A vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting (left), vegan chocolate cupcake with white frosting (middle), and mini vanilla cupcakes (right) from Get Caked in Village Gate. Credit: PHOTO BY MARK CHAMBERLIN

UPDATED 3/15/13 with clarification on Chester Cab Pizza, which will be sold to a new owner, not close.

Culinary doyenne Alice Waters has suggested that the best way to finish a meal is with a single, perfect peach. But that’s probably only because she hasn’t had one of Kelly Halligan’s Fruity Pebbles cupcakes, consisting of vanilla cake flecked with Fred Flintstone’s favorite cereal and topped with a swirl of vanilla frosting. Now, Mother Nature obviously knows what’s She’s doing, but so does Halligan, who recently moved her baking business out of her home and into Village Gate as Get Caked.

Halligan’s route to bakery owner has been an indirect one. Originally on track for a degree in biochemistry, an unexpected leave of absence from her job found Halligan brainstorming income opportunities, and before too long she and her mom were offering cookies at craft shows. Naturally the scientist in her began developing her own recipes, and soon Halligan had her home kitchen certified so she could sell her wares by word of mouth.

“It made me really happy,” says Halligan. Biochemistry didn’t stand a chance.

“I just had a really good feeling about the Village Gate,” Halligan says of her decision to drop roots in the evolving space, one that provides a lot of hungry traffic thanks to the gaggle of neighboring restaurants. But visitors to Get Caked have some tough decisions to make. Molasses, double chocolate chip, or oatmeal cookies? Black forest, chocolate-raspberry, or lemon cupcakes? Halligan’s selection rotates, and she’s got a good number of vegan options as well, like her deeply chocolate cupcakes, which are actually not a result of tinkering in the kitchen lab. “It was my grandma’s recipe,” she says. “It just happens to not have milk, eggs, or butter.”

Halligan hopes to soon hit upon a gluten-free cupcake that meets her standards; in the meantime she’s trying out new flavors (like that Fruity Pebbles one) and doing consultations with people interested in her custom creations. Halligan is also exploring the possibility of supplying some of the other Village Gate eateries with treats from Get Caked, and she’s even toying with the notion of an evening delivery service for baked goods… an idea for which, if you’ve ever had your way with a sleeve of Chips Ahoy at 9 p.m., there would no doubt be an enthusiastic market.

Get Caked is located in the Village Gate at 274 N. Goodman St. It is open Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Prices start at 80 cents. For more information, call 319-4314 or visit getcakedroc.com.

Lettuce rap

Well, the good news is that the Lettuce B. Frank food cart will be out and about again in the spring. The even-better news is that you don’t have to wait for the daffodils to enjoy a carrot-and-chick-pea slider ($6), because David Potwin has now opened Lettuce B. Frank Bistro in the same Swillburg landmark that houses the Cinema Theater.

The brick-and-mortar version of Lettuce B. Frank offers some enduring favorites as well as new variations on Potwin’s seasonal “farm-to-foil cuisine,” currently meaning such items as a reuben made with Small World sauerkraut ($9), plus roasted squash, greens, and caramelized red onion with white bean spread ($7) that’s available open face, in panini form, or atop housemade flatbread. There’s dessert, too, like Oreo tiramisu ($4), Fuji apple crisp ($3), and a decadent two-bite cake shot ($2.50) assembled with Jameson chocolate cake, Guinness ganache, and Bailey’s buttercream.

Lettuce B. Frank Bistro is located at 957 S. Clinton Ave. It is open Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Food prices range from $2 to $9. For more information, call 708-9515 or visit lettucebfrank.com.

Stack ’em up

For about two months every year, Cartwright’s Maple Tree Inn in Angelica, NY, just east of Hornell, offers its famous buckwheat pancakes, served all-you-can-eat for $7.35 alongside a sausage patty, a slice of ham, and the 100 percent pure maple syrup that the Cartwright family has been making for the last century. But the window is fast closing on the 2013 season; it ends Sunday, April 14, so you pancake connoisseurs had better act fast. For more details, visit cartwrightsmapletreeinn.com, or call 567-8181.

Food for thought

It’s time again for the 4th Annual Edible Books Festival at the Central Library of Rochester, which offers professional and amateur bakers of all ages the chance to bring a beloved book to life through the medium of food, be it cake, sculpted produce, chocolate, pasta, or any other edible items. The April 7 event will feature cooking demos and tastings, but the deadline for entry into the contest is Saturday, March 30. Visit libraryweb.org for the proper forms, or call 428-8350.

Openings

Crust Pizza Kitchen is now open in East Rochester at 115 W. Commercial St., serving — you guessed it — pizzas and calzones, as well as subs, salads, wings, fish fry, and the Landfill Plate, available in many combinations. Wanna know more? Visit crustpk.com or call 218-0818.

Webster’s newest eatery is the Brimont Bistro, which offers, among other things, its take on classic French cuisine like duck confit, coq au vin, and beef bourguignon. It’s located at 24 W. Main St. in the village; check out the menu at brimontcateringcorporation.com, or call 872-3170.

La Placita, one of the Public Market’s most popular food vendors, has opened a South Wedge outpost called La Casa. Located at 93 Alexander St., La Casa serves Mexican faves like nachos, tacos, and carnitas, plus tamales, ceviche, and a few breakfasty dishes. Call 730-5025 or visit La Casa’s Facebook page.

Changing hands

Chester Cab fans were saddened to learn that Howie Nielsen would be closing his Park Avenue pizzeria in the near future. However, after the news broke about its impending closure, the word started spreading that the business would NOT close, but rather that it was being sold to a new owner.

On Friday, March 13, Nielsen — who also owns local barbecue giant Sticky Lips — clarified the Chester Cab situation for City.

“I was going to close Chester Cab Pizza at the end of this week, but our long time manager Dess Ivanov has made a last-minute purchase offer, which I’m happy to accept,” Nielsen says. “He will have an uphill battle and I wish him all the best of luck. So if the community wants Chester Cab, and he continues to make great-tasting pizza, it should work out for the best.”

Chow Hound is a food and restaurant news column. Do you have a tip? Send it to food@rochester-citynews.com.

This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2013.

5 replies on “CHOW HOUND: Sweet somethings”

  3. Thanks for the updates on the Chester Cab situation, folks. We have reached out to Nielsen for clarification and will post it as soon as we hear back. In the meantime, here is the full text of the press release that he sent out to the media last week. I don’t think there’s any question that, based on this release, he was sending the message at that time that the restaurant was closing.

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

    Chester Cab Pizza Will Be Closing Its Doors

    Rochester, New York – March 7, 2013

    It is with a heavy heart that owner and founder of Park Avenue’s Chester Cab
    Pizza is slinging his last pizza. The store, located at
    707 Park Ave, had just surpassed its 30th year in business.

    After living in Chicago, Nielsen introduced stuffed pizza baked into a pan
    to Rochester in 1982. Also, he was the first in the area to put spinach,
    broccoli, and tofu atop a pizza. And most recently, Nielsen came up with a
    2.5 gram fat per slice, which tastes great.

    Nielsen states that even though sales have been steady, “…it is the rising
    expenses that took us to the point of unprofitability. In past years, I have
    noticed that our margins were going down but decided to keep the business
    afloat for better days to come.”

    It’s not big news like a Kodak or Xerox closing, but Nielsen has prided
    himself in keeping the store open seven days a week, only closing two days
    out of the year. Also, he is proud that his pizza shops have created over
    2000 stepping stone jobs and put hundreds of thousands of dollars back into
    our government — tax dollars which go on to provide jobs for our county,
    state and country. Chester Cab Pizza is just a cog in the capitalism wheel
    that purchases its product from a wholesaler, who buys from the
    manufacturer, who buys from the farmer. That is free enterprise at its
    best, and that is what keeps Americans working.

    Nielsen was just a 21-year-old ambitious kid with a young family to feed
    when he opened the doors to The Pizza Station opposite Seabreeze Park on
    Culver Road. The early years it was just a day to day battle to make a
    small living. “It was the start of what I call my Harvard business and life
    education. I used to make pizzas and had work weeks of 80-100 hours.
    Between my wife and I, we pulled in a profit at times of $400 per week. If
    you combined our hours, I think it worked out to about $3.33 per hour. We
    had no safety nets. I figured I was turning a profit, I believed in the
    stuffed pizza, and that if I could make the best pizza in Rochester,
    everything else would fall in place.” Nielsen says in the past 30 years, he
    has seen numerous pizzerias open and close, and he feels very blessed to
    have made it this long.

    During the mid 1970s, 80s, and 90s, Park Ave was a magical place. Real
    estate agents were busy and every city neighborhood wanted to be the next
    Park Ave. “I love Park Ave, especially during spring and early summer, when
    the college kids come home and the street comes alive.
    People come from all over to get a taste of it.”

    Looking back, Nielsen has a few regrets. “The City of Rochester generally
    has been fair to my business. I have been on Park Ave under the
    administrations of four different mayors. Many times, local merchants have
    addressed the issue of lack of parking, especially during peak season.
    Nothing has really changed, which may indicate that parking ticket revenue
    is too great for the city to give up.”

    “I probably could keep Chester Cab Pizza going for a while more. But when I
    see the mandates that businesses will be required to comply with by 2014, I
    figure those would be the mandates that would break the camel’s back. So
    why wait, my work is done. Why delay the inevitable?”

    “There’s a perfect storm brewing, involving a number of factors.
    There are higher fuel and food costs (due to mid-west droughts and corn
    ethanol mandates), higher labor and health care requirements, and a hostile
    New York State business environment. With high unemployment and U.S. Labor
    salaries being stagnant, I did not feel we could push the prices to the
    customer any higher.”

    “It just seems to be the right time to shut it down and say good-bye to my
    customers and employees and thank them.”

    Chester Cab Pizza will be closing in the upcoming month.

  4. So Nielsen says, “”I probably could keep Chester Cab Pizza going for a while more. But when I see the mandates that businesses will be required to comply with by 2014, I figure those would be the mandates that would break the camel’s back. So why wait, my work is done. Why delay the inevitable?”

    But now his manager has decided to buy the business. So one has to ask, does Ivanov figure he can do a better job running the place, or was Nielsen merely bloviating and the business climate (the one he operates Sticky Lips under) isn’t as bad as he contends? And the mimicing of George Eastman’s famous quote, “My work is done, why wait” seems a bit tacky.

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