Partnership perks: Public Provisions @ Flour City Bread 

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Before last fall, it may not have seemed like the Rochester Public Market needed another restaurant in and around its grounds. But Public Provisions — which in July 2023 moved into 45 Public Market, a single story, spacious building next to Cure/Java’s — fits the market vibe so well, it feels like it’s always been there.

The restaurant not only offers market goers a spot to grab a coffee and breakfast bite — and crucially, ample seating — before or after navigating the crowded produce stalls on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but is open later in the day as a full-service casual restaurant, serving customers six days a week (with varying hours).

“Wednesday through Saturday, we’re open from sun up to 9 p.m., and the kitchen never closes between breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Public Provisions co-owner and chef Cassidy Broman said. “If I’m there, I’ll make you anything that’s on those three menus.”
Those menus include savory, drippy-yolk breakfast sammies on fresh croissants and buttermilk biscuits; toasted bagels with the works; sandwiches on sourdough, ciabatta, or focaccia; inventive salads with bright flavors, and hearty surf-and-turf dishes. The breads, rolls, and other bakery items come from in-house: Flour City Bread Co., the 15-year market mainstay owned by Public Provisions’ co-owner, Keith Myers, recently relocated into the same space from two doors down. Proteins are sourced locally from farms like Seven Bridges, and produce from regional Amish farmers.

“But the bread really is the bones of the menu, it's food that everyone can relate to,” said Broman, who was most recently sous chef at The Cub Room. “Same thing with our beverage program — it's beer and wine that's approachable and affordable, and canned cocktails that are not too bitter and not too sweet.”
Broman, now 36, was a teenager interning at Rooney’s when he met Myers, who was using that kitchen to experiment with bread making while working at Richardson’s Canal House. Broman attended the Culinary Institute of America before working in restaurants in Chicago, New York City, and Rochester. But he and Myers kept crossing paths throughout their careers — they collaborated on some presentations at the Wegmans restaurant Tastings, and they both worked for Broman’s father, who owned a restaurant and catering company, Chapel’s Restaurant and Catering (he has since sold the company). Broman worked at Flour City for the past few years while holding down other kitchen jobs.
The two have honed not only their cooking and baking chops, but also their friendship over the past two decades.

“We've always kind of joked about opening a restaurant,” Broman said. “Then he had the opportunity to buy the building Public Provisions is in, and he gave me a phone call.”

In what can be a high-pressure, stressful line of work, all-day levity and mutual respect for the work they’ve put into their respective kitchen experience keep things light and moving smoothly along, Broman said.

“That’s pretty much tattooed on us.”

public-provisions.com, flourcitybread.com

Rebecca Rafferty is an arts writer for CITY. She can be reached at [email protected].