A white hot garbage plate?two local specialties in one!
Dining in Rochester is typical of most mid-sized American cities. The immediate suburbs are crawling with large chain restaurants, but you can find more original fare in the city proper, and in outlying areas away from the biggest commercial strips.
There is one mainstay of local cuisine that travelers with a large stomach and no fear of cholesterol should absolutely try: the famous Garbage Plate of Nick Tahou's Hots. For a few dollars, a "Plate" comes with your choice of meat served on top of macaroni salad, home fries, and onions, topped with "hot sauce" and ketchup and/or mustard. Most suburbs of Rochester have a local "Hots" (Penfield Hots, Empire Hots, etc.); each of them, not to mention several other burger joints around town, has its own variant on the "Plate"?but the original and most authentic is found at Tahou's. Steve T. Hots and Potatoes is the former second location of Nick Tahou's, and run by a different branch of the Tahou family; it's an acceptable second choice, mainly because the original is only open until 8PM these days. Late-night "plate runs"?a college tradition in Rochester?thus usually end up at Steve T.'s.
A "hot", by the way, is simply a hot dog, but they come in two varieties: red hots (traditional hot dogs) and white hots. Zweigle's is the local brand; don't even bother with any other brand if you're going to try a white hot. "Hot sauce", rather than the expected mouth-scalding pepper blend, is usually a mildly spicy meat sauce to put on hots, especially on garbage plates.
Of course, if you do want mouth-scalding sauce, Buffalo-style chicken wings are almost as popular here as they are in Buffalo. Most any bar, bar-like establishment, or pizza joint will have "wings" on their menu (no need to specify "Buffalo wings"; it's assumed). Everyone has a favorite location for wings, but Jeremiah's Tavern has some awards to back up their claim, and Buffalo's own Anchor Bar (where the Buffalo wing was invented) now has a location here in Rochester.
If you're looking for something a little more traditional, Rochester's beaches spawned a great set of local burger joints (most of which don't call them burgers; they're "ground steak sandwiches"). The two big local chains are Bill Gray's, with their flagship location at Seabreeze, and Tom Wahl's, which started south of the city in Avon. Tom Wahl's is famous for their root beer floats and homemade ice cream, while Bill Gray's has incorporated Abbott's Frozen Custard into several of their locations. Both have great burgers and classic old-time atmospheres.
Speaking of Abbott's, it's the place to go for ice cream?only it's not ice cream; it's frozen custard, which is richer and creamier than regular ice cream. With about thirty locations around Rochester, you have no excuse not to drop in and try some.
DiBella's is a chain of local sub shops that locals swear by, despite inroads from Quizno's and Subway. DiBella's restaurants have a classic 1950s atmosphere, with lots of neon, chrome, and checkerboard patterns. The sub rolls are made fresh in-house each morning, and they're solid and big enough to hold all the toppings you could want. Don't forget to pick up one of Grandma DiBella's chocolate chip cookies; they're also baked fresh in-house and have almost as many fans as the subs do.
For pizza, everyone has a different favorite. The local style is somewhere between New York thin-crust and Chicago deep-dish?not surprising considering Rochester's location. The oldest local chain, dating from 1947, is Pontillo's, but quality varies widely from location to location. The best Pontillo's pizzas are truly outstanding, but the worst are truly bad. More consistent quality can be found at another local chain, Salvatore's. Mark's Pizzeria is also popular.
It's not just pizza, either. Rochesterians love all sorts of Italian food; it seems like around every corner is another favorite neighborhood Italian-American restaurant, at least in the suburbs. You'll also find a lot of places owned by Greeks, from greasy spoons like Nick Tahou's to classy family restaurants, although they usually toss in plenty of Italian and traditional American entrees as well. A staple at local Greek- and Italian-American restaurants is Chicken French. It's a breaded chicken breast saute�d in a lemon-wine sauce. It's so popular that veal and even artichokes can be found "Frenched" on local menus.
All this focus on the lower end of the dining spectrum shouldn't obscure the upscale dining available, mostly in the downtown area. The options are neither as exclusive nor as pretentious as those in other, bigger cities like New York, but that doesn't mean you won't want reservations, and you will want to dress up a bit.
Finally, no trip to Rochester is complete without stopping in to a local Wegmans supermarket. No joke: residents frequently take their out-of-town guests to Wegmans, not necessarily to buy anything, but just to see the place. "Wait," the guests say, "you're taking us to a grocery store?" But Wegmans is something special, and Rochesterians are justifiably proud of their hometown grocer. Customer service is paramount at Wegmans, consistently ranked one of the best companies to work for in the U.S. The stores are attractive, clean, well-stocked, and open 24 hours a day. They also each feature an amazing "Market Cafe", where a wide variety of prepared foods are available for purchase (eat-in or carry-out), all made in-store from Wegmans-branded grocery items. Don't miss the very good subs; Wegmans' sub shops were modeled after DiBella's and rival Rochester's favorite sub shop in quality.
There's only one Wegmans left in the city proper, but the suburbs are loaded with them. The flagship location is on Monroe Avenue adjacent to Pittsford Plaza.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Rochester (New York)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Rochester (New York) - updated Apr 2024
SAVE up to 75% on Last Minute deals! Search for discount Rochester (New York) hotels, motels, apartments, hostels, guest accommodations and vacation resorts. Book now and pay at the hotel. Instant email confirmation!
Rochester (New York) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
