Cover Story
DISH 2017: What makes American cuisine?
It makes sense that a country built by immigrants would have a cuisine that’s been shaped by a world of influences. There aren’t many purely American creations on our menus. Even apple pie — so American that it’s part of a catchphrase — comes from the Dutch. Sure, there are a small handful of exceptions,…
Classical review: Jon Nakamatsu with SCMR
The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester on Friday ended its season in satisfying style. The organization celebrated its 40th anniversary, and pianist Jon Nakamatsu celebrated the end of his season as SCMR’s first artist-in-residence. Friday’s concert itself began with something worth celebrating: the opening movement of Mendelssohn’s D Minor Trio, performed by the Hochstein…
Film review: ‘Jeremiah Tower’
Food-loving cinephiles get a glimpse into the life of an enigmatic, celebrity chef in the documentary “Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent.” Arguably the most influential chef you’ve probably never heard of, director Lydia Tenaglia shows how Tower’s career shaped American cuisine as we know it today, even as the man himself remained something of a…
Dems designate their candidates
The Monroe County Democratic Committee’s annual designating convention was more celebration than spat. The whole thing led off with the installment of Lovely Warren as the party’s mayoral candidate; Warren is, of course, the sitting mayor. She pulled in about 55.6 percent of the weighted vote from the party’s city legislative district committees, far more…
Warren’s budget: no layoffs, small tax cut
Mayor Lovely Warren’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year maintains current city services, requires no staff layoffs, and gives homeowners a small tax cut. Warren announced her budget in a press conference at City Hall this morning. She was able to close an anticipated $50.1 million budget gap, she said, through both savings and…
How to make: Habichuelas Con Dulce
When the smell of habichuelas con dulce (or sweet beans) comes drifting from the kitchen, you know it’s spring. It might be hard to imagine beans as a key component of a dessert, but this Dominican dish doesn’t last long in our household because of its subtle yet sweet flavor and thick texture, perfectly topped…
CLASSICAL | Madrigalia
Charles Ives’s choral works are not as well-known as his orchestral and chamber music, but they offer just as many challenges and delights to attentive listeners. His setting of Psalm 90, for example, is quintessential Ives in its pairing of hymn-tune simplicity (including the sounds of organ and church bells) and harmonic audacity. It is…
How to make: Khao Neow Ma Muang
Linda Seng, owner of Thai Mii Up, shares her recipe for mango with sticky rice According to Linda Seng, the most popular dessert on her menu at Thai Mii Up (1780 East Ridge Road) is the Khao Neow Ma Muang, or mango with sticky rice. The dessert originated in Thailand and is especially popular in…
ROCK | Girl Blue
Like an after-market, grunge lullaby, Girl Blue keeps the music beautiful with dashes of sonic color and unconventional chord patterns that shouldn’t make sense. And yet on several levels, they do, emanating a familiarity as if between strangers. It’s melancholy, but not mopey. Actually, it really rocks. Girl Blue opens for Sean Rowe on Wednesday,…
Photo essay gives face and voice to gender spectrum
Though transgender and non-binary identities have deep roots in human history, we still grapple with allowing people to pursue their authentic selves, and understanding them as a valid part of the spectrum of humanity. Photographer Errol Daniels’ important photo series “TransAmericans” is currently on view at the Gay Alliance’s Gallery Q. Through intimate portraits of…
POP | The 1975
While The 1975 may initially read as just the latest in a long line of British teen heartthrob exports, the Manchester-based band have quite a bit of nuance to offer. Its latest record, 2016’s “I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It” bears a great deal of…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Rails and Ales”
Now in its 80th year, the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will celebrate in style this Saturday with an event combining the nostalgia of a train ride with the comfort of craft beer. Rochester breweries Swiftwater, Iron Tug, and Triphammer Bierworks as well as local cidery Blue Toad will all represent, alongside regional outfits…
JAZZ | In The Sea
In The Sea is definitely not a typical jazz trio. First, there is the instrumentation: Tristan Honsinger on cello; Nicolas Caloia, double bass; and Joshua Zubot, violin. But don’t expect chamber music (well, maybe something a little like Béla Bartók or John Cage). In The Sea is steeped in the tradition of collective improvisation. Its…
SPECIAL EVENT | Rochester Bike Week
Rochester has long had a vibrant, if less visible biking community. That community of passionate riders is more prominent than ever, evidenced in part by an abundance of activities during Rochester Bike Week. There are 10 different rides taking place through May 21, including: Rochester Bike Kids’ laid-back Wednesday Night Cruise (this adult ride starts…
INDIE ROCK | Kevin Devine
Although New York City-based singer-songwriter Kevin Devine has been active since around 2002, he’s still operating at a staggering blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace. From the literate introspection of 2003’s “Make the Clocks Move” to 2009’s fantastically cerebral “Brother’s Blood,” Devine has been juggling the personal and the political fast enough that they’ve blurred together seamlessly. On his…
SPECIAL EVENT | Flower City Comic Con
Only at the Flower City Comic Con can you attend dressed as Miracle Man, and meet legendary comic artist Joe Jusko, wrestler Jerry Lawler, and the sixth doctor of “Doctor Who” Colin Baker. In its second year, FC3 has managed to pack a roster of guests ranging from media talents such as the red Power…
CLASSICAL | SCMR with Jon Nakamatsu
The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester concludes its 40th season with a concert featuring its artist-in-residence, pianist Jon Nakamatsu, a Rochester favorite. In the first half, Nakamatsu will take part in two works which, though not exactly new, have never been performed at SCMR concerts: “Morceau de Salon” for oboe and piano by 19th…
ART | “Underpants and Overbites”
My Instagram scrolling habit got a lot more amusing after I started following Rochester-based artist Jackie Evangelisti’s autobiographical “Underpants and Overbites: A Diary Comic.” Starring two egg-shaped characters based on Evangelisti and her fiancé Pat, the clever, frequently self-deprecating, and relatable content offers a weekly chuckle about snippets from daily life: stress, love, families, random…
BLUES | Lyric Theatre Blues Bash
A low down, five-pronged attack, the Lyric Theatre will present its first Blues Bash on Saturday, with Steve Grills and the Roadmasters at 3:30 p.m.; Joe Beard at 4:30 p.m.; The Alexis P. Suter Band at 6 p.m.; Tad Robinson at 7:30 p.m.; and Dave Specter at 9 p.m. Now, they’re treating this like five…
COMEDY | Pete Johansson
There’s a sly, self-deprecating dig in the title “You Might Also Enjoy Pete Johansson,” the comedian’s 2016 Netflix stand-up special. Johansson has been a consistent, well-regarded touring comedian for almost two decades, and here the title winks at the relative obscurity that many dedicated comics share if they aren’t one of the few A-listers filling…
Nobody’s marigold has the benefit of a generation gap
Musicians Roy Stein and April Laragy have been rolling around the Rochester rock scene for years, making noise in several impactful bands. Stein was the drummer in the brooding new wave act New Math in the late 1970’s and The Jet Black Berries in the early 1980’s. Together Stein and Laragy played in the accordion…
THEATER | “Rumba y Mojito Picante”
Alcohol at a funeral always reveals some new truth. During the wake for their neighbor, el Trino, Cecilia and Julian serve up a new recipe that combines rum and salsa picante, and of course, stories from the crowd come out. Rochester Latino Theatre Company Artistic Director Candide Carrasco’s comedy “Rumba y Mojito Picante” debuted during…
Album review: ‘Civilization’
Margaret Explosion “Civilization” Earring Records margaretexplosion.com Margaret Explosion seems to pull songs out of the air. No pre-planning; no script. The music plays them, and what’s left is a perfect in-the-moment moment for this purely live band playing songs we’ll never hear again. It is sexy and cool to the max. And just remember: “sensuous”…
Dems ready to choose candidates
In what could be a fractious convention, Monroe County Democrats will gather on May 18 to designate their party’s candidates for the November general election. On their list: Rochester mayor, City Council, School Board, sheriff, City Court, and an eastside County Legislature seat. While some positions aren’t being hotly contested, the big city races –…
Album review: ‘Rumbler’
Bill Anschell “Rumbler” Origin Records billanschell.com Pianist and composer Bill Anschell is based in Seattle, and that’s probably why you’ve never heard of him. “Rumbler,” the new album by Anschell, a major player on the Northwestern jazz scene, should go a long way toward remedying that situation. With odd and shifting time signatures, engaging compositions,…
Rush wants to define its identity
Suburbs often talk up their rural-style charms: their houses aren’t packed quite as tightly as in the city, their parks and open spaces are airier than their urban equivalents, and things are generally quieter. Some suburbs still have working farms in their borders. But the Town of Rush doesn’t just feel rural, it is rural,…
Sharing a taste of home
Refugee-run restaurants enhance Rochester’s palate Rochester is a city of refugees. They come from Syria, Cuba, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Bhutan, Burma, Nepal, and elsewhere. In 2016, almost 1,200 new refugees arrived in Rochester, up from more than 750 people in 2015. There are as many reasons to leave home as there…
Creating high-quality schools
Pedro Noguera began a Ted Talk presentation a few years ago by posing a question parents, teachers, and policy makers have been asking for years: “Why it is that educating children in America has become so hard?” Noguera, a researcher and UCLA education professor, gives a sharp response: “We have made this much more difficult…
Into unexpected territory
Radio Social is something different. The 42,000-square-foot space in the North Winton area was a former radio factory, and it now houses a new kind of social hub. Thirty-four bowling lanes; ping-pong, billiards, skee ball, and other games; furniture designed by Staach; a back lawn; and a full bar directed by Chuck Cerankosky — the…
Boxcar opens Railroad Street location
The Public Market neighborhood will have a new resident this month with the opening of Boxcar (formerly Boxcar Donuts), a new venture by the owners of Glen Edith Coffee Roasters. More than two years in the making, Boxcar is turning its doughnut business into a full-scale eatery with the opening of its new location (127…
Feedback 5/17
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in…
Urban Action 5/17
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Documentary examines Ferguson The Little Theatre will show the documentary film “Whose Streets?” on Friday, May 19. The film examines teenager Michael Brown’s killing by Ferguson police and the racial tensions concerning the…
Beer quest
Rochester loves its craft beer. From Three Heads Brewing to Lost Borough to Swiftwater, there are more destinations than ever for local beer connoisseurs to wet their whistles. And yet many beers get overlooked — seemingly too obscure or odd to be considered everyday elixirs. What follows is a non-comprehensive survey of seven beers and…
Film review: ‘King Arthur’
The world doesn’t really need another retelling of Arthurian legend. But if we’ve got no choice in the matter, at least this one offers a scrappy, street-level epic seen through the hyperactive eyes of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” director Guy Ritchie. At least that’s what I attempted to tell myself before heading into…
Film review: ‘Norman’
Richard Gere stars as Norman Oppenheimer, the hero of Joseph Cedar’s mordantly funny fable “Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.” Norman calls himself a businessman, but his real trade is making connections. Fueled by a desperate desire to be a success (or even better, to be seen as one),…
Theater review: Blackfriars’ ‘Death of a Salesman’
In an increasingly digital world of likes, shares, and clicks, it might be hard to see how a mid-century play about a traveling salesman could possibly be relevant. Blackfriars Theatre is currently staging Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” and the final production of its 2016-17 season shows why this poignant tale remains pertinent for…
