One way to find interesting food is to cruise around a neighborhood, making notes when you see something that looks like a restaurant. On a recent drive up North Clinton, I first saw Chimo’s Sandwich Shop, which had actually been recommended a few times, then Las Palma a block up. Speaking with the owner of […]
Adam Wilcox
Posted inSpecial Sections
Holiday treats about town
The malls might provide one-stop convenience around the holidays, but for some of us, they have little appeal. Malls smell, sound, and look essentially the same, and have similar mixes of stores selling the same old mall stuff. Our idea of a holiday treat is to visit lots of the unique, family-run, often ethnic, […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
So long, brown sauce of the suburbs
The Rochester area has plenty of excellent dining options for the adventurous eater. When asked to pick a favorite, I usually mention places in several categories: the Seoul Garden, Food at Fisher’s Station, Ming’s, the Rio, Thali of India, or Le Lemongrass, depending on my mood. But no restaurant has demonstrated consistent excellence like […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Smokin’ by the Kodak plant
Tailgater’s owner Mike DiCesare is a barbeque guy. “Barbeque didn’t exist in my family,” he says. “But once I learned the basics, I really got into it.” Now, on his days off, he tends an open pit in his back yard, reads barbeque publications, and travels to famed barbeque spots. DiCesare worked for a […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
An honest neighborhood spot
Michael Baumer grew up working for his father, Timothy, at Timothy Patrick’s. There, he developed an idea of the kind of restaurant he wanted to run. In 1998, he and his wife, Gretchen, built McArdle’s from the ground up. Five years later, the restaurant is a testament to Baumer’s vision, popular for the right reasons. […]
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The way we were
Harry’s Bar & Grill Keywords: Pittsford Farms Dairy|milk Caption: A place for lost treasures, dreams: Pittsford Farms Dairy. Text: Like many, I have a love-hate relationship with Wegmans. On the one hand, it’s great to have the World’s Greatest Supermarket 10 minutes away; fantastic to be able to get everything from organic turnips to homeopathic […]
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Jimmy Poon’s food odyssey
“Hey, dad,” calls out Margerie Poon. “He wants to hear your life’s story!” The interview passes from daughter to father, and Jimmy Poon begins to recount how he came to New York City in 1972, washed dishes 16 hours a day, and spent his spare time learning to cook. “Cooks,” he explained, “only work 10 […]
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New Traditionalist diner
Perhaps the old cliché about Greeks running diners is going to be replaced by one about it being the Vietnamese. There’s Tam Van Tran, owner of the South Wedge Diner, and my neighbor, Tai Le, manages the Highland Park Diner. Now we have the Central Park Family Diner, which is run by Ben Tran and […]
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Ice cream, fish sauce, and sarongs
There’s nothing particularly odd about opening an ice cream parlor across from an amusement park, as Churi Csaicai has across from Sea Breeze. The crazy part is that Churi’s is also a Thai restaurant and clothing store. So, if you want to wear a sarong while eating pad thai before having an ice cream cone, […]
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Pleasin’ the vegans
What were you doing when you were 22? I was working as a busboy and a DJ, trying desperately not to borrow money from my parents. Meg Davis, on the other hand, owns, runs, and cooks everything at The Atomic Eggplant. That’s impressive. And so is she. With the closures of Slice of Life, […]
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Howard Johnson’s gift to Pittsford
Did Ray Kroc of McDonald’s bring us the chain restaurant? More likely, it was Howard Dearing Johnson, who rose from his drugstore beginnings to create the Howard Johnson’s restaurant and motel empire. Johnson was a pioneer in franchise ownership and theme restaurants, and was a tycoon with 107 restaurants by 1939. Perhaps Johnson’s most […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Unkl Moe’s grill of dreams
“The woman doesn’t know how to dream,” says Moses “Unkl Moe” Smith when his wife, Bernice, complains about his having dragged her from retirement to run a restaurant. But the tension is an act; the Smiths are clearly in this together. And though they claim not to have known what they were getting into, they […]
