ROCFLAVORS
Eating and drinking in the Rochester area: What's new, what's changing
Tracy Schuhmacher
Pandemic or no pandemic, Rochester's food and drink scene is evolving at a rapid pace. Here's a compilation of the latest news.
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— Tracy Schuhmacher, food and drink reporter
New Rochester-area restaurants, food businesses
• At Hollycake House, a new bakery and café in East Rochester, display cases are filled with cupcakes piled high with frosting. Croissants and danishes appear to be flaky and buttery. There are scones drizzled with icing, lemon meringue pies and even something called slutty brownies. And everything is vegan. Read all about it.
• Riki's Family Restaurant, 25 N. Main St. in Fairport, closed temporarily in March 2020 — but never intended on being closed for 20 months. The Demkos family took the opportunity to update the restaurant, and construction took longer than expected. Finally, it has reopened.
• Sub chain Firehouse Subs shop opened its first Rochester-area shop in Brighton. At 2830 West Henrietta Road, just north of the Brighton-Henrietta border, it opened on a site that previously occupied a Tim Hortons shop. Here are the details.
• Peach Blossom Traditional Mexican Food, a new restaurant at 9 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, serves authentic fare down to the homemade tortillas. It's tricky to find, though, because its sign is for the space's previous occupant, a Puerto Rican restaurant. I've visited twice, and if I was still working downtown, I'd be a regular. Here are the details.
• If you were a fan of the breakfast sandwiches at the Scott's II stand at the Rochester Public Market, I've got great news for you. Cedric Scott, 39, has opened Scott's Scottsville Hots at 3892 Scottsville Road in Scottsville. The breakfast sandwiches are the same, down to the Martusciello's roll. And the menu includes everything you'd expect from a restaurant with "Hots" in the name. Read all about it.
More news on the Rochester food and drink scene
• Looking for a gift for a foodie? Two popular content creators have collaborated on a second cookbook that features recipes from Rochester-area chefs and bartenders. Here are the details.
• Got visitors from out of town? Home for the holidays? If you are looking for new or newish places to check out while visiting family and friends, Marcia Greenwood has curated seven options.
• Nerdvana, a Frisco, Texas-based restaurant and bar where guests play video and analog games while they dine and drink, has announced plans on social media to open a location — its second — in 2022 in downtown Rochester. Here are the details.
• Rochester has been named the second best city for doughnut lovers by Rent.com. The website looked at data from the 150 most populated cities in the country. I offered my own reasons, and found a cool upcoming beer collaboration as well.
• It wasn't atypical to hear tales of people driving from two or three hours away to peruse the seemingly endless aisles of imports and domestics at Beers of the World. Anthony Angotti, its founder and an Italian immigrant, died recently at the age of 81. Will Cleveland wrote about his life and business.
• Matt James is now the brewmaster at Genny, responsible for overseeing all brewing operations at the state's oldest brewery — still one of the 10 largest in the country. He started working at the brewery as a summer job. Will Cleveland wrote a fascinating story about his career.
• Legendary winemaker Paul Hobbs purchased land for a winery in the Finger Lakes in 2013. It took eight years for the winery, now called Hillick & Hobbs, to release its first wine — and became Hobbs' most expensive project to date. Here's the story.
• The Genesee Brewery hopes its seasonal offering has similar success as its popular Ruby Red Kolsch. Genesee has launched Cran Orange Kellerbier, a 4.5% alcohol unfiltered golden lager. Here are the details, including Will Cleveland's taste test.
• The Restaurant Revitalization Fund gave $28.6 billion in grants – not loans – to food and beverage businesses to help make up their losses in 2020. The Small Business Administration, which disbursed the loans, published a database of recipients online. Because we think it's important for citizens to know how the government spends money, we have simplified the data to make it easier to navigate. Want to know whether your favorite restaurant received money? Search New York's Restaurant Revitalization Fund recipients here.
New Penfield restaurants dishing up tacos, margaritas and Italian fare New and upcoming places to eat and drink in Fairport Bozza Pasta will move from Hilton to Greece for expansion Luxurious lemony pound cakes are baked from grandmother's recipe Restaurant with a spin on the Garbage Plate getting buzz in Brooklyn
Tracy Schuhmacher is food and drink reporter as well as storytelling coach for the USA Today Network's Storytellers Project. Email her at TracyS@Gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram as @RahChaChow.
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