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25 local restaurants where you can binge for $10 or less • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ould you like to get all gussied up and treat yourself to an expensive gastronomic feast, complete with wine pairings and decadent, showstopping desserts? If so, you can take your top hat and monocle elsewhere. This rundown of Rochester’s cheap eats is for hungry people who don’t carry their money around in sacks with dollar signs on them. Whatever these places lack in caviar service and fingerbowls they make up for in value and nourishment, and usually that’s all you need. The only shared criteria among these establishments is that they have meals with a price point at or under $10; otherwise, this list is as random as can be. So if you have a favorite place to get tasty, inexpensive food, please share it with us at rochestercitynewspaper.com, or hit us up on Facebook (facebook.com/ CityNewspaper) or Twitter (@roccitynews). • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • DINING FEATURE BY DAYNA PAPALEO
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A trio of meatball sliders — pork sausage, chicken, and vegetarian — with sauces from Skylark Lounge. PHOTO BY MARK CHAMBERLIN
10 CITY OCTOBER 16-22, 2013
Main St., Webster, 545-4258, barrysoldschoolirish.com) is what you get when you cross a pub with a café and bakery, and it’s a cozy place to get traditional fare like bangers and mash ($8) and a full Irish breakfast ($6.50), along with a satisfying RochesterDublin hybrid like the Sheepdog ($8), which beds a Zweigle’s red hot in a bun and then blankets it with shepherd’s pie. (For dessert, the Guinness layer cake is outstanding.) And if you’re thirsty, Barry’s features the area’s largest selection of Irish whiskeys. It probably serves water, too, if you’re into that sort of thing. • • • • • •
Hopefully area vegans will forgive a mention of Natural Oasis Café (288 Monroe Ave., 325-1831, naturaloasisny.com), because you just can’t make a list of Cheap Eats in Rochester without including this wickedly creative eatery. There are typically 13 items on the dinner menu, each a different daily preparation of dishes like stew, pizza, gnocchi, and greens, plus an Ethiopian selection, a drink, and a couple desserts. One recent visit, for instance, featured a brown-rice risotto with roasted cauliflower, oven-dried tomatoes, pesto, and pine nuts, and a sublime salad of lettuces, roasted beets and carrots, pistachios, and truffle vinaigrette. You forget that you’re eating vegan,