ROC - Best Boss Ever

My boss at Wegmans is bomb. Simple. 

He is awesome. Honestly, I don't know how I get this lucky but pretty much all of my bosses at all of my jobs have been incredible. I think that's a perk to working in an artistic field sometimes. People are just cool and creative and good. Rules are rules but there's also some wiggle room for fun at work and I've been lucky enough to have that too. 

So, today my boss and I were headed down to the studio and we decided to take our lunch break at the public market. Awesome. Of course both of us have been there many times being from Rochester but he's really cool about showing me around to new places and letting us get lunch and good restaurants. New stuff every time. 

Well, since we're both smart and don't eat super healthy, we beeline for Dukes donuts. Yes.

This donut stand smells incredible. They make them all there fresh, and you can smell them from every corner of this outdoor market. Your nose leads you anywhere that they are. Perfect for those of us that love donuts.

Now, I know that they're bad for you so I tend to turn donuts down but these, these are perfection. You can't pass it up. So I agree to the sugar coated batch and my boss orders a half dozen. I had one before it cooled. I was offered more but my donut paranoia keeps me from eating too many anymore so I passed and he took the rest home but geez. These things are worth every bite. 

Who else's boss buys them donuts made right in front of them coated in sugar. Anyone? Yeah I know.. he's pretty great. I'm gonna be so sad when the summer ends.   

ROC - The Gatehouse

Take another one off the list!! As a graduation celebration my friend Jeff to me and my friend Megan out to dinner to celebrate. So sweet. He let us choose and Megan and I decided on The Gatehouse! 

LOCATION: 274 N GOODMAN ST, ROCHESTER, NY 14607

It was delicious! First off, this menu is heavily influenced by Rochester history which is super great. It has burgers named after the Wegmans Family, The Golisanos, Susan B. Anthony, Eastman and so much more. Fantastic! 

Everyone who's mentioned that I should try this place has raved about the burgers here so of course I had to order one. I ended up with The Fagan. I couldn't tell you the reference but this burger was so odd and delicious. It's a turkey burger (I know, I really wanted to try a hamburger but this was too cool for me to not try!) topped with Brie, Granny Smith Apples, and a cranberry mustard sauce. It's like thanksgiving in a burger and it's such an odd combo but it was perfection. Jeff and Megan let me try a bite of their hamburgers and we all agreed, The Fagan gets points just for shear ingenuity. I ordered it with a side of french fries but Megan and Jeff both got sweet potato wedges and I'm a little sad I didn't because they looked amazing. 

So happy I got to try The Gatehouse. Super cute atmosphere and really good food.  

ROC - Tapas 177

Graduation is good. 

LOCATION: 177 SAINT PAUL ST., ROCHESTER, NY 14604

For dinner last night my friend Jay decided to take me out! We were thinking of heading to Trata (because I've still never been so maybe one day I'll have a post about going there.. One day) but his cousins and friends couldn't extend their reservation to add two more so instead we walked to Tapas 177. 

He's been excited to take me there and it's on my list so I was completely game! It was worth it too. We ordered three plates - My choice of prosciutto wrapped artichoke hearts on a crostini, His choice of Tuna tartare, and the waitress' choice of Shrimp Naan Pizza.  

(The Pizza came last and it was dark by the time it came so I couldn't get a good shot of it.. ). 

Everything was amazing. I'm a fan of artichokes so I was super happy with my choice. It was creamy and prosciutto is just fancy bacon so how could that not be a win! I'm not a huge fan of raw fish so in my opinion, the tartar was just alright (but don't tell Jay). The Shrimp naan was for sure my favorite. It had amazing fresh tomatoes and just the right amount of shrimp. The Naan was great too - not too chewy. 

I like Tapas 177 a lot. Would go back in a heartbeat! 

As a bonus too for dessert Jay ordered me a Banana Zinga (or something along those lines). Apparently it's a popular dessert there and I understand why completely. I'm not a huge sweets fan but this thing just reminds you of festivals. It's a some sort of banana mixture that is deep fried in some sort of batter with cinnamon sugar feel. (We ordered it straight from the waitress so I honestly can't tell you that I read the description and understood what it was). All that I know is that it was incredible. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I could eat 3 more scoops of that vanilla ice cream right now it was incredible. 

Tapas is so cute and has such an awesome atmosphere. I loved it. Classic tiny Rochester hole in the wall restaurant that is just wonderful.    

ROC - Ox and Stone

First post grad meal! My friend Karie decided it would be a great idea to change her reservation from just her family of 5 to three families reaching a total of 14 of us. I understand why the restaurant wasn't so happy when we got there.. 

In any case! Ox and Stone is a super cute bar and I've gone for drinks once before and have had the chips and guacamole which was really good. This is exactly what we started off with last night. Honestly the chips are on point. 

As for dinner, it gets mixed reviews. Not completely positive from me. While the menu looked great, in all actuality it was average at best. 

I ordered the deep friend calamari (I've been wanting some so bad since Thursday) and got a whole plate. Very exciting. The guacamole on top was perfect (of course) but the calamari was okay. Super salty and just tasted like breading, there wasn't much there. There was a drizzle of a couple different sauces but They didn't really play a huge impact and in the end the dish was just bland and a little over salted. Disappointing. 

My friend sitting next to me ordered the Spanish Poutine with chorizo which I was contemplating because potatoes, but I tried a piece and I'm not a huge fan of the chorizo so I would've ordered the traditional without. She said hers was also overly salty which makes sense for a bar (more salt = more beer) but we weren't fans for dinner. Our end of the table thought the meal was average at best. The other end seemed a little happier with it but to each his own I suppose. 

I'd go back for drinks and maybe snacks, but as far as a sit down meal goes, Ox and Stone is not high on my list. 

ROC - Graduation Dinners!!

That's right, it's finally time for graduation! Bring on the slew of dinners with family and friends. One of my aunt's and uncles mentioned that they were busy at work this upcoming Saturday and couldn't attend my ceremony. No big deal. Instead they wanted to take me out to dinner. Yes. 

I'm not picky so I let them choose the place and my cousin mentioned he wanted steak so my aunt promptly chose DelMonico's Italian Steakhouse. We've been several times before for various reasons so I was all for it. It's always a good choice. 

We started off with a Tomato & Mozzarella Salad with a Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette as well as a Mozzarella Fritta. Both were delicious. I ended up ordering the Frutti de Mare as my main course and was not disappointed. 

This is a linguini type pasta with a light seafood pomodoro sauce, Throw in clams, shrimp, calamari, and fish and I was on my way to heaven. This dish was so good I can't believe I almost didn't order it. My aunt and uncle tried it and said it was 'too spicy' from the peppers that they throw in but I highly disagree. Slight splurge but compared to a steak it wasn't bad on price and hey, I'm graduating. This dinner is for me. I might as well go all out here and get what I want.