dish 2012

ARTISAN COFFEE ROASTERS • ELABORATE CAKES • INVENTIVE ENTRÉES

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� CITY • DISH 2012

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They say you are what you eat. I submit that if you eat some of the food mentioned in this edition of Dish, you will be awesome. This time out our writers found some of the most outrageous, interesting food and drink items in the Greater Rochester area. Frog-leg garbage plates. Birthday cakes shaped like your favorite cat. Artisan coffees. It’s all here. If you’re tired of ordering the standard entrees at area restaurants, check out Dayna Papaleo’s list of inventive, extraordinary dishes at local eateries. From avocado-based chocolate mousses to sushi pizzas, I practically guarantee she found at least something you never knew existed. But beware: the Yeti Burger at Monty’s Krown nearly reduced our staff photographer to tears, so great was its girth. Summer is nearly upon us, and for many Rochesterians that means a leisurely stroll along the Park Avenue business corridor. Ever notice how many food and

drink establishments there are in that neighborhood? We did, and asked Paloma Capanna to do a door-to-door survey of all the Park Ave places you can eat or drink. Hitting them all should keep you busy through fall, at least. City restaurant critic James Leach takes a look at the fascinating world of local artisan coffee roasters. We have quite a bustling coffee business in this town, and our roasters vary from women learning job skills to a forward-thinking, scientifically complicated roasting business aiming to please true java aficionados. For dessert, check out Heather Charlton’s piece on some of Rochester’s fancy cake shops. Our area is awash with amazing bakeries, but Heather scouted a few that specialize in super-elaborate creations. They’re perfect for special occasions, not-so-special occasions, or any occasion to stuff your face with cake.

Fill up your plate

Inside

I N T R O D U C T I O N BY erIc rezSnYak

S ingular SenSat ionS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 One-of-a-kind dishes you can find at local restaurants

the ed ible journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 a door-to-door tour of Park avenue’s restaurants, bars, and specialty food shops

Sweet dreamS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Looking for a fantastical, elaborate cake? These bakeries can help

buzz worthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Get to know the small-batch coffee roasters of rochester

+ more onlinecheck out DISH at rochestercitynewspaper.com (under Guides in arts & entertainment) for additional photos, slideshows, and more. Plus, explore previous issues of DISH and peruse our online restaurant guide to see what other mouth-watering rochester restaurants you may have missed.

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ON THE COVER: Vegan chocolate mousse at Owl House, photo by Matt DeTurck

PUBLISHERS: William and Mary anna Towler

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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT: ([email protected])Editor: eric rezsnyakContributing Writers: Paloma capanna, Heather charlton, James Leach, Dayna Papaleo

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Sometimes, when I’m enjoying an especially tasty restaurant meal, or munching on some homemade candy, or even just scraping the vegetal goodness from a simple steamed artichoke, my thoughts will wander from what’s happening in my mouth and I’ll find myself once again floored by the minor miracle that is cooking. Who first looked at that artichoke, for instance, and thought, “Hey, let’s eat that”? And how long did it take for some intrepid soul to figure out the least painful way to make the spiky thing palatable? Oh, don’t even get me started on baking, which involves so much scientific trial and error that a lab coat might be more appropriate than an apron. Like other forms of art, cooking involves surveying your finite number of raw materials and, with a healthy pinch of your own imagination, crafting something greater than the sum of the parts. And restaurant cooking often carries with it the added pressure of hitting upon ideas that are both yummy and distinctive, food that will appeal to your guests and make them remember that your establishment is the only place to experience what you bring to the table. With that in mind, read on for eight unique dishes that, at this point in Rochester culinary

time, each call but one restaurant home. If you think we’re in error, and can find one of these dishes on another local menu, please correct us by commenting on this article at rochestercitynewspaper.com. And if you’d

like to nominate a unique dish for a future version of this article, please send an e-mail with the dish and restaurant to [email protected].

Bacon is a nearly irreplaceable ingredient, adding elements of salt, grease, smoke, and substance to everything it blesses. No matter how ubiquitous it becomes, though, bacon will never, ever be good for you, and some just can’t eat it anyway. But even the most diehard carnivore should be satisfied with the CLT ($9) at the Tap & Mallet (381 Gregory St., 473-0503, tapandmallet.com), an inspired vegan creation consisting of lettuce, tomato, and, acting as the bacon surrogate, smoked coconut. Sandwiched between two slices of tangy sourdough and married with a traditional hummus, the CLT is positively ingenious, the crunchy yet chewy coconut adding an air of savory meatiness even as it alleviates the guilt occasionally brought about by bacon’s depressing drawbacks.

I could see why it might be called the Yeti Burger ($8.50), but Jen Clark, bartender at Monty’s Krown (875 Monroe Ave., 271-7050), was kind enough to

answer my obvious question: “Because it’s just so... huge.” No actual abominable snowmen are harmed in the making of a Yeti Burger, assembled from a pair of grilled-cheese-and-

BY DaYna PaPaLeO

Singular sensationsOne-of-a-kind dishes you can find at local restaurants

F E A T U R E

The Yeti Burger at Monty’s Krown features a beef patty (and optional fried egg) between two grilled-cheese-and bacon sandwiches. PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck

The CLT – smoked coconut, lettuce, and tomato sandwich – at Tap & Mallet (with a side a couscous). PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck

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bacon sandwiches with a juicy hamburger in between. (Want a fried egg in there, too? Of course you do; tack on a buck.) Served with a side of yummy Cajun tater tots, the delectably sleazy Yeti Burger is only available on Mondays, though Clark says the Krown can usually handle requests for it whenever the kitchen’s open, which is weekdays 5-9 p.m. Still, limiting yourself to one Yeti a week is probably wise.

Tucked away in a nondescript strip mall in Greece, Kobe Steak & Sushi House (2496 W. Ridge Road, 225-8555, koberochester.com) has spent the last two years setting the bar for inventive sushi offerings quite high. Besides the sublime oyster shooter ($7) that incorporates a quail egg and a tangy, tomatoey base, as well as the outrageous tuna dumplings ($9) stuffed with crab and seaweed salad, Kobe serves what the restaurant refers to as sushi pizza ($13). Pie-like in shape only, the sushi pizza is a riot of flavors and textures, starting with a traditionally Chinese scallion pancake that gets topped with creamy avocado, spicy tuna, crumbly tempura bits, and salty bursts of tobiko. There’s easily enough for two people to share as an appetizer, or maybe one selfish person.

Tavern 58 at Gibbs (58 University Ave., 546-5800, tavern58.com) is without a doubt one of Rochester’s unsung gems. The server said that the restaurant makes everything in-house and from scratch, including the onion-sprinkled buns that cradle the American bison burger ($16.50). Bison meat, for the uninitiated, is a lot like beef, except a little mustier, a little gamier. Now, that might sound unpleasant, but if you’ve ever had the privilege of sinking your teeth into a well-aged steak, you understand that funky kind of charm. The burger gets gilded with melted cheddar, roasted pepper slaw, Tavern barbecue sauce, and crispy continues on page 6


tumbleweed onions, and it comes with a pile of sweet-hot pickle slices as well as housemade potato chips. Substitutions for sides are welcome, meaning that Tavern 58’s stellar German potato salad is also an option.

In Italy porchetta often involves a whole pig that’s been boned, re-stuffed with its own guts, and then spit-roasted. But at Rocco (165 Monroe Ave., 454-3510, roccorochester.com) the porchetta sandwich ($9) served at Friday lunch is a simpler affair. A massive pork shoulder is smeared with a wildly aromatic rub made from garlic, rosemary, orange, and fennel, and then wrapped in a brined pork belly that will form an addictively crispy armor by the time all that pork emerges from the oven 12 hours later. After a little rest the porchetta is sliced and served on a fresh-baked roll with a splash of its own flavorful juices, the minimalist presentation belying the vivid flavors. (Full disclosure: the writer is employed by Rocco, and she’s usually the one to haul this gorgeous beast out of the oven on Friday morning.)

What is it that makes the humble tater tot so damn good? Not quite a hash brown, not quite a French fry, it was the highlight of many

a meal for most kids, and for reasons beyond the free-flowing Heinz ketchup. In recent years restaurants have recognized the nostalgic power of the tot as well as its gastronomic potential, finding ways to incorporate the stubby little tubes of shredded potato into their roster of deep-fried delights. Leave it to Edibles (704 University Ave., 271-4910, ediblesrochester.com) to class things up with its surprisingly sublime truffle tots ($7, $5 as a side), which are standard-issue tater tots that have been kissed with earthy truffle oil and umami-rich porcini salt, then served with a smoky chipotle aioli. Ketchup is so 20th century.

These days, it’s more shocking when a Rochester restaurant doesn’t offer its own version of that Rochester culinary institution known as the Garbage Plate. Most places refrain from tinkering with a winning formula, but some creative chefs will put their own spin on it. Which brings us to the Pond Plate ($9.99), added to the menu this year at The Frog Pond (652 Park Ave., 271-1970, eatatthefrogpond.com). The basics are tried-and-true: mac salad, home or French fries, onions, yellow mustard, a sneaky-hot meat sauce, and some sort of protein, be it burgers,

hot dogs, chicken, or sausage. The signature coup de grace? A pair of breaded frog’s legs sticking out the top. Some lazily claim frog’s legs taste like chicken, but they’re actually a bit more complex, with a succulence that hints at a life spent in the water.

A proper, civilized meal ought to end with dessert; just a little something to signal to your body that it’s time to quit stuffing your maw. And though most of the restaurant’s desserts rotate regularly, the luscious chocolate mousse ($6) at the Owl House (75 Marshall St., 360-2920, owlhouserochester.com) is usually a constant. Both gluten-free and vegan, the chocolate mousse might be relatively guiltless, but it’s not what anyone would consider innocent. Avocado is blended with cocoa into a velvety and deeply chocolate purée, then topped with fresh, seasonal sliced fruit (last time I was there it was strawberry, apple, and pear) and a scattering of pleasingly bitter cacao nibs. Enjoy it after one of the Owl House’s other singular offerings, like the Saigon ($8.50), its zesty vegetarian take on a bánh mì. Or just have some chocolate mousse for dinner. You’re a grown-up.

Singular sensations continues from page 5

The Pond Plate from The Frog Pond features the normal “plate” fixings, topped with breaded frog’s legs. PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck

The chocolate mousse at Owl House is remarkable because of its avocado base, which makes it rich, creamy, and vegan and gluten-free. PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck


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Ever marveled at the array of signs for food along Park Avenue? With more than 30 restaurants, bars, and specialty food shops, it took me two full afternoons to visit every one. From favorites I know and love to businesses I’d never have noticed without a map, Park Avenue offers something for everyone’s appetite and budget, whether you’re from the neighborhood or not. (Note that for this article we focused strictly on businesses with Park Avenue addresses.) Your eating adventure begins on the west end of the Avenue at the Classy Cookie & Deli (111 Park Ave., 271-5309, ClassyCookie.com). With all the smells of warm cookies to give you sweet dreams, Classy Cookie also offers box lunches and catering, featuring more than 50 different deli sandwiches and salads for take-out and delivery.

In spite of its name, pretty much everybody knows where to find Hogan’s Hideaway (197 Park Ave., 442-4293, HogansHideaway.com). The menu includes a full range of casual and comfort foods, and specials run from a zucchini and black bean quesadilla to pan-seared salmon. This is a restaurant and bar to please vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Great Harvest Bread Company (210 Park Ave., 697-0400, GHBCRochester.com) offers samples by the slice of breads that rise from sesame garlic cheddar to sunflower millet to whole-grain fruit-and-nut goodness to Grandma’s white. It also serves coffee drinks, sandwiches, and wraps all day long, starting with breakfast. And don’t skip the salads. When I stopped by Bacco’s Ristorante (263 Park Ave., 442-5090, BaccosRistorante.

com), owner and chef Giovanni O. La Gamba greeted me at the door. La Gamba talked passionately about his varied offerings, from roast quail with herbs to osso buco. La Gamba, from the Calabria region of Italy, exudes the mantra of buy local. He makes everything from scratch, including the pastas and the breads. Reservations recommended as seating is limited in this intimate house-based restaurant. Another gem is just across the street: Delish Bakery, where Dimitra Apostolopoulos is the chef/owner (266 Park Ave., 244-9002, Delish-Bakery.org). Delish just opened in December 2011. Apostolopoulos’ specialty is individual desserts, like you might find in European pastry shops. These include her original mousse creations with fillings like crème brûlée, covered in a layer of chocolate. There are cookies, too,

BY PaLOMa caPanna

The edible journeyA door-to-door tour of Park Avenue’s restaurants, bars, and specialty food shops

G U I D E

Left: The Eggs California at Jines Restaurant. PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck | Middle: Bailila from Sinbad’s Mediterannean Cuisine. FILe PHOTO | Right: Giovanni La Gamba, owner/chef at Bacco’s Ristorante. PHOTO BY PaLOMa caPanna


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including melomakarona, a spiced honey-dipped delight. Salads, crepes, and wraps also offered. Just a few steps away at his outdoor tables, I met Drew Nye, owner of ROAM Café (260 Park Ave., 360-4165, ROAMcafe.com). Within the past year, Nye took over ownership and remodeled the premises to create a décor that is chic and elegant, including window tables and patio seating, plus a recently added bar. Patrons of lunch, dinner, take-out, catering, and private events can feast on a menu from appetizers to grills. Italian-styled sandwiches include meatball and the wanna-be-Italian from New Orleans, the muffaletta. At the corner of Park and Oxford, you’ll find Mozzeroni’s Pizza & Pasta (360 Park Ave., 241-0002, Mozzeronis.com). One of five locations, the menu includes salads, calzones, fish and chips, low-carb wraps, chicken and ribs, hoagies, pasta dishes, and of course, pizza (including by the slice). Everything is made fresh, right down to the blue-cheese dipping sauce. Across from Mozzeroni’s is the Park and Oxford Deli (283 Park Ave., 242-8990). It’s the one place I missed on my walk-about because it’s sub-terra, with sidewalk-level windows. According to my editor, it’s all about the basted BBQ chicken and the café’s full range of true, delicatessen offerings. If you’re looking for a brew and some chatter, look for the red door to enter the Half Pint Pub (363 Park Ave., 271-6384, TheHalfPintPub.com). Lots of local and seasonal brews, including Dog Fish and Pitch Black IPA. Bar food is also available. Magnolia’s Deli & Café (366 Park Ave., 271-7380, MagnoliasCafe.com) is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and you’ll need all day just to read the menu. Personal favorites? Honey-lime shrimp with goat cheese, mandarin oranges, blackberries, continues on page 10


raspberries, and cashews. Blue pear with spinach, blue cheese, and blueberries. Soups, sandwiches, wraps, and pizzas also available at indoor and outdoor seating. Schuber’s Wine & Liquor (373 Park Ave., 473-1937) was a complete surprise. I went in because it’s a funky protrusion from an attached house with a vintage neon sign that I’ve passed for years. The owner, Greg Schuber, expresses humble pride in knowing his local customers, and says every day he gets requests as unusual as his neighborhood. While I was there, one customer was shopping for Oprah’s “Cocktails That Are Good for You” ingredients, including Caravella d’Italia Limoncello, PAMA pomegranate liqueur, and Lillet French aperitif wine. Almond buttercrunch, peanut-butter truffles, and cashew croquettes are just three of the homemade confections available at Stever’s Candies (623 Park Ave., 473-2098, SteversCandy.com). Family owned and operated, the shop opened in 1946 in the midst of chocolate shortages and post-war sugar rationing. Stever’s remains the to-go-to-shop for holidays, with lines out the door regularly making the news. From Berkeley to nearly Culver, it’s jam-packed. Cobbs Hill Italian Bistro (630 Park Ave., 442-6730) is tucked into the Wilson Farms plaza, and has menu offerings that include grilled paninis like the Very Veggie, grilled portabella mushrooms topped with roasted red peppers, spinach, mozzarella, and

creamy chipotle dipping sauce. Menu items include pizza, pasta, wings, and burgers. Outdoor tables available. If the colors and flavors of a good Italian gelato is what you’re after, then it’s off to Jembetat Café and Gallery (645 Park Ave., 442-8960, JembetatCafe.com), a combination African art gallery, jewelry store, and café. Jembetat is set to open a second location on the canal path in Pittsford in May. Wine, espresso, and desserts are also available. With a no Wi-Fi policy, Jembetat is for those looking for quiet conversation. At the Park Avenue Pub & Restaurant (650 Park Ave., 461-4140, ParkAvePub.com), you can get a sit-down, three-course dinner Tuesday through Thursday for only $22, with options including grouper French, lamb chop with demi-glace, or penne pomodoro with

tomato and basil. Regular entrees include a prosciutto-wrapped chicken breast and a vegetarian grilled barbeque tofu. The Frog Pond (652 Park Ave., 271-1970, EatAtTheFrogPond.com) serves all day long, from sautéed banana pancakes and “hangover” omelets to corned beef and cabbage. Dining inside and out. It also offers holiday specials, including prix-fixe menus. Directly across the street is Magpie Irish Pub (653 Park Ave., 271-4150, MagPiePub.com). The list of beers and ales is long, categorized as U.S., German, Belgian, Irish, British, and “Rest of World.” Of particular note are the Boddingtons Pale Ale, an Ithaca Apricot Wheat, and a Blue Point Blueberry Ale. Don’t miss Colie’s Café at the corner of Park and Berkeley (657 Park Ave., 442-4986, ColiesCafe.com). Both the food and the décor are colorful, whether you’re after Gram’s Waldorf Chicken Salad or Colleen’s Clubhouse double-decker toasted sandwich with ham, Cajun turkey, and bacon. Like the restaurant’s Facebook page for specials, and

Edible journey continues from page 9

Top left: Boulder Coffee Co.’s Park Ave location. PHOTO BY PaLOMa caPanna

Top right: A reuben sandwich from Hogan’s Hideaway. FILe PHOTO

Bottom left: Quaint pub Half Pint sits at the corner of Park and Oxford. FILe PHOTO


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check the board for daily deals (like kids under 12 eating free on Tuesdays). Jines Restaurant (658 Park Ave., 461-1280, JinesRestaurant.com) opened in 1971 and continues to offer the most extensive menu on the Avenue. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner — served inside or outside — the range of food spans sandwiches from BLTs and turkey clubs, to entrees like a meatloaf dinner, to Italian specials such as eggplant parmesan, to Greek specials like shish kabob and moussaka. Breakfast there is a personal favorite, including cinnamon French toast, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and bottomless coffee. Whether you’re dining in or eating out, Piranha Sushi Bar (682 Park Ave., 360-2754, PiranhaSushiBar.com) offers a fusion of “upscale Southeast Asian and Central American cuisines.” The menu is geared to “fish lovers and vegetarians alike,” and also includes standard entrees, salads, and soups. 10% off with student ID. At Café Cibon (688 Park Ave., 461-2960, CafeCibon.com), delight in a range of offerings from paninis and pastas to

continues on page 12

Dimitra Apostolopoulos, chef/owner of Delish Bakery. PHOTO BY PaLOMa caPanna

1� CITY • DISH 2012

espressos and gelatos. Together with co-owner Robin Swan, chef Ashley Swan has grown Café Cibon from a coffee shop into a European-style bistro, which also serves wine and cocktails. Find your Latin-fusion bistro and cantina at Dorado (690 Park Ave., 244-8560, DoradoParkAve.com). Affordable entree variations on tortillas, burritos, and enchiladas are rivaled by a four-page tequila menu, including Herradura Tequila, described as “caramel, cinnamon and hints of pear…extremely smooth and warm finish.” Beer, wine, and cocktails also available. Dine in or out. I also found neighborly warmth at Nathan’s Soup & Salad (691 Park Ave., 461-3016, NathansSoupandSalad.com). The reserved storefront and narrow interior might not pull you in, but the smells of homemade soups and breads sure will. Both employees were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about each item on the menu, including seasonal offerings. In the summer, consider dessert soups such as “Key Lime Sublime” and “Creamsicle.” On the north side of Park is Esan Thai Restaurant (696 Park Ave., 271-2271, EsanParkAve.com), featuring the cuisine of Thailand. The long list of vegetarian entrees includes lemongrass vegetables and coconut-green-curry vegetables, while other main dishes include chicken Prigkhin with green bean, ginger, and chili paste. Eat inside or out. For subs and Chicago-style pizza, go no further than Chester Cab Pizza (707 Park Ave., 244-8211, ChesterCab.com).

With deep-dish pies that stand taller than what you’d find at Uno’s, the original location opened in 1982 opposite Seabreeze Amusement Park. Chester Cab also offers traditional pizza, thick Sicilian style, thin, and low-fat pizzas. Keep an eye for their coupon deals. Delivers throughout downtown. Sinbad’s Mediterranean Cuisine (719 Park Ave., 473-5655, MySinbads.com) captures all things Greek in one menu, with specialties such as the Farrouj plate of marinated Cornish hen and melintzano pasta with eggplant, olives, toasted pine nuts, feta cheese, and herbs. Kabobs, pitas, salads, appetizers, and soups also available for dining inside and out. Pizza and more is offered at the Dragonfly Tavern (725 Park Ave., 563-6333, DragonflyTavern.com). Build your own pizza, order the Dragonfly Plate with burger,

Edible journey continues from page 11

Left: Soups and bread bowls from Nathan’s Soup & Salad. Right: A mojito from Dorado. FILe PHOTOS

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housemade mac, and a pile of fries, or grab a calzone with house-made red sauce. Eat in or take out. Catering, too. In Rochester, I have only to say the word “Abbott’s” and you know that I’m talking about frozen custard (733 Park Ave., 271-0430, AbbottsCustard.com). My standing order is a small twist with chocolate sprinkles. You already know the choices. If it’s coffee or coffee cocktails you’re after, hit Boulder Café and Lounge (739 Park Ave., 697-0235, BoulderCoffeeCo.com). Boulder has five local locations, including one at the Public Market. Take note – all drinks are posted on-line, but aren’t all listed on the menu boards in the store. Live high and order a Millionaire’s Coffee, created from espresso, spirited with Bailey’s, Kahlua, and Frangelica, topped with whipped cream. Even so, their decaf, straight, no cream is downright reliable. Two steps east of Boulder, and it’s Baker Street Bakery (745 Park Ave., 241-3120, BakerStreetBakery.net). At the shop, owners Bill and Mary Ellen Leonardo are aprons-on and familiar with their customers. I must confess: I’m addicted to the artisan breads, raspberry-almond tartlets, iced sugar cookies, croissants, blueberry-cheese kuchen, and black olive individual pizzas. Everything is baked fresh daily on the premises, and can be eaten in or taken out. Next door at F. Oliver’s Oils and Vinegars (747 Park Ave., 244-2585, FOlivers.com) you will find more than 40 varieties of oils and vinegars, imported for purchase on a bottle-to-order basis. At home, I’m already coursing through F. Oliver’s sage with wild-harvest mushroom olive oil and raspberry treat dark balsamic vinegar, and there’s no shortage of product recipes on the store’s website. Tastings any time you drop by. On the same block is Wine Sense (749 Park Ave., 271-0590, WeDefineWine.com). Owner and self-described “wine geek” Michael de Jong was in the house when I dropped by, and he welcomed City readers to join him for wine tastings and good conversation every Friday 5-8 p.m.


The past few years have seen an influx of TV shows focused on incredible pastry chefs who create outrageous cakes and pastries. Their creations are so over-the-top, it is almost impossible to consider them food, and not art. I often sit at home and think to myself, “Dang, where can I get a cake like THAT?” Well, friends, you don’t have to go to Baltimore or New York to find quality, ridiculous pastry work anymore, because Rochester has a set of talents that are working day and night to provide you with anything from the most fanciful, delicate wedding cakes to that cake shaped like your beloved cat, Mittens. Or your favorite cowboy hat. Or just about anything you can think of. While it would be impossible to list every bakery producing over-the-top items, below find a sampling of local bakery outlets doing some pretty incredible work. Think of it as a conversation starter. Did we miss your favorite bakery or pastry chef? Please add it to this article in the Guides section at rochestercitynewspaper.com.

Premier Pastry is a Rochester staple located in the South Wedge, and is known all over town for its magic way with flour and sugar. Like many bakeries that specialize in detailed, fancy work, a lot of Premier’s bread and butter comes from wedding cakes. But don’t tell that to fans who regularly order birthday, baby shower, bar mitzvah, and cakes for any other occasion imaginable.

Premier’s décor work is flawless, with delicate flowers and impressive fondant pieces formed into anything from jungle scenes to a Fender guitar. And with cake flavors like chocolate praline, lemon gateau, orange passion fruit, and chocolate Grand Marnier, how can you go wrong? The bakery also offers a selection

of pastries in its retail store that can be special ordered as mini pastries and cookie plates for your simpler gatherings, or when you just really need a platter of mini-pastries. No one’s judging. Premier Pastry is located at 433 South Ave. For pricing information visit the retail

BY HeaTHer cHarLTOn

Sweet dreamsLooking for a fantastical, elaborate cake? These bakeries can help

ROUND UP

Just a taste of the elaborate decorative work by Premier Pastry, including a quinceañera cake (left), a wedding cake (upper right), and a Lego Star Wars-themed birthday cake (bottom right). PHOTOS BY MaTT DeTUrck


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store, call 546-1420, visit premier-pastry.com, or find the bakery on Facebook for a beautiful gallery of photos and a quick answer to any of your questions.

Take a little drive with me, outside the city limits, to the lovely town of Williamson. It’s about 30 minutes away, but trust me, it’s worth it for the cake you are about to pick up. You’ve arrived at Erindipity’s Cake Studio, a fairly new addition to the Rochester-area cake scene, and a formidable one at that. Owner Erin Metcalfe’s repertoire is expansive, and incorporates everything from the most flowery, pristine tiered wedding cakes, to neon soccer balls, cowboy boots, and some of the craziest frosting flowers I’ve ever seen. Faced with some of Metcalfe’s creations, I was unsure if they were cakes or centerpieces, so lifelike were the “blooms.” Along with the basic chocolate and white cake flavor options, Metcalfe’s staples include red velvet, applesauce spice, and dark chocolate mocha cakes, to name a few, with a choice of 11 fillings. If for some reason you don’t think that you need a whole cake, Erindipity’s also offers cupcakes, which are, as far as I am concerned, always a good decision. Eridipitiy’s Cake Studio is located in Williamson, but does not have a retail shop at this time. You can contact Metcalfe at 315-945-1093, check out the website at erindipitys.com, or find the business on Facebook for more information on pricing and appointments. If you really don’t feel like driving out to Williamson, know that delivery to Rochester is complimentary for all wedding and tiered cakes, and can be set up for a small fee for other cakes as well.

Has all of this talk got you itching for a novelty cake? Wedding cakes are fantastic, but what if you need a cake continues on page 16

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shaped like a hot dog, or an accordion, or a bottle of ketchup? If that’s the case, then Cakes by Karen is definitely what you want. After going to art school and becoming a stay-at-home mom, graphic designer Karen Osterling discovered her ability to create what she calls “creatively different” cakes. Yeah, I would call a giant bacon-wrapped pork chop “creatively different.” I would also call it awesome. At Cakes by Karen you can also get any of the standard, gorgeous, flowery wedding stuff that you can get elsewhere, but you can also get an Oreo cookie-flavored cake shaped like your cat. That’s fantastic. Cakes by Karen also does cupcakes, cookies, bars, pumpkin bread, and cookie cakes. Cakes by Karen is run out of a certified kitchen in the owner’s home, so there is no retail location at this time. For orders or more information call 426-7804 or get pricing and see pictures at the website, cakesbykarenonline.com.

If you’re like me, then you’ve actively desired a basket full of kittens at some

Sweet dreams continues from page 15

Even the cupcakes at Penfield’s Upper Crust are given fancy decorations. PHOTO BY MaTT DeTUrck

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point in your life. Well, if you would like to see that desire fulfilled in a cake, then look no further than The Upper Crust. With a mission to make cakes that are both beautiful and delicious — a very important mission, in my opinion — Upper Crust says that its customers claim the bakery’s cakes are “the best cakes they have ever eaten.” That being said, if you need a cake shaped like a tractor, a gorgeous three-tier modern flowered wedding cake with some incredibly real-looking flowers, or even three dozen cupcakes with tiny, swaddled gumpaste babies, this is the place. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, visit the website at uppercrustcakes.com, view the huge gallery, and let your imagination run wild. The Upper Crust is located at 2094 Five Mile Line Road in Penfield. It delivers to the Rochester and Finger Lakes region. For more information or to place an order call 385-2253, e-mail [email protected], or stop in to the retail location. (Feel free to pick me up a cupcake or two.)

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At his roastery located inside Java’s at the Market, Joe Palozzi, who has been roasting coffee beans in the Rochester area under one name or another for more than 30 years, pulls a tiny scoop from the latest incarnation of his century-old coffee roaster and looks closely at the smoking beans heaped in it. He turns the scoop this way and that in the morning light. He slides it back in to the roaster, and pulls another sample before walking back to his chair to chat for a few minutes. “You gotta have a good-quality bean,” Palozzi says, waving in the direction of a pallet heaped with burlap sacks of green coffee beans next to the massive roaster. “The beans will tell you how they want to be roasted.” A few minutes later, he opens the door on the roaster and an avalanche of medium-brown beans spills out along with a gust of acrid smoke that fills his roastery for a few minutes. He grabs a wooden paddle and starts moving the beans around, helping them cool quickly enough that the oil inside them doesn’t bleed out — the rough equivalent of resting roasted meat to keep the juices inside. Once the air clears, the smell of the beans is intoxicating, a mix of chocolate and, oddly, flowers with just a whisper of smoke. Across town, Rochester’s newest coffee roaster, Benjamin Turiano at Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on University Avenue, is tweaking the time and temperature graph on the computer attached to his coffee roaster. The

basic machine looks not unlike the one Palozzi uses, but the hardware attached to it, and indeed the room in which it sits, looks like a university research lab. Turiano combines his knowledge of the growth region, farm, harvest date, and type of beans he roasts with a connoisseur’s sense of flavor, aroma, and texture, creating a profile database for

each type of bean that he roasts. This information, combined with ultra-fine control over temperature over the course of the roasting cycle, creates coffees that are engineered to be brewed slowly and meticulously. Served in small quantities with great ceremony, they are meant to be savored and appreciated like fine wines. At Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on University Avenue, you don’t drink coffee, you “cup” it — sniffing and tasting your way to blackberries, oranges, caramel, cinnamon, toasted nuts, nutmeg, and wood inside your tiny tasting glass. Palozzi and Turiano define the extremes of coffee

roasting in the Rochester area, an old guard and a new in the field of artisanal, small-batch coffee roasting. Within this relatively small field there are a variety of approaches to roasting coffee, and wide variations in quality and consistency between roasting establishments. French roast, for instance, at three different places varied widely in color, flavor, and

BY JaMeS LeacH

Buzz worthyGet to know the small-batch coffee roasters of Rochester

F E A T U R E

Benjamin Turiano (right) is one of the main forces behind Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on University Avenue. The business is part of a movement to savor coffee the way some people appreciate beer and wine. PHOTOS BY MaTT DeTUrck


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intensity, returning three strikingly different coffees ranging from intense but refreshing to muddy and burnt tasting. There is, as Turiano told me, no local equivalent to the home-beer-brewers’ clubs and associations for coffee. And there’s very little in the way of standards to describe various roasts. Every roaster is free to roast to his or her own understanding of the various styles and flavor profiles, falling back on personal tastes, experience, and customer feedback in producing beans that sell. Popularity is the sine qua non of a “good” roast.

In our area, it seems that every third business that opens is a coffee shop of one sort or another. But most of them purchase their beans from third-party roasters with large suburban production facilities, or exist as branches or franchises of larger operations like Buffalo-based Spot or the national chain Starbucks. There are relatively few businesses in the Rochester area that actually roast their beans in the same place that you can buy them and drink coffee made from them. Among them are Java’s at the Market (a branch of the Java’s family of coffee shops, which roasts at the Public Market and distributes to its five locations and to various restaurants, including Good Luck on Anderson Alley); Canaltown Coffee Roasters (which roasts at its location on East Avenue); Boulder Coffee (also roasts at the Market); Coffee Connection (a not-for-profit collective that roasts at its flagship shop on South Avenue); and Joe Bean Coffee Roasters (formerly of Webster, but roasting from its facility on University Avenue for the past year). All of these are small-scale, single-roaster operations, turning out a labor-intensive product in relatively small, expensive, but very quick-selling quantities. The typical coffee roaster — the machine, not the person — holds 12kg (or 26 lbs.) of green coffee beans at a time. Most roasts take about 30 minutes to complete, not including continues on page 20

�0 CITY • DISH 2012

sorting the beans before roasting them, cooling them afterward, or the time that the beans must rest before they can be used. This small scale of production creates a product that is both limited in quantity, labor intensive, and relatively expensive. Most good-quality beans sell at retail between $15 and $20 per pound (the green, unroasted, beans command less than a tenth of that price from the grower and about a third of that from coffee brokers in large cities like New York). Specialty beans, particularly from small producers or Fair Trade and organic growers, can cost significantly more — sometimes more than $30 per pound. In the way of businesses in which the difficulty of obtaining or creating the item not only contributes to its cachet but also justifies its cost, coffee roasters will often go on at length about the quality of their beans, the work involved in searching for them or negotiating special deals in developing countries, or the mystery and art of roasting and brewing their coffee. To a coffee roaster, particularly a specialty roaster who spends several hours a day tending his or her beans, there is no such thing as “just a cup of coffee.” Peter Pelletier, who has been roasting beans for his Canaltown Coffee Roasters on East

Avenue for a bit more than 20 years, is a fine example of the artisanal roaster in action. His shop is small, tucked in the elbow of a tiny strip mall on the corner of Winton Road and East Avenue. His roasting room is even smaller: it has just enough room for his massive Probat roaster (the German company Probat is one of the largest roaster manufacturers in the world), a rack of syrups for use in flavored coffees, a sorting table, and a narrow aisle in which he can stand while he tends the beans. Bags of raw beans are stashed throughout the shop both for convenience and decoration. On a normal day, Pelletier will roast for four or five hours, running through eight to 10 batches of beans, most of which will go out the door as either beans or cups of coffee within a week of roasting. You can come into

Buzz worthy continues from page 19

Peter Pelletier of Canaltown Coffee Roasters. The small shop on East Avenue has been prac-ticing artisinal roasting for more than 20 years. PHOTOS BY MaTT DeTUrck

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the shop and order a cup of dark roast or his medium roast Rochester blend — a caffeine-forward coffee with a surprisingly full body and an aggressive finish that will surely snap you out of your morning haze. But you’d do well to let him step out from behind the counter and take you on a walk through his wares, which include a wall full of bins of house-roasted beans, and candy jars brimming with specialty beans from small farms in distant lands. Pelletier, like Palozzi, has a philosophy of roasting that raises it to an art form, or at least a highly refined craft. “There are subtle flavors and differences in each bean,” he says over a cup of silky-smooth, flowery tasting Costa Rican Lamanita coffee (he spent about 10 minutes telling me about his visit to the plantation where the beans are raised, and sharing a coffee-table book about the place and its beans). “There is an optimum roast for each bean, and depending on where it’s from, it will give you what you need. The region really helps — you don’t want to over-roast something from Central America or Africa, but Indonesian you can roast as dark as you want because it’s dark and syrupy already.”

Pelletier and Palozzi got into the coffee business, and have stayed there for most of their working lives, out of love for a good cup of joe and the desire to share that love with the world. But that’s not the only way that Rochester’s roasters have found their way into the business. Lyjha Wilton, founder of the Boulder Coffee family of coffeehouses, got into the business in large part because he couldn’t find a tenant for the site that became his flagship store on the corner of Alexander Street and Clinton Avenue. As he tells it, the coincidence of having an empty rental property and the acquisition of a high-quality espresso machine for a song at an auction got him into the coffee business. The first Boulder opened in 2005. Today there are five branches of the chain, including a robust presence at the Public Market that anchors what is quickly becoming a mini-Market in itself — it is continues on page 22

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now home to vendors of specialty Italian cookies, artisan olive oil, high-end meats, and superlative Mexican food each Saturday. For Wilton, who purchased the Java Joe trademark along with the building at 1 Public Market in 2009, coffee is a business and a profitable one: he told me that he just recently sealed a deal to distribute Boulder-branded coffees at Wegmans supermarkets in the Rochester area, and he looks forward to future growth. Wilton, though, is not a roaster himself. When Wilton purchased the Public Market space he hired a roaster with 10 years of experience to take over its operations. The direct-fire coffee roaster was already in the building. That is the roaster that Boulder uses today, roasting 12 hours each week to produce the 12 to 15 varieties of coffee that the shop sells as beans at the Market and brews at its other locations. Wilton says that getting the roast right and learning the nuances of the roaster was a “steep learning curve,” but one that resulted in a distinctive taste and style for his Fair Trade, organic beans. Joy Bergfolk, executive director of the not-for-profit coffee house Coffee Connection on South Avenue, also sells Fair Trade beans. Roasted in a Probat roaster by Cathy Martin, who learned her trade six years ago from the Coffee Connection’s founder Nancy Sawyer-Molina, Coffee Connection’s beans are a little darker than those of its peers (I found its French roast to be darker and more aggressive than any other I tasted), but Martin’s lighter and medium-bodied roasts are pleasant and have well-balanced acidity and a clean finish. While the product is ultimately important, there are other reasons to support Coffee Connection, chief among them that the shop is the public face of Project Empower, a faith-based organization dedicated to helping women recovering from abuse and addiction to get back on their feet again. As Bergfolk put it, “If you are socially conscious, Coffee Connection is a no-brainer place to get your coffee,” letting you support a worthy cause, a growing local business, and the idea of Fair Trade while sipping a certified organic brew.

All roasters are acutely conscious of where their beans come from — although not all of them adhere to the Fair Trade line. Many, like Peter Pelletier and Joe Palozzi, travel to the places their beans come from to see how they are grown and negotiate sales directly, imbibing a bit of the flavor of the beans’ terroir in the process. But nowhere in Rochester is the point of origin of your beans, and the time when they were harvested, more important — or perhaps more clearly articulated for you — than at Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on University Avenue. Joe Bean is the outgrowth of a more pedestrian coffee business of the same name, founded by Kathy Turiano in Webster in 2004. That business, which roasted largely for the wholesale and restaurant trade, provided a launching point for Turiano’s newest venture — an effort to elevate coffee to the status of wine or craft beer — in 2008. Open for a little more than a year at its University Avenue location with Turiano’s self-taught son, Benjamin Turiano, acting as head roaster, Joe Bean is not a place where you just drop in for a mere cup of coffee. It’s an experience that must be savored. Take a seat at the bar in the tasting room and you’ll likely be asked whether you’d like a flight of coffee. Those familiar with wine and beer tastings will understand the format, if not the context. For $7 you get about nine ounces of coffee and an intricate performance and presentation not unlike a Japanese tea ceremony. Standing next to a 4’ tall glass apparatus that I’ve since been told is a Kyoto coffee drip (to me it looks like Wyle E. Coyote’s chemistry set), my barista measured boiling water with a chemist’s precision, and eventually delivered me three beakers — along with printed tasting notes — on the coffees that I’d ordered. Trust me when I tell you that at this point you should not ask for sugar, regardless how you normally take your brew. The coffees were certainly distinctive. Unlike others that I drank over the course of three days, there was a clear difference between the beans and their roasts. The Joe Bean Blend, a mixture of Mexican and Colombian beans, has a well-balanced

Buzz worthy continues from page 21

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roastiness. Colombian Ocamonte beans — harvested between September and January, grown in a low pH mixed soil at 1,200 to 1,700 meters above sea level, perhaps by a left-handed man wearing a blue shirt — were slightly smoky and very round in the mouth. And Ethiopian Sidama beans had an almost citrusy tartness that would make a great palate cleanser between courses of a lavish meal. But I kept thinking how much better they might have been with just a touch of sugar. That said, what Kathy and Benjamin Turiano are doing at Joe Bean, although a bit ahead of its time, is important and interesting. It’s an attempt to bring the same sort of rigor and craft to coffee roasting as has been brought to bear on other craft beverages over the centuries. But those who drop into Joe Bean looking for a quick morning pick-me-up rather than an experience might be better served to grab a cup of joe elsewhere. Getting a simple cup of coffee can take 15 minutes or more and would certainly overtax my caffeine-starved brain in the morning. At Java’s on Gibbs Street on a recent spring afternoon, the tables outside are full. The line at the counter snakes around the

inside of the shop and threatens to spill out the door. Owner Mike Calabrese sits with me watching the queue inch forward (his partner Chuck Cerankosky pops out of the kitchen briefly on his way out to the Public Market, where the pair is putting the finishing touches on their newest restaurant venture, Cure). Customer after customer orders coffee, more often than not by size of the cup rather than roast. The question of what beans are being used doesn’t come up at all. Almost everyone goes from the cashier straight over to the stand where the milk and sugar are kept fully stocked. Calabrese tells me that the two coffees I’m drinking are from Guatemala and Sumatra, and that they were roasted for him by the original “Java” Joe Palozzi. Boulder got the name, he says, “but we’d rather have the coffee.” I can detect a slight difference between the brews and a bit of the signature roastiness that all of Palozzi’s coffees have, but I’m not convinced that if you mixed them up I’d be able to tell you which is which. What I can tell you is that they are both wonderful, that the people watching is good, and I’m suddenly having a very good time.

Ethiopian Sidama beans – and a tasting portion made from them – at Joe Bean Coffee Roasters. PHOTOS BY MaTT DeTUrck

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