A heaping helping of restaurant, bar and bakery openings
Hello, friends!
A bunch of restaurants have opened in the Rochester area over the past few weeks. Here's a rundown.
Nocino
Local Italian restaurant Nocino has opened in Eastview Mall, in the massive space previously occupied by Prime Steak House and before that, Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano.
Owners are Josh Miles, Jeremy Nucelli and Chelsea Felton, who also own Velvet Belly in the Rochester Public Market. Miles also owns or co-owns The Revelry, Branca Midtown and Bitter Honey.
The menu offers a selection of steaks and chops and classic Italian-American dishes using family recipes and featuring house-made pasta. Read more.
Original Steve's Diner
The Original Steve's Diner, known for its signature plate-sized pancakes, opened its fourth restaurant at 1100 Jefferson Road in Henrietta.
But ... due to an ongoing labor shortage, the chain's eatery at at 650 Whitney Road in Perinton has "closed until further notice." Here are the details.
Hollycake House
At Hollycake House Vegan Bakery, a new bakery and café in the Techniplex 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.
Holly and Charles Bianchi, the bakery's owners, have been vegan for the past 10 years. Read more.
Firehouse Subs
The area's first Firehouse Subs opened at 2830 West Henrietta Road, just north of the Brighton-Henrietta border.
The Brighton shop is owned by franchisee Jenny Blaine, a cancer survivor with 25 years of professional experience in the IT industry. Here are the details.
TJ Ryan's Pub
T.J. Ryan’s Pub opened at 49 N. Main St. in Fairport, in the space formerly occupied by T-Foot's, originally called Tanglefoot’s, a local institution for 47 years before it closed in March 2020.
It represents a longtime dream for Tim Lucey, who said that getting the business off the ground would not have been possible without the help of his family and neighboring Fairport businesses. Read more.
Riki's
Riki's Family Restaurant, 25 N. Main St. in Fairport, reopened earlier this month, 20 months after closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It had been closed since March 2020.
Instead of reopening for in-person dining under the state's COVID-related safety guidelines, the Demkos family, which owns and operates the eatery and the building it occupies, opted to take time to update the restaurant. Renovations took longer than expected to due to ongoing delays in the supply chain. Read more.
Crumbl Cookies
National chain Crumbl Cookies has opened at 100 Marketplace Drive in Henrietta. It offers gourmet cookie takeout, curbside pickup and delivery with a menu of four flavors that rotate weekly. Two cookie varieties are always available: milk chocolate chip and a chilled sugar cookie. Crumbl Cookies also serves ice cream.
That's it for this week!
A reminder: I'm knee deep in writing Christmas stories. Got ideas of stories you'd like to see, a special holiday tradition you'd like to share or a favorite place to purchase holiday goodies? Send me an email at tracys@gannett.com.
Tracy Schuhmacher, food, drink and culture reporter
Until next week, here's where you can keep up with Rochester's food scene:
My Twitter: @rahchachow
My Instagram: @rahchachow
My Facebook page: facebook.com/RahChaChow
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: A heaping helping of Rochester area restaurant openings
