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; […]
Rochester Dining
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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 […]
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DINING REVIEW: The Revelry
When The Revelry opened last year, it introduced many to low-country Southern cuisine and added another local option for craft cocktails. It also enjoyed a lot of buzz: some positive (quality food and drinks, attractive interior), some negative (over-priced, hipster mecca). One year in, the buzz has quieted but the quality hasn’t. Across the board […]
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DINING REVIEW: Sultan Lebanese Cuisine & Bakery
In the shadows of the monstrous construction of the College Town complex and numerous chain establishments, the small stretch of Mt. Hope Avenue between Elmwood Avenue and I-390 has been a hotbed of independent restaurant activity over the last year or so. In the span of less than a mile, you can now find cuisines […]
