the pizza stand in the (late, lamented) Midtown food court.

They have both a thin crust, greasy, NYC style and a thick, Sicilian style; both are great, and I go back and forth. And, conducive to sticking to one's studies at RIT, they serve only soda and energy drinks. They do not deliver, and my take-out ventures have been disappointments, as the heat of the pie in its cardboard box ends up steaming the pizza, crispness of crust being the unfortunate victim. Go there, have a few slices, and drink a soda (which the counter guy may instead call "a pop").

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Brooklyn Pizza
751 Upper Glen St Ste 5, Queensbury, NY 12804

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

I first discovered Smitty's when he was operating out of a storefront on South Avenue, where the Convention Center now sits. So addictive did that chicken become that I followed him to that place on the eastside - Garson? Parcells? - and then to the 19th Ward. RIP, Snuffy Smith. (No, barbgail, not 'riT,' 'riP.')

Sal's sauce was indeed 'sassy' (not to mention sweet), but sauce alone does not a good chicken make, I never found those birds to be of the best quality. Perhaps they made the mistake of changing the oil in the deep fryer, a foolishness that you would never find happening at Smitty's.

How about Campi's, almost at the airport on Scottsville Road (just up the road from Sal's in fact), that had the huge sandwiches? - their Eggplant Parm was outstanding.

Lots of deep fat frying talk going on here... I'll be back after I take my Lipitor.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

The original NIck's is still on West Main Street downtown, but is no longer a late night operation. The West Henrietta Road branch is not exactly 'sterile,' but it admittedly lacks the years of grease build-up that imparted a day-long aroma to your clothing upon even the briefest of visits. And, not to upset barbgail61, but there is no requirement that the son be completely sober upon his visit ... This being more a food website and less a 'pimps and dealers' site, I stand by my recommendation.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

And furthermore... one thing I forgot to put into my preceding post is the necessity of your son indulging in an authentic Nick Tahou Garbage Plate. It's a rite of passage around here, and I'm at risk of having my Rochester Card revoked for leaving it out of my original reply. Fortunately, there is now a suburban Nick Tahou's on West Henrietta Road, not far at all from RIT. (Trust me, this is far better for all concerned than the original in downtown.)

And what is a Garbage Plate, you wonder? The components can vary, but the basic deal is macaroni salad (cold) and home fries (hot), with two split, grilled hot dogs (either red or white in color and hot) on top, all covered with raw onions, mustard, and a thin, liquid-y, lightly spiced meat sauce. Two slices of Italian bread and a few pats of butter come with ... Plastic utensils and paper plates ... Why they don't offer a swig of Pepto Bismol is a mystery to me.

There are lots of local variants of this dish, usually billed with similar but slightly different names: "Messy Plate," "Dumpster Plate," Rubbish Plate," etc. Lawyers have been involved in keeping this straight, and the originators are VERY protective of their creation (their own family members having been targets of their litigation). Your boy ought to have the real McCoy if he's going to venture into local culinary legends. Most people survive it; some go back for more.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Making first visit to Plaza Hotel's Food Hall ...

... this Thursday for lunch. The most recent posts I found here seem to be dated in 2010, so I'm hoping for some updated intel: What is 'Do Not Miss' fare here? What should be avoided?

As always, the passions and insights of the Hounds will be appreciated. (And I tend to post impressions after my visits, so there's that to look forward to ...)

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Plaza Food Hall
1 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019

budgetrick in Manhattan

Good Restaurants Near R.I.T.-Rochester Institute of Tech in Rochester, NY

One of the beauties of greater Rochester is that you can get from ANYWHERE to ANYWHERE ELSE in 20 minutes or less. Partly it's a good road system, partly that those roads were built to accommodate several hundred thousand more people than now live here ...

Anyway, a highly recommended "special event" place for us is Black and Blue in Pittsford Plaza. As the name suggests, it features steak and seafood, kind of high end for this area. I'm wondering if your disappointment on Jefferson Road was the latest Sticky Lips BBQ, a small local chain-let, that's usually pretty good. If you like such food, check out (the legendary) Dinosaur BBQ downtown on Court Street and Beale Street Cafe on South at Gregory in the City (wherein there is no actual "Beale Street"...).

If your son is under 21, the attractions of Tap and Mallet (also on Gregory) might be diminished, but it's the best gastro pub in town (vast, constantly changing selection of curated beers, subdued atmosphere, no TVs), with decent food, too. One of the several local MacGregor's is a similar place on Jefferson Road quite close to campus, but it is more of a sports bar, and the food is inferior to T&M.

The village of East Rochester is notable for a number of very authentic "red gravy" Italian places, with Perlo's and the Northside Inn being among our favorites. Mario's on Monroe Avenue in Pittsford is Italian of a different sort, more elaborate preparations and a focus on steak dishes.

Hope you and your son enjoy your time here.

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The Tap and Mallet
381 Gregory Street, Rochester, NY

Northside Inn
311 N Washington St, East Rochester, NY 14445

Beale Street Cafe
693 South Ave, Rochester, NY 14620

Perlo's Restaurant
202 N Washington St, East Rochester, NY 14445

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Which one?!! Solera, Sala One Nine, Boqueria, or Txikito for tapas

Having only been to Solera, I'm probably somewhat less than useful here, but I DO have strong (and very positive) feelings about it. My daughter and I go about one out of every 3-4 times that I am visiting NYC, and we've never been disappointed. We've spent most of our time at the bar or the seating areas just off the bar (vs. the dining room itself). The white asparagus and the Spanish tortilla are always among the items we order.

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Solera
216 E 53rd St, New York, NY 10022

budgetrick in Manhattan

The Palm for non-steak eaters

My preference for the Palm West was borne out of my daughters' apartments proximity to it, BUT ... unlike the original Palm on Second Ave (per the report above) it does have bar stools and a number of hightops (w/ stools) in its bar area. It's a bit cozy, but I've never not been able to get a seat, a brief wait notwithstanding. The original does have more of a rough hewn, old time character and charm to it, but the absence of a place to perch would be an issue for me.

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Palm West
250 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019

budgetrick in Manhattan

Good breakfast/lunch/dinner stops on the way from NYC to Syracuse

If you are going west on Rte. 17 (to Rte. 81 North), I think there is a state law that requires you to stop at the Roscoe Diner (in ... wait for it ... Roscoe). It'll remind you faintly of the diners of the tri=state metro area; it's fine, and everybody stops there eventually.

Also, off of Rte. 81, Exit 5, in Binghamton, there is The Spot diner. Same kind of place; I've found the soups to be especially good. Binghamton is also home to the speidie, a kabob of marinated meat (usually beef or pork, maybe lamb or goat in a few places) de-skewered and served on bread. Don't know a particular place for them, but they are ubiquitous there.

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Roscoe Diner
PO Box 307, Roscoe, NY 12776

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

The Palm for non-steak eaters

Hmmm, again... how about Palm Too, just across the street on 2nd Ave? Barstools there? Pretty sure the one downtown (Tribeca? On the Westside highway, in any event ...) does have a sit-down bar.

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Palm Tribeca
206 West Street, New York, NY 10013

Palm Too
840 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017

budgetrick in Manhattan

The Palm for non-steak eaters

Hmmm ... just noticed that my attempt to reference the Palm on 50th Street just off of 8th Ave was misinterpreted and mis-mapped by Chowhound's too-slick-for-you-Budgetrick auto referencing system. For all I know, the Westside Restaurant may be a wonderful place, but I doubt you'll get a lot of milage out of your Palm gift card there.

budgetrick in Manhattan

The Palm for non-steak eaters

Notwithstanding LOTS of steak dinners at the Westside (50th St.) Palm, iI've also spent many hours eating a half order of chopped salad and a half order of fried calamari at the bar there, too. They give you a brimming bread basket with it, and a few martinis will give you some olives as well. Fifty would come close to covering that for two, and you'll be entertained by the bar staff, clientele, and depictions of customers pained on the walls. REAL good martinis.

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Palm West
250 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019

budgetrick in Manhattan

Wilkes-Barre good eats

I passed through W-B yesterday, and I purposely had packed an ice chest in the car so I could stock up on frozen Pizza L'Oven pizza. They (and a handful of other places in that area, e.g., Victory Pig) make a style that is unique - it has a thick, oily, but also bubbly and crisp bread crust, minimal tomato sauce (more chunks of it than sauce), and mozzarella cheese on top. Garlic is introduced somehow, but I could not tell you where / how. The only add-on topping is onion (highly recommended).

It is sold by the piece, which is a 2" x 4" rectangle. The place I visit is in Hanover Township, just before the bridge over the Susquehanna River (what I call the Carey Avenue Bridge, but I've been out of town for 35+ years ... it's a new bridge and probably called something else now). You can eat in there, too. For eat in, note that it comes to you seemingly in the form of bread-based napalm. Let it cool a bit before your first bite, or you'll never taste any of it. Or speak properly for a week.

Note that this is NOT the legendary Old Forge pizza, but a different animal altogether. Old Forge is "up the line" towards Scranton, and might warrant a field trip if you are so inclined. They probably don't say "up the line" there anymore, either ...

/sighs his 'man of a certain age' sigh ...

budgetrick in Pennsylvania

Wine in Rochester

I'm guessing that you are from out of state, so some basics on alcohol purchasing in NY: Wine and spirits in containers can be purchased in liquor stores only. Beer in bottles or cans (to go) cannot be purchased in liquor stores, but can be had in supermarkets, convenience stores, and bars. There is a battle going on in the state legislature that would permit wine to be sold in supermarkets, but that's getting even further off topic ... On-premisis consumption is possible in bars and restaurants that are properly licensed, but not all places have full licenses and thus are restricted to beer and wine only. BYOB is permitted (usually with a corkage fee), but it seems not to be a popular practice (and I've only seen it done with wine, not beer or spirits).

There are LOTS of liquor stores in the area, ranging from huge to tiny, mom-and-pop places. Two of the best (and largest) are Century and Marketview. Century is on Monroe Avenue in Pittsford Plaza (in the town of Pittsford). Marketview is at the corner of Jefferson and East Henrietta Roads (in Henrietta). Both have very knowledgable staff, great selections, and very competitive prices. Both are also pretty close to local expressways (Rte. 590 for Century, Rte. 390 for Marketview), so if you are taking a cab from the airport to the City or an eastern suburb, you'll not need go far off course. If you will be on the westside, I have no idea ...

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Rochester Public Market

I stopped in this morning and had a big, sloppy, and delicious egg, cheese, and ham breakfast sandwich at Scott's stand. Wonderful. I was expecting to be serenaded by the cries of "Bo Nana, Bo Nana, Bo Nana" over my shoulder, but I maybe that leather-lunged barker only works on Saturdays. Or blew out his voice. The experience was thus not all it could have been, but the sandwich was still delicious.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Rochester Public Market

Nice to see some love for the Public Market. Notwithstanding having just come from a graduation party where I ate ... um, vigorously, your write up made me hungry.

I would second all of your choices and add the following for consideration: The Balogna Supreme from Zimmerman's (aka Heart Attack on a Bun - thick-cut, grilled balogna, a fried egg, cheese, and grilled onions); the bread (especially Pain Levain) from Flour City Bread Co; bread from the vendor who sets up in the C Shed (maybe called Small World Bakery?); olive oil from Giordano's (the cheese shop) or from Cosmio (in Java's); pirogis from Cherry's; and the breakfast empanada (egg, minced ham, minced sausage) from Juan & Maria's.

Other than making a decision, my only dilemma at the Market is figuring out Cherry's operating hours.

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)

Any suggestions in Rochester area for family with young kids?

Harumph ...As far as I'm concerned, EVERY PLACE is OK for kids. They are human beings, they need to get acclimated to dining out, and the rest of us need to be reminded (or to learn for the first time) that these little ones have a place on this earth. An honored and very special place.

That said, I'm assuming you are targeting the Strong Museum of Play (as opposed to Strong Memorial Hospital). Just down Monroe Avenue from the Museum, at the corner of Alexander, is a great Vietnamese place (Dac Ho, maybe ?). Such places in general are good for and with kids, and the pho is fantastic there.

Go about a mile or so further along Monroe and you will find Jeremiah's Tavern, great for wings but has a decent general menu, too. It's neighborhood-y and very accustomed to having kids present.

Go yet another mile on Monroe (you'l pass through the suburb of Brighton and be in Pittsford) and you will see the Wegmans' "mothership." Wegmans is a large, locally based supermarket chain that wins and deserves all kinds of accolades. This store is one of their largest and has the most amenities, including a restaurant inside the store. It offers a mix of high and low end fare (lobster rolls to hot dogs, and Rochester's peculiar burgers (large diameter, very thin, and topped with lots of glop, including and especially a meat-based "hot sauce" (not really that hot)). Very good for kids, and the store is certainly worth a look around. From time to time, they have in-store events for kids, e.g. movies, book readings. (Don't confuse this with the Wegmans restaurant just across the street from the store; not exactly a kid's kind of place.)

P.S. While you would be hard pressed to know it from this post, Rochester has more than one street ... it was just easier to envision a trip along Monroe and what might be found that would be appropriate for you and your family. Enjoy the visit. Be sure to see the butterflies at Strong, even though I think you must pay extra for that.

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Jeremiah's Tavern
1104 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY 14620

P.S. Restaurant
100 Rano Blvd Ste 8, Vestal, NY 13850

budgetrick in New York State (exc. New York City)