Char, the upscale steakhouse located in the recently remodeled Strathallan Hotel, and as the name implies, is all about wood-fire charred goodies and especially their steaks. For the skim-reading steak fanatics who want to know whether or not the steak was good, I’ll get it out of the way first: Yes, it was. With that […]
Dining Reviews
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DINING REVIEW: City Grill
I can’t help but think of big, brash song standards when I think of City Grill. I can hear Frank Sinatra, fedora hat cocked just so, belting out an upbeat tune. City Grill, which describes itself as a contemporary American restaurant, strikes me as having a Rat-Pack-takes-Vegas sort of style. The menu is expansive, with […]
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Furoshiki
It is core to my mission to enter meals that I review with an open mind and palate. With that being said, I couldn’t help being pleasantly surprised by the improvement I tasted in Furoshiki’s bowls of ramen compared to those I had sampled in the past. After my recent review meals, I spent some […]
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DINING REVIEW: Village Bakery and Cafe
A well-made sticky bun is a beautiful thing. It should be tempting but looks like trouble: tall and dark, with promises of something sweet. Shaped slightly like a cone with the point lopped off, it should be covered in deeply-colored caramel and topped with fat pecans that hold on tight. The dough should pull apart in […]
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DINING REVIEW: Raj Mahal
I have something to confess: I hate the pumpkin spice over-saturation that is going on nowadays. These warm spices are found not only in seasonal pies and lattes but are popping up absolutely everywhere — it is just plain overwhelming. Thankfully if I want to embrace these fall flavors without ruining my palate, Indian cuisine […]
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DINING REVIEW: Better with age
I was excited to try Next Door when it opened in late-2009. But on my visits over the course of its first year, I was disappointed. Though it had plush decor and an attentive wait staff, I found Next Door’s food disappointing, particularly compared to its forerunner, Tastings. I hadn’t been back until recently. If […]
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Aunt Rosie’s
I think for every person that enjoys food, there is a restaurant that fits them in a specific way; an eatery that makes them feel at home with dishes on the menu that seem like they were tailor made. For me, that place is now Aunt Rosie’s, and that chef is Paul Vroman. From the […]
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DINING REVIEW: Balsam Bagels
How are the bagels at Balsam Bagels? They are good — and not just by Rochester standards but by NYC-bagel-capital-of-the-world standards. If Balsam Bagels served its coffee in Greek-styled paper cups, it might be hard to remember which city you were standing in. Balsam’s bagels are dense, tanned circles with a glossy, almost shiny, exterior; […]
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Havana Cabana
My experience at Havana Cabana — a restaurant serving a twist on Island Cuisine in a warm, inviting environment — has to be broken into two separate experiences to accurately describe how different they were. On the first visit, the whole night was colored by the unfortunate timing of the meal and some technical issues […]
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DINING REVIEW: Atlas Eats
The most delicious scallops I’ve eaten in a long time were cooked in a small, mom-and-pop storefront in Irondequoit. Caught wild off the coast of New England and a little over an inch tall, the scallops had been seared until their tops and bottoms developed a light brown crust. On the tongue they tasted sweet […]
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DINING REVIEW: Avvino
Avvino has been slightly overshadowed by the other restaurant openings of the last year or so. In my opinion, this is due to the higher profile locations, flashier concepts, and splashy interiors of the other new entrants and not on the quality of the restaurant itself. Purely based on the level of food and service […]
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DINING REVIEW: Lucca Wood-Fire Bistro
The modern pizza originated, as you probably know, in Naples, Italy. There’s a long, global history of flat breads, but the story goes that it was in Naples that flat breads were first topped with tomatoes — and later buffalo-milk mozzarella — giving birth to what we now think of as pizza. You’ll still find […]
