CITY November 2026

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NOVEMBER 2026

NOVEMBER 2026 | Vol. 55 No. 3

Inside 5

FOOD

LOCAL FATHER-DAUGHTER DUO CONTINUES THE FAMILY LEGACY THROUGH CHEESE. BY MEILI SHEPARD

ARTS. MUSIC. CULTURE. 280 State Street Rochester, New York 14614 feedback@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 roccitymag.com PUBLISHER Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, Chris Hastings, chairman

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MOVE TO INCLUDE

WAYS TO CREATE AN INCLUSIVE HOSPITALITY VENUE FOR ALL. NOELLE E.C. EVANS

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COMMUNITY

THE ROCHESTER FOOD POLICY COUNCIL WORKS TO AMEND FOOD INSECURITY IN THE CITY. JUSTIN MURPHY

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PHOTO ESSAY

VICTOR NATIVE JACK MANCUSO SEARS HIS NAME TO FAME AS CHEF CUSO. BY ROBERTO F. LAGARES

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EDUCATION

FLCC’S CULINARY ARTS PROGRAM EXPANDS ITS REACH WITH A NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY.

FOUNDERS Bill and Mary Anna Towler EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Williamson EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief: Leah Stacy Arts reporter: Patrick Hosken Multimedia reporter: Roberto F. Lagares Contributors: Kellen Beck, Vanessa Cheeks, Brendan Dabkowski, Noelle E. C. Evans, Robin L. Flanigan, Leah Joy, Johanna Lester, Stephen Lewis, Megan Mack, Justin Murphy, Jackie Perrin, Abby Quatro, Meili Shepard, Wren Werner CREATIVE Art director: Jacob Walsh ADVERTISING David White ads@roccitymag.com 585-730-2666 CITY is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased by calling 585-784-3503. CITY may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of CITY, take more than one copy of each monthly issue. CITY (ISSN 1551-3262) is published monthly 12 times per year by Rochester Area Media Partners, a subsidiary of WXXI Public Broadcasting. Periodical postage paid at Rochester, NY (USPS 022-138). Address changes: CITY, 280 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the New York Press Association. Copyright by Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, 2026 - all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system without permission of the copyright owner.

BY PATRICK HOSKEN

ON THE COVER: Photograph by Abby Quatro

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FLX

UNEXPECTED FINGER LAKES SPOTS WORTH A DETOUR. BY JACKIE PERRIN

@ROCCITYMAG WXXI Members may inquire about free home delivery of CITY including monthly TV listings by calling 585-258-0200.

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Consider the lobster thermidor EDITOR'S LETTER

BY LEAH STACY LEAH@ROCCITYMAG.COM

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spent this past summer with Anthony Bourdain. He was with me as I drove 140 miles roundtrip twice a week to Syracuse to teach a news reporting class. As I flew to Palm Springs and New Orleans for work trips. He was with me as I unpacked boxes from a move, built patio furniture and replaced the floor in my kitchen. As I walked the four blocks to meet my sister, brother-in-law and tiny niece for sunset ice cream jaunts on Park Avenue. Hear me out. There may be no better person to have in your ear during an unusually chaotic summer than an irreverent, reticently famous chef-turnedauthor-turned-TV star who died by suicide in the prime of his life. Bourdain’s voice, reading his audiobooks in my car and in my airpods, was the companion (or perhaps, distraction) I could not otherwise find. The ghost in the machine. And with the release of “Tony,” the Bourdain quasi-biopic last August, I wanted to revisit his work. I credit my friend Abby Quatro, who shot the photos accompanying this piece, with the nudge to listen to Bourdain’s audiobooks rather than reread the physical copies. Normally I prefer to smell the pages and feel the weight of a book, but my time was at a premium — and this was different. It felt like welcoming back an old friend. In those hours of listening, I was reminded of wisdom and insight that still applies, even from a past era. Concurrently, an interesting thing was happening in the local food world. Ryan Wilson, a 20-something influencer who goes by @dodgydines, began filming restaurant reviews around town. His videos quickly caught fire after he semi-panned a popular Brighton spot in June; from there, he had a captive (if savage) audience; there to watch when he had crumbs on his face, when he found a hair in a pizza slice or took the audience along to Sunday dinner at his grandparents’ house. And, whether they loved, hated or rolled their eyes at him, Wilson got people talking.

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Left, Taylor Boffa (three years in the industry), Esmerelda Rodriquez (10+ years).

Left to right, Rita Ware (25+ years), Abdul Samad (10 years), Chaz Hanna (seven years). PHOTOS BY ABBY QUATRO

Among the most-asked comments: Is he a journalist? A chef? Is he “qualified” to review? To the surprise of my food friends, I played devil’s advocate. Did it matter? Wilson was spending his money to eat, his time to record and edit the videos and his energy to keep it going all summer. Not many people have that kind of commitment to, well, anything. And in 2026, you don’t need to be a “New York Times” food critic to start reviewing. You just need an iPhone, a mic kit and some knowledge of editing. Give me these videos over someone who is only saying good things because their friend or cousin ‘knows a guy.’ Or because a company is sponsoring them to say something. I’d rather watch Wilson’s hot takes or an unedited car review from someone on their lunch break or even a lip-smacking, wide-eyed mukbang from Ivana (@upstate.eats) — because at least it’s genuine. It’s almost impossible to critique something here, even constructively, because it’s the world’s biggest small town. Your roommate is a server. Your friend’s boyfriend is a bartender. Your

aunt owns a restaurant. That barista you forgot to tip is a top Reddit contributor and recognized you. Make no mistake, I’m empathetic to defensive reactions from restaurants. The job has long hours, there are consistent staffing and cost challenges and restaurants are also often the targets of unfair guest criticism and bullying. For fine dining to work — even succeed — in this economy of higher food costs and higher menu prices, all parts of the ecosystem have to agree on higher standards and consistency. And that means the dining community holds the restaurants to a certain echelon. In the introduction of his 2001 memoir, “A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal,” Bourdain wrote, “The entire food business is show business. It’s what my friends and I have been doing our whole lives.” I’ve seen enough talent here in town to know the hands in our kitchens are talented; they are up for the challenge. They spend years on the line; chopping, washing, prepping, experimenting, bonding, breaking, building. Bourdain,

Left to right, Aidan Cap (seven years), Lenoxx Galbraith (nine years).

Ethan Barge (13 years). PHOTOS BY ABBY QUATRO

again, sums it up best in “Kitchen Confidential,” his first book that catapulted him to fame: “I'm asked a lot what the best thing about cooking for a living is. And it's this: to be a part of a subculture. To be part of a historical continuum, a secret society with its own language and customs. To enjoy the instant gratification of making something good with one's hands — using all one's senses.” I watched “Tony” with two friends who had never read Bourdain’s books, and only seen a few episodes of his TV shows. No spoilers, but at best — “Tony” is an interesting indie flick that made me want to eat lobster thermidor and visit Cape Cod. At worst, it’s like the writers ripped out all the pages of “Kitchen Confidential,” balled them up and picked them out of a hat. A real Frankenstein job in terms of creative

license. The inaccuracy made me squirm, at times. But again, I walked out playing devil’s advocate. Because now, my friends were so taken with Bourdain that they were looking up his books and TV shows. And if an "unqualified" voice on social media or a Frankenstein’d biopic makes people pay attention and brings them back to the source (the books, the takeout counter, the dining room), that’s a win for everyone. In the following pages, we give our annual snapshot of the local food and bev industry. It’s by no means an exhaustive account, but it’s a small bite that hopefully brings you back — and sends you out looking — for more. L roccitymag.com

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A whey forward FOOD

BY MEILI SHEPARD

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incenzo Giordano never expected to get into the cheese business. It was basically second nature to love dairy growing up around farmers and cheesemakers in Rionero in Vulture, a historic hilltop town in the Italian region of Basilicata. Yet what started as a fun passion project grew into a beloved community staple. “I’ve always been interested in the variety of cheeses that Europe has, and when I started 27 years ago, I noticed there was a lack of that kind of cheese in this country,” he said. “So, I decided to embark on an adventure.” Giordano European Cheese Shop is a fundamental part of the Rochester Public Market, a small storefront nestled beside well-loved restaurant Fiorella, providing European cheese and specialty products since 1999. A typical Saturday for Giordano starts around 5:30 a.m. He’s often joined by his five children and a few close friends who start taking cheeses and meats out of the coolers, preparing for the endless line of customers that will visit the shop throughout the day. When the doors open at 7:30 a.m., there’s already a line forming outside. For the next seven hours, the lines only grow larger as marketgoers browse the counter and coolers lined with imported cheeses and meats. Giordano said on a Saturday, the tiny shop serves a CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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PHOTOS BY MEILI SHEPARD

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PHOTOS BY MEILI SHEPARD

minimum of 300 people from their collection of more than 50 different types of exotic cheeses. “It was supposed to be just a little hobby, but I met people and they’re interested in products that they’ve seen or tried in Europe,” Giordano

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said. “We decided, ‘you know what, let’s expand the line a little bit more.’” It’s no surprise the shop is so popular — Giordano European Cheese Shop is the only business in downtown Rochester specializing in

European cheese and accoutrements (a close second is Rubino’s Italian Foods in Greece). The growing demand for these items (and the desire to enjoy retirement from his former career as an architect) led Vincenzo to divide the responsibilities of operating the shop with his eldest daughter, Stefania Giordano. Stefania’s journey at the shop started when she was a little girl helping her father behind the counter. Since then, she has taken

on the role of shop manager; Vincenzo plans to slowly shift over operations to Stefania full-time. “I’d always hoped [the shop] stays in the family, and I’m very happy to continue it,” Stefania said. “I’m so excited to embark on this with my dad.” When the shop isn’t open, Vincenzo and Stefania spend their time traveling to product fairs in places like New York City and California where they meet producers, importers and, of course, find new products. But to find authentic European goods, the duo travels to Europe at least once a year to look for unique cheeses and other products of the best quality. “Our motto is that if we don’t like it, we don’t want to bring it in,” Vincenzo said. “Because if a cheese doesn’t sell, it is not good for us or our customers.” Beyond artisanal cheese, the shop also offers imported meats, crackers, olives, nuts and olive oil made from the trees grown in their hometown in Basilicata. “It’s as close to a traditional meal as you can get,” Stefania said. But for the Giordanos, the shop is more than just a place to sell their products — it’s a community. Vincenzo’s upbringing in a close knit community in Rionero in Vulture has informed how he runs the shop. “It brings people together,” he said. “We get to know our clients, and we care about them … what we like a lot is (when they) become friends.” Stefania hopes to host more events like wine pairings and tapas nights at the shop. She envisions it as a place that’s not only the local go-to for cheese, but also a place where people can gather, meet new friends and bond over their shared love for cheese and European culture. “That’s what makes cheese fun,” she said. “It’s a close experience that you’re sharing with friends.” Meili Shepard is a Rochester based freelance writer and student at University of Rochester. Her passions are food and culture journalism. Follow her @ meilishepard.

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Six Rochester chefs share their favorite spots to dine on a day off.

Chef ’s choice FOOD

BY KELLEN BECK

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f there’s one thing chefs know, it’s good food. Whether it’s an upscale meal out on a rare night off, a hole-in-the-wall lunch spot that consistently delivers delicious, authentic dishes or a restaurant that can transport diners to a different, simpler time and place, there’s no shortage of eateries in Rochester where chefs are proud to call themselves regulars. We asked six chefs from around Rochester for their breakfast, lunch and dinner go-tos (when they get the chance). PHOTO BY SHOMARI SMOAK

MARKO ANTHONY KELLY EXECUTIVE CHEF, GOLDEN BOY

When we spoke toward the end of October, Marko Anthony Kelly was in the middle of working on the upcoming restaurant Golden Boy, which he estimated being about one month away from opening. It’s both exciting and anxiety-inducing, and he’s found himself with a lot of free nights to hit places he wouldn’t normally be able to visit. 10 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

“Since I’ve taken off from Shell, I’ve had like two months to have my freedom, if you will,” he said. “That’s not normal and I don’t even know how to handle this.” If he’s going somewhere where there’s an elevated expectation of service, Kelly looks out for those special little touches, those things they do unprompted that stick in your brain for weeks or months. His list of favorites is long and includes spots like Chortke in Village Gate; Lila’s on Union Street; Vern’s on Park Avenue for their rotating steak and spicy lettuces; Velvet Belly (where he used to work with his chef and mentor Jeremy Nucelli) for oysters; and Angelina’s in the South Wedge. As a personable guy who’s worked with a lot of people in Rochester’s restaurant scene, Kelly is frequently running into friends and acquaintances when he goes out. But sometimes he needs a break from all the catching up and conversing. The Irondequoit native loves Rubino’s, a homey Italian market and deli on East Ridge Road, and often finds himself at Roam on Park Avenue. “Roam is one of those places that I like to lay low,” Kelly said. “They do have a really nice steak special. It’s only 50 bucks. It’s a New York strip, and they’re consistent. That’s one of the biggest things in my book.” But like most people in the dinner game, his most frequent hang is open in the daylight hours. “One of my favorite spots is Melo, lunch and breakfast,” he said. “They don’t really miss. Everything you get is completely awesome there.” He always gets a latte and the yogurt with granola, jam and seasonal fruit, and then switches

back and forth between the spicy fried egg BLT and the cajun turkey club. PHOTO PROVIDED

NAZ MAYAN CHEF/OWNER, HALAL-N-OUT

Because he’s anchored at the Irondequoit location of Halal-NOut at East Ridge Road — where he’s cooking up everything from NYC cart staples like lamb over rice to chicken Philly cheesesteaks — Naz Mayan doesn’t typically venture too far when he’s looking for a meal. Usually he’s working seven days a week, mostly during the day (he was taking orders from customers between answering questions over the phone), so he typically eats Halal-N-Out. But every day before work, he pops next door for breakfast at NYC CrepesN-Shakes, which is owned by his daughter and her husband. “They have really good New York City-style home fries, sautéed with onions and peppers, or I’ll get a breakfast sandwich,” Mayan said. “They have really good croissant sandwiches and French toast sandwiches.” Admittedly, Mayan doesn’t dine out at too many places locally. He’s a self-described food guy and will frequently travel up north into Canada to get Afghan ice cream in Toronto or check out one of the

100-plus restaurants at Ridgeway Plaza in Mississauga. When family comes to town, Mayan will get away from East Ridge, taking visitors to Black & Blue in Pittsford Plaza for steak or seafood, or Vern’s, where he and his wife enjoy the pizzas, rigatoni and spicy lettuces. What’s important to him is that the quality is consistent. “The service is top notch,” he said. “These are the only two places I’ve been to where they give good service. They really care about their customers.” PHOTO PROVIDED

ASHLEY SMITH EXECUTIVE CHEF, LUCKY’S

At the helm of the Lucky’s kitchen on Winton Road, Ashley Smith works most nights of the week, doling out classics like curried wings or fish and chips, along with signature daily specials ranging from Monday bangers to Sunday roasts. Dinners out with her husband (plus or minus two kids) are a little infrequent, but Smith likes to get out and try new things. Mexican food is Smith’s first choice for comfort food these days, and she keeps heading back to local chain Monte Alban, where she’s grabbing nachos and chicken el paso. If she’s feeling a bit fancier, one of her top picks is Bonnie & Clyde in Fairport.

“Whatever fish they’re running, it’s always such a great preparation,” Smith said, adding that the restaurant’s appetizer list, which features new spins on an eclectic mix of classics, is always a delight as well “I like a sit-down experience where we can hang out for a while and take our time to enjoy the food,” she said. PHOTO PROVIDED

MARGHERITA SMITH CHEF/OWNER, SAUCEY CHEF

With Saucey Chef dishing out bigportioned, big-flavor comfort food most nights of the week, Margherita Smith’s most frequent haunts are in her neighborhood and open for lunch. Taqueria Monterrey on the corner of Culver Road and Atlantic Avenue and Forno Tony on University Avenue are a couple favorites. “When I’m going to Forno Tony or Taqueria Monterrey, or I go to Nam Vang on Lyle, I’m going for an authentic bite,” she said. “That’s huge for me. Whether I’m dining Asian, Italian, whatever, I want the real deal. I want them to speak with the accent they’re supposed to speak with.” At Nam Vang, she’s getting the banh mi every time. Over at Forno Tony, the pizza is a highlight, of course, but she’s almost always grabbing whatever sandwich they’re

running that day. It transports her back to Rome, where she attended culinary school. At Monterrey, she shouts out the tacos and lays praise on their daily specials (usually some variation of stewed beef with rice, beans and potatoes). “I know if I’m getting one of their specials, it feels like I’m in someone’s Mexican kitchen,” Smith said. For a nice night out, she heads to Shell, where Smith is friends with everyone in the back of house — dishwashers, line cooks and executive chef Cruz Nieves — and she can dish with some industry talk. Smith said the whole menu is awesome, from the crudo to the burger, but her favorite is the lobster risotto. “Knock your socks off,” she said. “I don’t think you have to be a fan of lobster or risotto. Lobster and risotto are not my first picks on a menu, but it comes with this ‘nduja sausage and it’s just so good.”

NATE STAHL

dining room service. And forget the main menu, he doesn’t really look at it. Stahl sticks to the specials, which Redd Wood keeps plentiful. “They always treat me like a king too, so it’s nice,” he said. During one visit, the kitchen made Stahl a dish that took the idea of a Philadelphia roast pork sandwich and put it into one of their house parker rolls — a nod to the chef ’s penchant for making sandwich specials at Strangebird. Strangebird, located on Marshall Street, is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so that off-weekend weekend is when he gets out the most. Stahl generally likes to keep it lowkey. Like Smith, one of his most visited restaurants is Taqueria Monterrey. “My favorite thing I’ve had recently has been the bistec torta, but any of the tacos are a good option,” he said. “All the lunch specials are super cheap, too.” Across the Genesee River on Lyle Avenue is Stahl’s other favorite spot, Saigon Pho, where he usually grabs meatball pho and fried spring rolls. One last special shout out from the guy who seems to not really like going out to eat: takeout from Lina’s on East Avenue, a classic greasy American joint specializing in Rochesterian comfort staples like wings, pizza, subs, plates and fish fries.

EXECUTIVE CHEF, STRANGEBIRD

REBECCA VANG

PHOTO PROVIDED

Strangebird pizza and sandwich mastermind Nate Stahl doesn’t love being waited on by a server and his list of spots where he’d call himself a regular is short. When he wants something fancy, he heads to the swanky, new-ish Redd Wood, where he sits at the bar for a meal free from the shackles of

CHEF/OWNER, CRUST PIE CO.

At Crust Pie Co. in the South Wedge, Rebecca Vang is serving up all kinds of sweet pies, hand pies, pastries and quiches. Her hours skew toward the mornings and afternoons, leaving some evenings free to head out to her family’s two favorite spots:

PHOTO BY KRIT UPRA

Szechuan Opera on Park Avenue and OG Dumpling House in Henrietta’s South Town Plaza. “They just have this essence of something that’s really close to home,” Vang said. “It’s always something familiar, and every time we’re craving comfort, these two are always the default.” At Szechuan Opera, the crispy fish and double-cooked pork are staples on the table — both featured in the “classic Szechuan food” section of the menu — and churn up memories of being safe, warm and comforted. “They resemble something that I’m familiar with growing up, that feels like home,” she said. As a bonus for Vang’s young son, Szechuan Opera’s little koi fish ponds offer some engaging entertainment. When she is looking for something that isn’t Asian, Vang’s favorite restaurant is Wildflour on Winton Road and Atlantic Avenue. She appreciates the seasonally rotating menu and loves how the flavors are always at their peak. Kellen Beck is a Rochester-based writer who also works full-time at Radio Social, where he’s seasoned a few baskets of curly fries but wouldn’t call himself a chef. Email him at kellentbeck@ gmail.com.

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A warm welcome Ways to create an inclusive hospitality venue for all. by Noelle E. C. Evans

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ince I began hosting WXXI’s Move to Include podcast, which delves into disability rights matters through firsthand perspectives and candid conversations, I've been thinking about where I can go to catch up with sources and grab a bite to eat. And then my mind goes blank. Where are the inclusive dining spots? Places where a wheelchair can roll up and get through the door without hassle. Where a blind person can read the menu. Where someone with an assistive communication device can place their order and take care of the bill without being made to feel like a nuisance. Where the sound doesn't ricochet off the walls like the inside of a tin can, so someone who is hard-of-hearing or neurodivergent can carry on a conversation without pain. Where someone with a chronic illness or compromised immune system can feel welcome.

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Is it too much to ask? Nearly 30% of adults in the U.S. have a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines disability as "any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them." But there's another way to look at it: the social model of disability, credited to researcher Mike Oliver. The idea is that a significant aspect of limitations is determined by the blueprint of the built world around us, and people's attitudes toward disability. "It is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society," Oliver wrote in the textbook, "Implementing the Social Model of Disability: Theory and Research." If disability is partly determined by design, then what are the barriers? And what are some ways to alleviate that divide? Not just meeting Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, which many advocates argue is the bare minimum for accessibility standards (not to diminish how monumental the ADA was when signed into law in 1990), but putting forth best practices in universal design and inclusive social dynamics. CITY asked folks from the local disability and hospitality communities for their perspectives.

Physically, do I belong here?

Obstacle: Stairs, heavy doors, narrow doorways, insufficient or no signage pointing out where the ramp or elevator is, outdoor seating blocking the sidewalk, inaccessible bathrooms, hightop seating, harsh acoustics, air quality. Luticha André Doucette, an accessibility consultant and guest on the Move to Include podcast's upcoming season two, uses a wheelchair and said it’s pretty common to encounter challenges when going out to eat — narrow doorways and doors heavier than ADA regulations and blocked sidewalks outside the entrance, to name a few. "Any opportunity to be outside with a good drink (and) some good food always brings me joy," Doucette said. "But there's the tension that ends up happening of private businesses using public space like a sidewalk to extend their own business ... because when the sidewalk is too narrow, then people with walkers or wheelchairs can't get through." If a venue’s accessibility limitations infringe on public spaces — like outdoor seating overtaking a sidewalk, and directly approaching the owner or staff doesn’t solve it, it can lead to citations, city officials said. “For us, accessibility for anyone using the sidewalks is incredibly important,” Alex Kaplun, the city’s permit compliance coordinator, said. “If we do not receive a response from the property or business owner, then we follow up with compliance measures such as municipal code summons ... And then if that doesn't work, then we pull their sidewalk cafe permit.” Inside, a shift toward high-top table seating excludes people who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices, Doucette said. "I don't like talking to people's crotches while eating," she said. "You can't have a good conversation with someone's crotch because that's not where their mouth is."

Other physical considerations: How does sound move inside the venue? Is the space sensory friendly? “When I go to some restaurants, sometimes it's loud and I can't hear my family,” said Kerry Wilson, a barista at AutismUp’s PercUp Provisions café who uses hearing aids. “I like quiet places.” Possible solutions: ramp, Hoyer lift, elevator, automatic door opener (for businesses: 101mobility.com); clear signage to accessible entrance/exit, lowtop table seating, acoustic treatments — like low-cost soundproofing foam or more expensive soundabsorbing ceiling and wall-treatments (davisfetchcorp.com). The City of Rochester accepts permit complaints via 311, info@ cityofrochester.gov, and 711 (TTY).

How hospitable is the venue?

Obstacle: Communication breakdowns, not addressing customers directly or respectfully. "An inclusive dining experience also means being able to order, ask questions and handle the bill independently," Blake Nitko, social media manager at the National Institute for the Deaf, said in an email. Nitko, who is Deaf, added if a Deaf customer is dining with a hearing person, staff should still try to address the Deaf customer directly instead of automatically turning to their companion to order or answer for them. "A simple 'How would you prefer to communicate?' is a good place to start,” Nitko said. "It also helps to think beyond the table. If you call out a customer’s name when their table or food is ready, offer a visual notification or text option as well."

Possible solutions: Alternative forms of communication (low to no cost: using a notes app or pen and paper); “Signs for All” American Sign Language training through Rochester School for the Deaf (rsdeaf.org/sfa).

What's on the menu?

Obstacle: Unreadable menus for people who are blind or have low vision, communication breakdown when delivering order. "Snapping pictures of the menu doesn't help me because it doesn't read with a screen reader," said Noah Carver, a blind Eastman School of Music student and guest on the Move to Include podcast's upcoming season two. An information gap can show up after the order is placed, too, he said. "I used to go to the bar — sometimes the bartender would just put a glass in front of me and sometimes I'd hear it, and I sometimes I wouldn't," Carver said. "If I don't know it's there, I can't have my hand over the glass, and I want to make sure that no one puts something in my drink." When it comes to getting around a venue, Carver said he'll listen for a server's voice to follow. "If it's a very, very busy crowd and there's no way for me to hear, I'll say 'Can I hold your arm and go sighted guide?'” he said. “But I really try and avoid it." Carver has his own solutions in hand as well, including AI tools like Be My AI that provide visual descriptions of his surroundings. "Sometimes it'll hallucinate something, but not often," he said. Possible solutions: Braille menu; accessible menu page on website with text; staff training for connecting with blind and low-vision patrons (resources available at brailleworks.com); Free, virtual, inclusive hospitality training is also available via Visit Rochester (visitrochester.com).

The value of hospitality There's no ballpark price range for accessible upgrades to a venue. With older buildings and myriad other factors, it’s always a case-bycase situation. New builds have an explicit advantage — and one spot that's been getting attention for its accessible interior design is Carmella's Wine Bar in Pittsford. The owner, Joseph Lapi, said inclusive elements were intentional because oftentimes, people with disabilities get pigeonholed by restrictive environments. "When you're building out a restaurant, every situation is very different — some people building from scratch, some people taking on old restaurants," Lapi said. Almost a third of the Carmella’s bar length, which was built out inside an older building on Schoen Place along the canal, is lower than standard height to accommodate wheelchair access. "I'd rather be more inclusive and more hospitable to my guests than cut that cost,” said Lapi. “Maybe that's less (money for) marketing, or maybe that's less (money) somewhere else ... Just being one more place to be able to enjoy is very important." For business owners seeking information on universal design, inclusion and accessibility: University at Buffalo's IDEA Center (idea.ap.buffalo.edu). Resources cited in the article are not endorsements, and websites were current at press time. Noelle E. C. Evans is a multiaward-winning journalist. Her work has earned a dozen accolades including the national Edward R. Murrow Award and, most recently, three Signal Awards for the Move to Include podcast. The podcast's second season, focusing on relationships and intimacy, drops in January 2027.

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Through deserts and swamps POLICY

BY JUSTIN MURPHY

F

ive years ago, Rochester City Council took action to address a food access crisis. Nearly one in five city residents are “food insecure,” meaning they have uncertain access to adequate food. That is nearly double the number for the Monroe County suburbs. The rates for Black and Hispanic people in the city are higher, at 27% and 29%, respectively. All those figures rose sharply after the pandemic. The solution was to create the Rochester Food Policy Council (FPC) as a means of improving healthy food access for city residents. It was based in large part on recommendations included in Rochester 2034, the city’s long-term planning document. “I think there’s a — pun intended — big appetite for this,” Mike Bulger of Common Ground Health said at the time. More than 300 communities across the country have formed food policy councils, including Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca, Cortland and Binghamton. They are meant to provide coordination to a sprawling topic that touches on public health, economic development, land use policy, education and urban agriculture, among other things.

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Candice Williams presents about the Rochester Community Food System Plan at the 2026 Rochester Urban Agriculture Conference

Inset (left to right): Councilmembers Candice Williams, Paul Whitehouse and Josie McClary

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROCHESTER FOOD POLICY COUNCIL

PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

The Rochester Food Policy Council works to amend food insecurity in the city.

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A trio of juices at Beautifully Nourished. PHOTO BY ROBERTO F. LAGARES

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That confluence of factors is on display at Beautifully Nourished, a juice bar that opened on State Street earlier this year. It is owned by JaCorri Smith, a first-time entrepreneur who described her own journey toward healthy living. Between her work in youth advising and cosmetics and her role in raising three children, she said, there was little time left to consider her own health. “I’d get home and just be depleted, I wouldn’t have eaten all day or hydrated all day,” she said. “I had to have a conversation with myself: ‘You can’t keep going like this.’” The solution she hit on was juicing — first at home, then selling them on a small scale. She went through a citysponsored entrepreneurship training program called Prepare to Prosper and opened her business in May. “You’ve got to be good to your body,” Smith said, “so your body can be good to you.” Like an overstuffed juicer, the Rochester FPC has had to find cohesion among a bevy of stakeholders and interests. The council represents a partnership between the city, Foodlink and a sub-coalition of community health organizations; it is governed by a citizens’ council; and it features formal and informal working groups dedicated to

different aspects of the overall vision. Josie McClary, one of the council members, said the FPC should serve as a bridge connecting those various stakeholders. At the same time, she acknowledged that, early on, coordination emerged as a sticking point. “Communication has been a challenge at times, just reconciling people’s different perspectives, passions, skills, constituencies,” she said. The Rochester FPC has three major areas of focus. The first is affecting municipal plans and policies. It cites as a victory the 2024 passage of a Children’s Indoor Bill of Rights, which enshrines a right to nutrition education and healthy meals and snacks at R-Centers. It is also pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign state legislation that would allow “values-based food procurement,” meaning schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions would be allowed to consider a broader range of community impacts when awarding food service bids. A second area of focus is youth and food. The FPC is trying to improve coordination with the Rochester City School District on topics like school lunches, summer meals and school gardens. The third area of focus is urban agriculture and community gardens. The

FPC is seeking language in the city’s zoning code revision to allow for larger greenhouses on vacant lots. It also wants the city to issue gardening permits that are good for at least five years rather than just one. For many Rochester residents, the most pressing food-related concern has to do with the availability of healthy groceries — if not at a full-service grocery store, then at a corner store, mobile market or through some other means. The lack of progress on that front over the last five years illustrates the broader challenges facing the Rochester FPC and the fight for food access. Those challenges, as well as the resources at hand, are perhaps most evident in the Beechwood neighborhood. Beechwood has some of the bestdeveloped community gardening infrastructure in the city. The Rochester Public Market is just to the west, while the city’s only Wegmans location, on East Avenue, is just southeast. The nonprofit Connected Communities and the Beechwood Neighborhood Coalition provide a powerful nexus for social and political organizing. Nonetheless, a February 2026 report by Connected Communities described Beechwood as a food swamp (where there is a surplus of high-calorie, ultraprocessed food available). “Healthy food

was widely described as unaffordable and difficult to access due to limited public transportation options,” the report concluded. A proposed new food store on Webster Avenue was deemed economically unfeasible. To make matters worse, the Save-ALot grocery store in North Goodman Plaza closed in January 2026 after the national chain concluded it was unprofitable. “Despite being a larger store, the Save-A-Lot was still unable to remain in business, which further speaks to the small profit margins of many traditional grocers,” the Connected Communities report concluded. “The closure of the Save-A-Lot also signals to the market that a grocery store catering to lowincome customers in this location is not likely to yield significant profit for the operator.” The North Goodman Save-A-Lot was one of more than 100 locations to close nationwide this year. Other discount grocers have taken similar measures, though a new Family Dollar opened in 2024 on Thurston Road, replacing a Walgreens store that closed suddenly. Such decisions are made in company boardrooms, not communities. They do not take into account purely local concerns about healthy food access or repairing historical disinvestment. A major part of FPC’s job is to find alternatives to that relentlessly profitdriven model. A Community Food System Plan released earlier this year called for better alignment with regional agriculture and exploring financial incentives for more healthy food retail in the city, among other things. That charge to look at the food system holistically has been illuminated over the last five years, but also made it difficult to gain traction. Corner stores and urban agriculture are “great stop-gap measures,” said Paul Whitehouse, a council member and Beechwood resident who is active in community gardening. “But they’re not the answer. So we need to be working cooperatively toward that answer.” rocfoodpolicy.org Justin Murphy is a freelance journalist and author of the book “Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York.” Find him online at justinmurphywriter.com. roccitymag.com CITY 17

18 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

Smoke Show Victor native Jack Mancuso sears his name to fame as Chef Cuso. WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ROBERTO F. LAGARES

A

t the intersection of grill recipes, food experiments and sports on just about any social media platform, one is likely to find Chef Cuso. It’s a moniker for Victor native Jack Mancuso, the face behind (and in front of ) the Chef Cuso handle who makes it very clear that he is “not a chef,” even popping the phrase on a tee that is (at press time) now sold out. “I'm definitely not a chef, never worked in a restaurant in my life,” he said. “I learned from YouTube videos. I (am) just self-taught from the internet.” While attending California Polytechnic State University for bio resource and agriculture engineering, Mancuso often found himself manning the grill with friends. “(After graduation) I would just send them photos of what I was making, and they're like, “You got to start posting it online,’” Mancuso said. “I remember posting a video that got maybe 50,000 views, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that's pretty cool.’” Seeing an early spark of interest in the videos from an audience who didn’t know Mancuso personally allowed him to begin learning what to post while working as a commercial HVAC engineer in California. “When I got home from work, I would just grill, film it all, edit it all and post like crazy,” Mancuso said. “I was posting like three times a day and eventually it got to a point where I had a couple million followers.” That’s when Mancuso realized he had a real opportunity in front of him. The only question that remained was whether or not to take the risk and flip his career. “I remember quitting, telling my boss and CEO of the company, and they were like, "We knew this was coming. We knew you were gonna quit. You have to go pursue it,’” he said. Mancuso credits the work he was already putting into his videos for helping him make the leap to full-time creator. And now, with over 10 million followers across his social media platforms, the risk has paid off. “You take that calculated risk. I didn't do it when I had not started," Mancuso said. “I did it when I had a nice following built up, when I knew I'd be able to sustain a living.” The Chef Cuso channels continue to grow, even collaborating with major sports teams like Mancuso’s favorite, the Buffalo Bills — he became official grillmaster for the team in 2021 — and other collaborations with the NFL, MLB and UFC. CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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20 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

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Jack Mancuso and his team during a pop-up collaboration at Backwoods by Kettle Ridge. 22 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

Finding the marriage of grill content and sports was very intentional for Mancuso; it’s a unique blend that made his content enjoyable, yet niche, as he turned the camera on tailgate culture and its relationship with food. “Grilling is niche, but I wanted to incorporate more of my favorite things and create my own niche,” Mancuso said. “Like when two teams are playing each other, we'll take a famous food from each city and then mash them together (think a bleu cheese lobster roll if it’s New England and Buffalo).” His years of videos include viral tailgate eats and salt-baked food experiments to collaborations with athletes like Dalton Kincaid, Puka Nacua and Fred Warner, to name a few. But his real “I made it” moment was a collaboration with the Australia tourism board on a two-week itinerary that took him all across the country. It was a step removed from the list of places he is recognized most often — mainly Los Angeles and parts of Texas and Florida. That level of visibility can come with challenges, including viral moments Mancuso didn’t expect — like having a recipe video roasted by Gordon Ramsey on TikTok or a glitch during a live demo at the Meta Connect 2025 keynote, which caused the Meta AI Ray-Ban glasses Mancuso was wearing to malfunction. Along with navigating those moments, Mancuso has found his influence reaching a younger audience he hadn’t anticipated. His overall reach spans generations, from adults looking to chop it up about grill techniques to children asking for a photo opportunity. Being aware of the younger eyes on his brand has admittedly influenced him to create more “PG” content. “I've had a father-son duo tell me, ‘We watched your videos together to bond, and now we grill steaks together,’” Mancuso said. “None of it is possible without people watching the videos and enjoying the content. Getting people cooking — and especially outside if they're grilling — and off screens is great.” Mancuso moved back to Rochester in 2021, after eight years in California. He continues to grow his businesses, which include Cuso’s — a line of spices and rubs found at nationwide retailers like Wegmans and Sam’s Club — and hopes to expand into markets like protein snacks and meat products. His time away from Rochester, in the meantime, only amplified what he loves about the city and surrounding areas. “I think it's good to leave for a little bit, because then you can come back and appreciate Rochester way more.” Roberto Felipe Lagares is served with a wild mushroom demi-glace atop a bed of a bone marrow pommes puree and best paired with a glass of Syrah. roccitymag.com CITY 23

ARTS, MUSIC AND CULTURE EVENTS FOR THE SOCIALLY RESTLESS

DAILY Full calendar of events online at roccitymag.com

todo

culture, history and identity that can be politically charged, “arty” and deeply personal. No polka, pierogi or pussy willows are required, but we’d welcome them. Through November 8; see website for showtimes, prices. BRENDAN DABKOWSKI

editor-in-chief Leah Stacy (hi) is hybrid, meaning participants can join in-person or via Zoom. Pay what you can, $20 suggested. LEAH STACY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 OPERA

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3

MUSIC

“Hamelin Plays Brahms”

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, rpo.org As part of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Piano Festival, MarcAndré Hamelin will play Brahms’ dynamic “Piano Concerto No. 2” under the direction of conductor Andreas Delfs. As the RPO notes, this is a must-see for fans of both Brahms and piano music. Music’s at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $18-$119. PATRICK HOSKEN

THEATER

“Blithe Spirit”

Penfield Community Center, penfieldplayers.org Noël Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” is one of the farcical master’s tricksiest works. After a séance causes an author’s departed wife to haunt him, he deals with the fallout in the funniest way possible: by juggling his new wife (alive) and his past one (dead). Penfield Players put on this bizarre love triangle for a 2 p.m. matinee. $17. PH

THEATER

“Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen”

West Herr Auditorium Theatre, rbtl.org Like Marvel superhero Daredevil, piano-R&B pop sensation Alicia Keys was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen. Unlike Daredevil, however, Keys has lent her voice to one of the most iconic Big Apple songs in history (“Empire State of Mind”). She also co-wrote the hit Broadway jukebox musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” partially based on her life coming of age in Manhattan in the 1990s. The show’s touring production comes to RBTL through November 11. This show’s at 7:30 p.m. PH

Flagman and Sumpp

The Bug Jar, bugjar.com If it hadn’t been for 94.1 The Zone, I would not be able to take Seattle trio Flagman seriously. But I was raised on “My Name is Mud” and “Toxicity,” and so Flagman, with its grungy funkmetal, makes perfect sense to me. With support from Weird Al-meetsAndrew W.K. musician Sumpp. 8 p.m. show. Tickets $17.70. PH

24 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

Kilbourn Hall, esm.rochester.edu Eastman Opera Theatre presents a punk riff on Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.” Based on Voltaire’s satire, the operetta follows the blithely optimistic Candide, whose faith in “the best of all possible worlds” is tested by war, romance, betrayal and outrageous misfortune. Blending sophisticated music with slapstick absurdity, EOT’s production features 21 singers tackling 67 roles, with most costume changes unfolding onstage. A small orchestra lends “a lightness and intimacy to Bernstein’s exuberant orchestral score,” according to music director Timothy Long. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. matinee on November 8. Tickets: $20. BD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 FILM

Polish Film Festival

The Little Theatre & other venues, thelittle.org/polishfilmfestival2026 If you want to get a serious jump on Dyngus Day, Rochester’s Polish Film Festival might just be your ticket to the old country. For almost three decades, the festival has celebrated a cinematic tradition that gave the world Andrzej Wajda’s “Ashes and Diamonds,” Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Three Colours” trilogy and plenty of others worth watching. The fiveday fest offers a window into Polish

MUSIC

Chicago Transit

Fort Hill PAC, forthillpac.com Hamilton, Ontario’s premier Chicago tribute act is, at this point, perhaps as much of an institution as the original band — or almost. With five vocalists, a five-piece rhythm section and those three distinctive horns, Chicago Transit makes beloved and timeless hits like “25 or 6 to 4” and “Saturday in the Park” sound just as good as the real thing. Or maybe even better. 7 p.m. show. Presale starts at $40.56, day of show $45.76. Cash discount. PH

FAMILY

“The Canine Stars”

LITERATURE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2 MUSIC

“Candide”

Robin L. Flanigan: Secret Rochester

Writers & Books, writersandbooks.org Author (and CITY contributor) Robin L. Flanigan’s newest book, “Secret Rochester: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure,” is a reference book like no other, offering a rare, sharply detailed glimpse into what makes the city so intriguing. Meet a shy, 21-year-old hotel maid who secured the right to vote for all Puerto Rican Americans. Discover why inspiration for the design of the famed Mushroom House is tied to an empty Coke bottle. This 6:30 p.m. reading and conversation with CITY

JCC Hart Theater, tykestheatre.org The high-energy, live stunt dog show that catapulted to household fame on season 16 of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” stops in Rochester Nov. 5-8 in collaboration TYKEs (Theatre Young Kids Enjoy). Featuring a cast of entirely rescued dogs, “The Canine Stars” delivers a showcase of extreme doggie athleticism, including big-air dock diving, high-speed agility racing, frisbee disc routines, high jumping and complex freestyle dog dancing. The shows conclude by allowing all ages to meet the canine athletes and their trainers, take photos and ask questions. “The Canine Stars” continues TYKEs’ mission to enhance kids’ appreciation for the arts. Tickets are $24 for general admission; $22 for JCC members. LS

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7

billion-dollar gaming franchise when you can create your own little universe with other weirdos on a Saturday afternoon? BD

LITERATURE

Rochester Children and Teens’ Book Festival

R. Thomas Flynn Campus Center at MCC, rcbfest.com Monroe Community College welcomes more than 50 authors and illustrators for the 29th annual celebration of the written (and illustrated) word. The festival features readings, drawing workshops, panel discussions, crafts and opportunities to meet some of the creative forces behind young readers’ favorite books. Rochester’s own Linda Sue Park, of “Seesaw Girl” fame, joins a lineup that includes Nikki Grimes, Alyssa Satin Capucilli and A.K. King, who will lead a character creation workshop. Whether you’re raising a bookworm or revisiting beloved childhood tomes, there’s lots to explore. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. BD

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8

COMEDY

The Improv Plate

RECREATION

“Game Jam: 3D Worlds”

Visual Studies Workshop, vsw.org Ever wanted to sync up with other artists, designers, coders, webheads and digital dreamers to cook up a video game from scratch in one day? This just might be your (kid’s) chance. “Game Jam: 3D Worlds” brings creative minds together for a crash course in collaboration, experimenting and the fine art of making something weird, wonderful and possibly unmarketable. Or worse, unplayable! But it’s all good. Who needs the next

Focus Theater, focus.theater If you’ve watched “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and thought, “I can do that,” now’s your chance! This monthly improvisation jam is open to all levels of experience, including total beginners. Throw your name in the hat, join a team, and have some fun. If you’re interested, but not ready to get your feet wet, you can join the audience. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Show from 7-9 p.m. Free, but tickets are required. MEGAN MACK

MUSIC

Upstate

Three Heads Brewing, threeheadsbrewing.com Poughkeepsie folk quartet Upstate remains true to its name: geographically, sure, but also in the orange-leaves-and-brown-wood feel of their autumnal music. On the group’s latest, “Abalone,” flourishes of R&B arrive courtesy of an upright bass and groove-centric drumming, making Upstate both irresistible and danceable. Good combo! Especially for a gig at Three Heads. Show starts at 7 p.m. $15. PH

MUSIC

Flipper, 95 Bulls, Perilous & Danny’s Favorites

Photo City Music Hall, photocitymusichall.com Life is cheap, but shed no tears. Before grunge made fashion victims of an entire generation, San Francisco’s Flipper was laying its sonic groundwork, trading punk’s amphetamine-fueled velocity for something bleaker, sludgier and deliciously more obnoxious. Wildly influential, these noisy ne’er-dowells counted Kurt Cobain among their fans; even Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow did stints in the band. Nearly 40 years after founding bassist Will Shatter’s death — and a year after Bruce Loose’s passing — Flipper soldiers on, with original drummer Stephen DePace and vocalist Justin Pearson (The Locust, Deaf Club). 6 p.m.; tickets: $30. BD

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

FILM

DANCE

FILM

“Stop Looking Away: Two Short Films on Healthcare Workers in Palestine” Interfaith Chapel at University of Rochester, writersandbooks.org As the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues, two short documentaries focus on medical workers risking their lives to save others. “Sumud: A Doctor’s Report on Genocide and Survival in Gaza” follows an American anesthesiologist working with Palestinian surgical teams, while “Khsara: Apathy Is the World’s Greatest Sin” chronicles the experiences of those treating patients amid the devastation in Gaza. Presented by Writers & Books and Witness Palestine Film Festival, the screenings are an opportunity to bear witness to stories too easily overlooked. A discussion with awardwinning author Omar El Akkad and professor Joshua Dubler follows. 7 p.m.; free. BD

Grand Kyiv Ballet: “Swan Lake” & “Symphony of Lights”

Theater at Innovation Square, theaterais.com Tchaikovsky meets the Vegas Strip — or something like it — when Grand Kyiv Ballet brings a soakedin-neon reimagining of “Swan Lake: Symphony of Lights” to Rochester. Cosmic Baseball, but make it ballet? Let’s do. The Ukrainian ballet company gives the 19th-century classic a 21st-century glow-up, with illuminated costumes, inventive lighting and an international cast of dancers breathing new life into the familiar tale of love, betrayal and enchantment. Ballet purists might balk, but the bigger risk might be letting a centuries-old art form dance its way into a history museum. 7:30 p.m.; $59.47–$85.71. BD

Anomaly Film Festival

The Little Theatre + Dryden Theater, thelittle.org/anomaly2026 Rochester has no shortage of small film festivals, but Anomaly deserves a prominent spot on your calendar as the days get shorter and the nights grow stranger. Returning for its eighth year, Anomaly celebrates the offbeat, the sinister, the gloriously unclassifiable and more, unleashing a melange of horror, dark comedy, fantasy, sci-fi and other cinematic mutations from around the world. Beginning November 11, viewers can catch independent feature-length and short films that multiplexes would not dare show. Through November 15. BD

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COMEDY

Pauly Shore

Comedy @ The Carlson, carlsoncomedy.com THE WEASELLLLLLL! Did you know Pauly Shore is the son of Mitzi Shore, the legendary comedy impresario who ran L.A.’s Comedy Store and helped launch countless comics’ careers? (Think Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey.) Mitzi’s son did his own thing in the ’90s, though, spinning a ridiculous California-stoner persona into MTV stardom and a string of cult flicks, including “Encino Man,” “Son in Law” and “Bio-Dome.” Now 58, Shore is still squeezing laughs out of the same grating shtick — but it grows on ya. Nostalgia, buuuuuuddy! 7 p.m.; $39. BD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 MUSIC

Pop Punk Pro Wrestling Night

Photo City Music Hall, photocitymusichall.com What this is not: an evening of wrestling matches. But what this is is a night to celebrate your favorite pop-punk tunes, the wrestling intro music that helped get you hype and the interesting places where those two intersect. Dress as your favorite in-ring star and enter the lookalike contest. But please, keep the steel chairs at home. 8 p.m. From $9.10. PH THEATER

“BURN THIS”

The Company Theatre, thecompanytheatreroc.org Written by acclaimed playwright Lanford Wilson and directed by The Company Theatre’s artistic director Carl Del Buono, “BURN THIS” is a searing and hilarious dark comedy running Nov. 8-22. In a Manhattan apartment in the late 30 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

‘80s, dancer Anna and roommate Larry mourn the loss of their third roommate, Robbie. When Robbie’s brother, Pale, chaotically crashes into the roommates’ lives, he brings unexpected comfort–and romantic complications. Wednesday, Nov. 11 is a free performance for veterans and their families; while Thursday, Nov. 12 is a pay-what-you-can performance. A post-show talkback with cast and creatives will take place Sunday, Nov. 15 and the ASL-interpreted performance is Saturday, Nov. 21. Recommended for ages 16 and older due to mature content. Tickets are $30 general admission; $25 for seniors, students, veterans and activeduty military. LS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 MUSIC

Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione

Kodak Center, kodakcenter.com Jazz trumpet (and flugelhorn) was hardly the same after the late Chuck Mangione started tootin’. Blending smooth compositions with snatches of soft disco, Mangione’s compositions like “Feels So Good” helped influence the next generation. Chief among that cohort was trumpeter and Eastman School of Music alum Rick Braun. He takes the stage in Mangione’s hometown for an evening of tribute performances to the titan, who died in 2025. Show’s at 7:30 p.m. Tickets begin at $45. PH MUSIC

Drug Church

Montage Music Hall, rocevents.com Like Baltimore’s Turnstile, Albany’s Drug Church has committed the cardinal sin of outgrowing whatever aging brutes in youth-crew band tees consider “hardcore.” Purists bristle, naturally, but those of us who traffic in music beyond the “scene” don’t mind. DC’s frontman Patrick Kindlon — an accomplished writer in the vein of former Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley — and company have evolved into something harder to categorize (post-hardcore? post-punk?) but easy to love: loud, catchy, sardonic punk rock with Things To Say. It’s all punk rock; fix your hearts or die. Tickets: $28.14. 16+ show; doors at 7 p.m. BD

THEATER

“Space Pirates of Planet Penzance”

Downtown United Presbyterian Church, off-monroeplayers.org We’ve all seen Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance.” It’s about pirates and firmly not set in space. But what “Space Pirates of Planet Penzance” presupposes is: what if it was? The Off-Monroe Players’ latest production goes to an oft-visited well and flips the script, literally. Six performances through November 22. PH

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14 FILM

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

Dryden Theatre, eastman.org In 1920, newspapers (which existed) cost 2 cents, and movies didn’t have sound yet. To fill the space, film palaces would have orchestras perform live scores to pictures like this one, starring John Barrymore (grandfather of Drew) as both title characters, haunted in different ways. The Dryden will screen it with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, led by Gabriela Gómez Estévez, for this 7:30 p.m. showing. General admission $25; museum members $20; students $10. PH

FESTIVAL

World Oddities Expo

Rochester Riverside Convention Center; worldodditiesexpo.com A weasel wearing a wedding dress, light switch covers made out of teeth, and skulls… lots of skulls. That’s what visitors to previous World Oddities Expos discovered, so who knows what will grab your attention at this year’s event in Rochester. From the marvelous to macabre, there’s a lot to see as artists, vendors, performers, and educators share their work and talents. The traveling event runs from 11 a.m.-7 p.m Saturday and Sunday. $20-$35, plus add-ons. MM

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15 MUSIC

The Pentagram String Band

Bug Jar, bugjar.com If the entire month of All Hallows failed to adequately sate your bloodlust, carry that unholy appetite into mid-November and drink deep of Kansas City’s Pentagram String Band, backwoods-ass purveyors of “satanic bluegrass.” Hell, why not? These musical heathens mash up Appalachian twang, gothic folk, punk and thrash metal into something straight out of “From Dusk Till Dawn” — just imagine a zombified, vamped-out house band at a honkytonk, picking stringed instruments made from former humans, raising all kinds of hell. Fun. $15. BD FILM

“Palestinian Songs, Dances and Images”

Dryden Theatre, wpff.us Witness Palestine Film Festival returns for another year, kicking off with “Revolutionaries Never Die,” a film about missed connections and the spirit of filmmaking as activism, at 12 p.m. At 4 p.m. comes this world-premiere screening of a multidisciplinary project. Archival images of Palestine from the Eastman Museum’s moving image collections mingle with live music performed by members of the RPO and the Toronto Symphony. A Q&A with composer Kareem Roustom follows. PH MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 FITNESS

Monday Night Beer Ride

Three Heads Brewing, linktr.ee/ justforgigglescycling The Western New York Bike Racing Club organizes this cycling jaunt every Monday at Three Heads on Atlantic Avenue, 6-8 p.m. Get out there before the weather turns, though they ride year-round. PH

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 MUSIC

The Menzingers, with Hot Water Music & Weakened Friends

Anthology, anthologylive.com “You rest, you rust.” Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan taught me that, and I’ve taken it to heart in many weird, arguably dumb ways from adolescence into my late 40s — especially on days when the gym somehow seems like an act of self-betrayal. Expect aging punk dudebros in gut-hugging band tees, sporting questionable facial hair and trying to look tough. But beneath the gruffness are emo kids gone gray (or bald). Pennsylvania’s Menzingers and Florida’s Hot Water Music turn heartbreak, regret and aging into fist-pumping punk anthems. Maine’s Weakened Friends add a fuzzier, hook-heavy indie-rock counterpoint. 7 p.m.; $48. BD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 ART

Especially for Educators: “to everything there is a season”

Memorial Art Gallery, mag.rochester.edu Teachers, turn, turn, turn to this one: MAG invites educators to interact with Hugo McCloud’s paintings, which depict everyday life and labor across cultures, with an eye toward bringing art into your classroom. Guided discussions, curriculum connections and a little hands-on creativity will keep you going through the long day. Bonus: You can get 2.5 continuing education credit hours and light refreshments. 4:30-7:30 p.m. Free for current teachers. BD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19

FILM

“SLUDGE au naturel”

Visual Studies Workshop, vsw.org When it comes to filmic art, do you favor chaos over a coherent plot? 32 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

If so, Visual Studies Workshop’s SLUDGE series — which takes vintage 16-mm films from its archives and projects them simultaneously — might be right up your addled alley. A mashup of found footage, this installment, dubbed “eco-SLUDGE” focuses on the horrors of biology and other ecological oddities. Mary Lewandowski curates and projects it all. 7:30 p.m.; $10. BD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 COMEDY

An Evening with Kevin Smith

Comedy @ The Carlson, carlsoncomedy.com For an entire generation raised on Comedy Central and gas-station pizza, Kevin Smith remains unfuckwithable. His films (“Clerks,” “Chasing Amy”) may not have aged perfectly, but they still crystallize the predominant Gen X sentiment: yearning, punctuated by profanity and pop culture. He remains a terrific storyteller, which is why he keeps going back to the well for sequels, and also why these local 21+ stage shows promise to be memorable. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. shows. PH THEATER

“Mean Girls: The Musical”

Cobblestone Arts Center, cobblestoneartscenter.com Direct from Broadway and based on the iconic 2004 film written by Tina Fey, “Mean Girls: The Musical” follows Cady Heron, a homeschooled newcomer who finds herself thrust into the wilds of suburban Illinois high school life. To fit in, Cady makes the bold move of infiltrating “The Plastics,” a trio of popular but feared frenemies ruled by the ruthless Regina George. The show is presented by Cobblestone Community Players and runs Nov. 13-22. Cobblestone provides a space where individuals of all abilities can explore their creativity through diverse classes, theater productions and community programs while building lasting connections. Tickets are $15 for students and seniors; $18 for adults. LS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23

MUSIC

MUSIC

Blue Cross Arena, bluecrossarena.com Did you know that seminal jam band Goose played a killer set at Flour City Station in March 2019? You can stream it on Bandcamp. It’s good! And it’s crazy that now, just seven years later, they’re packing in Blue Cross Arena. But it makes sense given how big the, uh, flock has grown in that time. I’m more of a Geese guy, but Goose goes. For proof, the set starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $60. PH

Hatch Recital Hall, ossianewmusic.org/ main-stage Eastman School of Music’s student-run group OSSIA New Music is committed to performing contemporary classical music. To do that, the program for its fall show includes works by Betty Chen, Dan Antoniu, Nattakon Lertwattanaruk, Tucker Johnson, Sara Marquez and Tianyu Zou. 7:30 p.m., free. PH

Goose

SHOPPING

RMSC Holiday Bazaar

Nothing says holiday shopping quite like browsing handmade goods while your kids repeatedly launch a tennis ball skyward. The Rochester Museum & Science Center’s 54th Holiday Bazaar crams more than 150 artists and craftsfolk into five floors of the museum for three days of seasonal retail therapy. It’s juried, so you’ll find original ceramics, glasswork, paintings and more instead of the massproduced holiday crap assaulting your social media feeds. Admission includes museum entry, meaning you can shop while the kids run amok… er, engage in rigorous scientific inquiry. Through November 22; $8 daily, $10 weekend. BD

OSSIA New Music

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 MUSIC

Open Mic with Tracy Eckstrand

The Biltmore Bar & Lounge, thebiltmoreroc.com Each week, local Americana singersongwriter Tracy Eckstrand hosts an open mic where, the Biltmore promises, anything goes. Aspiring roots musicians and hardscrabble journeymen welcome, of course, as are “blues players, poets and jugglers.” The State Street club may see all of them. 8 p.m. PH

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 DANCE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 THEATER

“A Christmas Carol”

MuCCC, theopenroadtheatre.org Revenge is a dish best served with a side of cold humbug. Bah! Open Road Theatre’s twist on Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” finds four unhoused kids whose families’ livelihoods have been ruined by Ebenezer Scrooge plotting vengeance for the old bastard’s misdeeds. They lure him to the burned-out theater they now call home, forcing him to confront his rotten past, present and future. But rather than unleashing a flurry of insults and fury, the kids take the high road, extending an olive branch to a man who scarcely deserves one. 2 p.m. matinee; $20. BD

“The Nutcracker”

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, rpo.org It’s tradition! For the 27th straight year, Rochester City Ballet and the RPO summon Tchaikovsky’s beloved holiday dream-spectacle, replete with swirling snowflakes, dancing sweets and sugarplums aplenty. You know the story: girl gets nutcracker for Christmas, army of militarized rodents attacks, wooden toy transforms into dashing prince and everyone ends up dancing their butts off with — or as — anthropomorphic candy. This production delivers all the unhinged holiday weirdness you could want, accompanied by the splendor of a live orchestra. November 25, 27–29; tickets from $21. BD

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26 RECREATION

Webster Turkey Trot

Webster Park, runsignup.com/Race/ NY/Webster/WebsterTurkeyTrot The tradition is puzzling for those who’ve never done it. Wake up early, run four miles in the cold, embrace your fellow humans with high fives and hugs, then go eat some great food. But as the saying goes, don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Why not give it a go now, during the 55th annual edition of this local institution? Race begins near the Parkview Lodge, with 2.5- or 4.4-mile options. And do me a favor: don’t run without a bib. PH RECREATION

Wedge Waddle

Abundance Food Co-op, wedgewaddle.com Can’t see you or your crew hoofing it out to “where life is worth living” after Drinksgiving Eve? Rochester’s got you: another hot-to-trot Thanksgiving morn exercise option is the 3-mile Wedge Waddle, which starts and ends at Abundance Food Co-op in the South Wedge. Participants can toddle, walk or run as part of the free event, dressed as turkeys or simply for the weather. Get your steps in early before stuffing your face, arguing with your family, and staying awake for the Bills/ Chiefs contest at 8:20 p.m. BD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 MUSIC

Start Making Sense

Water Street Music Hall, waterstreetmusichall.live My friend once told me Talking Heads was his favorite band, which meant that Start Making Sense — Pennsylvania’s pitch-perfect tribute act — was his only choice for runner up. Hard to argue! The music’s terrific, the charisma’s off the charts and, as it turns out, David Byrne’s idiosyncratic stage movements can, in fact, be studied and perfected at a high level. The group returns for its annual fall show at Water Street. 7 p.m. show. $31.49. PH FESTIVAL

Roc Holiday Village

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Park, rocholidayvillage.com With turkey, stuffing, and football in the rearview, it’s time to look ahead 34 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

to festive winter holiday fun. Kick off your Black Friday holiday shopping downtown with crafts, vendors, ice skating and revelry to pregame you all the way into December — when things get more busy. BD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 MUSIC

The Smiths etc.

Lovin’ Cup, lovincup.com Modern U.K. bands like The Tubs and World News are keeping Johnny Marr’s intricate, dazzling guitar playing alive with their original music. Of course, few will ever sound quite as perfect as The Smiths. This dynamic tribute act counts on that kind of thinking — just so they might surprise with their studied, jangling celebration of Marr, Morrissey, Rourke (R.I.P.) and Joyce. 8 p.m. show. $20 advance, $25 day of show. PH MUSIC

Babayaga record release party

Record Archive, recordarchive.com Longtime Rochester heshers Babayaga mark the release of their self-titled debut record (vinyl, baby!) with a free back-room bar show at Record Archive. These guys are tight, shred and somehow shoehorn hardcore-adjacent–style breakdowns into almost every song without departing from their hardrocking metallic tinged roots. Come get witchy, buy a record and wash away those Thanksgiving memories with a few (more) Genny Screamers. Bring some earplugs, and get there early for Clibbus who open. 5 p.m., free. BD

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 MUSIC

Rose Elliott

The Little Cafe, thelittle.org/music Grab a bowl of soup and a cup of tea and come hear the strummers strumming. The music at The Little Cafe runs from 7-9 p.m. and, even with residencies, it’s never quite the same show twice. Rose Elliott’s music takes center stage. Free, but order something, will ya? PH TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 MUSIC

Tuesday Pipes

Christ Church, esm.rochester.edu/ organ/events/tuesday-pipes Christ Church on East Avenue boasts two notable instruments: the Craighead-Saunders Organ, a copy of the historic original in Lithuania, and the 19th-century Hook and Hastings Organ. Each Tuesday, they help the sacred space become an ornate music hall thanks to 12:10 p.m. lunchtime performances by the Eastman School of Music students, faculty and alumni. These 25 minutes of sheer organ bliss are free. PH THEATER

“The Sound of Music”

West Herr Auditorium Theater, rbtl.org What are a few of your favorite things? Perhaps the touring production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic makes your list. If so, you’re in luck. Performances run through December 6. This show on opening night begins at 7:30 p.m. $53.30+. PH

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29 SHOPPING

ARTISANworks Thrift Sale

ARTISANworks, artisonworks.net Each Sunday, ARTISANwork turns into a whimsical thrifting market. Not all 46,000 square feet of the space is for rummaging through vintage goods; that would simply be too much. But there’s plenty of space for the new furniture, antiques and artwork put out each week — find it past the “Casablanca” room, the 1960s firehouse, the Victorian dining room and the other treasures. 12-4 p.m. Free entry. PH

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 THEATER

“Emmett Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas”

OFC Creations, ofccreations.com First, it was a book. Then, it was a beloved TV special featuring puppets created by the Jim Henson Company. And now, “Emmett Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” is a theatrical stage show, right here in Rochester, just in time for the holidays. 7:30 p.m. show, or catch it before it ends its run on December 12. PH

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3 HOLIDAY

Park Avenue Holiday Open House Park Avenue, park-avenue.org There’s something about lights at night during the holidays that fills even the most frigid heart with warmth and glee. Come be part of the celebration, put on by the Park Avenue Merchants Association, from 5-8 p.m. PH FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4 MUSIC

“The Legend Of Zelda” + “Castlevania” + “Tetris” Live

Montage Music Hall, ticketweb. com/venue/the-montage-music-hallrochester-ny/191574 Confession: I listen to video-game soundtracks way more often than I play video games. The music sets the mood! This is how a show like this can even exist. With scores from popular and generation-defining games on the program, performed by rock band Bit Brigade as someone speedruns the games on stage, this is a can’t-miss, even for the gaming agnostic like me. 8 p.m. $28.65. PH SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5 FAMILY

“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”

Smith Opera House, thesmith.org Who doesn’t! Well, me, but largely because I don’t have adequate storage for the beast. Luckily, this familyfriendly stage show takes place at the Cincinnati Zoo where experts are on hand to receive a baby hippo just in time for the holidays — as long as nothing goes wrong. 3 p.m. show. Tickets $18.05-$52.88. PH

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MUSIC REVIEWS

“CANDY” BY CANDY Crisp air, crunchy leaves and a savory fall breeze have invaded Rochester. The time for hayrides and barn dances is here, and the debut album from country band Candy arrives just in time. These 12 tracks are packed with autumn whimsy and good ol’ classic Americana, peppered with modernity for a new generation. Hannah Maier, who is the music director for WXXI’s The Route, takes the lead on this self-titled project, which was released on October 16. Her candid storytelling and compelling voice make this an unforgettable take on country music, humorous and feisty in all the right moments. Candy opens the record with a wish on a star, and “Pink Cadillac” has a fingersnapping beat and classic twang reminiscent of the late Dolly Parton (who is covered later on the charming “Dumb Blonde”). “Love Me Not,” meanwhile, has a groovy, late-night swing that’s quick, like the impatience of waiting for a lover to share what they feel. “Deep Fried” is, contrary to the title, soul food and good for the heart. It’s slow and ethereal, with twinkling guitar plucking away at the heart strings. Candy shows a melancholic side with “Heartbreak in Every Town,” which aches slowly like the sorrow of lost love. The band has somehow crafted an album that feels both familiar and fresh. The dynamic “I Gotta Know” slows down in all the right moments to keep listeners from getting lost. Though “Thanks a Lot” keeps up a spirited pace, Candy croons out more lost love lamentations: I’ve got a broken heart / That’s all I’ve got. As Candy, Maier sings like she’s in love, but she hasn’t lost her sweet sass on closer “Train Tracks,” which leaves us on a hopeful note. And when these chilly nights begin to feel lonely, Candy provides company. — LEAH JOY

“SUNDOWN ON VENUS” BY THE JET BLACK BERRIES In 1985, Rochester band The Jet Black Berries landed a song on the soundtrack for “The Return of the Living Dead” alongside bands like The Cramps, The Damned and 45 Grave. Occupying a middle ground between goth/psych-rock and post-punk, the song “Love Under Will” was immortalized in a cherished campy horror classic. Forty years later, the band is celebrating the re-release of their debut album “Sundown on Venus (Definitive Edition)” along with a newly recorded single, “Rocketfire Sex66.” As the lore goes, the initial release of “Sundown on Venus” was marred by the inclusion of an additional compilation EP of B-sides and covers not intended to be paired with the album’s space-western concept. But at the time, the label and marketing had motives beyond the band’s artistic vision. The “Definitive Edition” sets the record straight by including the song “Shadow Drive” positioned in the right sequence alongside other tracks that were pushed over to the EP. The album’s hyperspecific concept and nonlinear narrative are filled with outlaws, Venusian hideouts and mind-controlling monsters — heavily influenced by William S. Burroughs’ “The Red Night Trilogy” and the writings of Aleister Crowley, as noted in the album’s promotional materials. The album is a wild ride that is certainly worthy of a focused listen and could have even been an influence on later punk luminaries, as the song “Double Cross” has an eerily familiar chord progression and melody as Green Day’s “Welcome to Paradise.” The inclusion of the brand new single “Rocketfire Sex66” is a nice touch to accompany the rerelease roll-out as it fits in with the sci-fi album concept while also standing on its own. The track leans a bit more into a glam-power-pop vibe, proving that nearly 50 years later, the band still has plenty of ideas, energy and stories to tell. — WREN WERNER

“DUMB ENOUGH” BY MILO Twenty-five years ago, Elizabeth Elmore (Sarge, The Reputation) played her heart out to 15 people at The Bug Jar, then proceeded to drink me under the table. I remember little else — my first and, to date, last Garbage Plate was consumed — but do recall the unsung indie-rock great being bummed about the meager turnout. It’s 2026. We’ve got streaming platforms, social media and countless ways to discover music. Yet Rochester’s Milo — with a sixsong EP, “Dumb Enough,” that deserves an audience — could still slip through the cracks, I fear. So I’ll say this: ROCHESTER! PLEASE LISTEN TO MILO! There’s something charmingly economical about how these songs, which are so thoughtful, gorgeously structured and brimming with emotion, hit. On “Cumbies Moon,” for instance, Dana Osterling Benoit’s confidently sweet voice and vocals grab you immediately, before guitars erupt into a sizzling, satisfying crunch about a minute in. But just as you’re really starting to feel it, bam — over! “State Fair,” released before the EP, recalls the bittersweet, guitar-driven emo of San Diego fuzzpopsters Jejune and the aforementioned Sarge, with a dash of Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis (so many ’90s references; so good. These songs! They waste no time making a point, planting hooks, then getting the hell outta Dodge. I’d love for Milo to stretch things out or linger a bit on an instrumental passage. Maybe that happens live? Speaking of which, catch them November 13 at Bar Bad Ending. Benoit (also on guitar) trades vocal duties with guitarist Kirk Stevens, with their voices occasionally intertwining, notably on the track “Simon in the Pool.” Bassist Kate Rogers (Croix, Bad Bloom) and drummer Jono Benoit round out the recording. Melancholy permeates “Dumb Enough,” but it’s the kind that wraps you up in a hug from an old friend you hadn’t realized how much you’d missed until they’re suddenly holding you tight. — BRENDAN DABKOWSKI

“FEAR OF DEATH/DEATH OF FEAR” BY OVERHAND SAM & BAD WEAPON Singer, songwriter and guitarist Sam Snyder, also known as Overhand Sam because of his unorthodox way of fretting the guitar, has created an eclectic collection of songs with his band Bad Weapon. If you’re looking for the gritty rhythms of bristling garage rock and the Day-Glo palette of Britpsych with a contemporary twist, their new album is for you. The 37-minute palindrome titled “Fear of Death/Death of Fear” eschews the sometimes-sterile pop aesthetic and jamband posturing of what passes for rock music these days. These songs are a sci-fi flipbook of textured instrumentation, liquid riffing and the euphoric funk of effortlessly strange psychedelic rock. The record plays as one movement and recalls the days when listeners sought out albums that were cohesive artistic statements. Each kaleidoscopic power-pop piece flows vibrantly into the next, connected by sparkling ambiance and melancholy contrasts. The album hits hard from the spherical strains of the opening track “Spinning” through the harpsichord-heavy go-go groove of “Talking Mime.” The conceptually cool songwriting harkens back to proto-psychedelic bands The Pretty Things and Spirit, but with a little less blues and a bit more whimsy. Every cut is a sonic smorgasbord accentuated by analog Easter eggs and vocals that move from closely conversational to too far out. The album peaks with the disorienting rhumba of “1000 Dreams from Now” and the punk riffing of “As If I Might” that recalls guitarist Randy California’s laser licks. Sam’s bandmates, bassist Benton Sillick and drummer Dennis Mariano, are right there alongside him, racing down a wormhole together. “Fear of Death/Death of Fear” pulses with originality. It takes the listener somewhere unexpected as it departs from musical convention and embraces the intrepid spirit of experimentation. —STEPHEN LEWIS

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Using the whole ani EDUCATION

BY PATRICK HOSKEN PATRICK@ROCCITYMAG.COM

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odern culinary education looks much different than it did in 1951. That’s when Julia Child, one of the most famous and influential American chefs, graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Just over a decade later, she’d bring French cuisine to the masses as the host of public television’s “The French Chef.” But contemporary culinary schools don’t always need that kind of pedigree to produce top-tier, highly skilled and imaginative kitchen professionals. In fact, New York State has nearly 30 of them, but as expected, many are in the New York City area — close to some of the finest restaurants in the world, yes, but not always the most affordable options. That’s where community college programs can be a boon. In this region, the culinary arts curriculum at Finger Lakes Community College stands apart, and not just because it requires students to butcher a whole hog every fall. Although that certainly helps, according to program coordinator Jamie Rotter. “We pick up a whole hog from Bostrom Farms here nearby in Stanley, and the students will then use all the parts of that in various labs throughout the semester,” Rotter said. “They really get that firsthand experience of seeing this is how you take the pork belly off of the pig, and this is how you get the pork loin, and this is what this is all about.” That messy, necessary work will soon take place in new labs. The FLCC culinary arts program is on track to have a new home by late 2027. Construction has begun on a $24 38 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

FLCC’s culinary arts program expands its reach with a new, state-of-the-art facility.

imal

Ava Peacock of Bloomfield brings soup and appetizers into the Julia dining room. PHOTO RIKKI VAN CAMP

million facility along Lakeshore Drive in Canandaigua that will include two state-of-the-art kitchens, thus allowing Rotter to invest in two major areas that he often fields questions about regarding the program. First is a pastry kitchen boasting commercial-grade equipment, ready to welcome students seeking pastry coursework which, Rotter said, is very much its own discipline. He developed the curriculum with help from part-time faculty members who are also FLCC alumni and who asked students what they’d like to learn. And the second area of focus? Charcuterie — a passion for Rotter, who makes his own salumi, ham and prosciutto. “You hear people say, ‘I do charcuterie.’ It means they buy it at Wegmans and they arrange it on a tray. Well, good for you. I’ve been to Arkansas,” Rotter said wryly. “Making that stuff, the light really comes on for students, and then understanding the context: this is geared toward using the whole animal. That’s why all of this stuff was invented.” FLCC’s program will share the new building with local education nonprofit New York Kitchen and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County. The latter will offer classes on preserving, making jam and more agricultural elements, Rotter said. For New York Kitchen, it’s a matter of expansion. Executive director Alyssa Belasco said the new facility will double the handson kitchen space the organization has to offer for both public and private classes, demonstrations and beverage education. New York Kitchen opened in 2006 as the New York Wine and Culinary Center and, befitting its Finger Lakes location, still prioritizes wine education even as it offers beer and whiskey classes, not to mention its tasting room. “We also do more worldly wine education because we don’t want someone to think they’ve learned all that they can and go, ‘oh, I’m all set,’” Belasco said. “Our programming’s always evolving, so we want people to continue to come here as well.” New York Kitchen has partnered with FLCC on many fronts. Culinary

Adrian Petrakovsky of Farmington checks the temperature of entrees during a dinner event. PHOTO RIKKI VAN CAMP

students often work as education assistants for public classes or to learn more about the beverage side of the industry. Inside the tasting room, New York Kitchen has also sold studentmade wines created by those in FLCC’s viticulture program. Partnerships are essential to the continued success, Belasco said — for instance, drag events led by the tasting room manager have brought in an entirely new demographic. “While there’s the drag entertainment piece, they’re being introduced to local craft beverage while they’re here,” she said. “A lot of times, we have people that are continuing to come back and visit our tasting room because they felt welcomed and safe in the environment that we provide.” Gary Parmalee knows the value of the work done by both FLCC and New York Kitchen. After graduating from FLCC’s culinary arts program, he climbed the ranks at New York Kitchen, turning an internship into gigs as line cook, sous chef and eventually interim executive chef. Parmalee had a leg up thanks to Julia, FLCC’s student-run dining experience named for — who else? — Julia Child. “We’re fresh out of high school or a couple years removed from high school and trying to figure out life,” Parmalee said. “We landed in a culinary program where we were doing like 80 covers on a Friday night out of the FLCC cafeteria. It was a

really, really great experience.” Parmalee now works in food service operations for Byrne Dairy & Deli and remains tight with FLCC’s program as a member of its hospitality board. And he said he’s grateful for the opportunities, especially being able to help run a restaurant at barely 20 years old. That is, in fact, “the ball game,” as Rotter called it. In other words, it’s the distillation of the program to its very essence. “My seniors last night broke down a whole bunch of ducks, and they’ll use the bones to make stock,” Rotter said. “We take the back quarters and make duck confit, fold the duck confit into a risotto and then put a panseared breast on the top.” The fat from the duck cooks the confit, of course, and the skins get rendered into cracklings as a garnish. The takeaway is both richly metaphorical and also about as literal as it gets. “The lesson learned there is: utilize the entire animal,” Rotter said. “There’s nothing that’s behind that way, and to me, that’s an important message.” flcc.edu Patrick Hosken is CITY’s arts and culture reporter. He was formerly the music editor at MTV News and a producer at Buffalo Toronto Public Media.

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Take the scenic route Unexpected Finger Lakes spots worth a detour.

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ome tamales are so good, you’ll follow directions that start with “use the basement door” to satisfy a craving — the tastiest bites are often tucked just out of sight. Even better when there’s an option to pair that lunch or dinner adventure with a hike at Letchworth, a ski run down Bristol Mountain or a photo stop at the dramatic Chimney Bluffs. Just don’t ruin your appetite with too much trail mix along the way.

The decorated interior of Made In Mexico. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

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BY JACKIE PERRIN PHOTOS BY JACOB WALSH

Cooperativa Las Cazuelas facebook.com/coop.las.cazuelas Pickup only, Geneseo Tamales stuffed with chicken in salsa verde, sopes piled high with chorizo and potatoes and red sauce enchiladas topped with cilantro, red onion and cheese — there’s something new to look forward to each month at this Geneseo pop-up. Drawing from family recipes and the flavors of Oaxaca, Mexico, chef-owners Blanca Rodriguez and Juana Avendaño serve up a rotating menu of traditional favorites. Since 2019, Cooperativa has been preparing Mexican specialties at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Geneseo. On pop-up days, the cooking begins at 9 a.m. with ingredients purchased fresh the day before. “It is as if we are cooking for our own families,” Rodriguez said, adding that knowing customers eagerly await each month’s menu makes the work especially rewarding. “We like to think we are bringing a delicious part of our culture and traditions to their table.”

Someday, the menu may even include mole: a rich, complex Oaxacan sauce that generations of women in their families have taken pride in preparing. Each month’s menu includes a vegan option and everything is gluten-free. Rodriguez wants everyone, regardless of allergies, to enjoy the same sazón (the Spanish word for flavor). Drinks, sold separately and chosen to complement the food, change with the season, ranging from refreshing pineapple and watermelon drinks in summer to thick, warming corn-based atoles flavored with cinnamon and other aromatic spices in winter. Pop-ups are usually held the last Friday of the month, with pick-ups from 4 to 5 p.m. (And why not work up an appetite first? Letchworth State Park is a short drive away.) Follow Cooperativa Las Cazuelas on Facebook or Instagram for upcoming menus, or email coop.las.cazuelas@gmail. com to get on the mailing list. Menus and pre-order links go out about two weeks ahead.

Top: Tacos from Cooperative Las Cazuelas Bottom: Tamales are made by hand Inset: Enchiladas TOP PHOTO PROVIDED,

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BOTTOM & INSET BY THIRD EYE CATCHER PHOTOGRAPHY

S&S Kultura at Kusina filipinogrocerydelivery.com 14 Main St., Bloomfield

Part-Filipino grocery, part-restaurant and part-neighborhood hangout with karaoke, S&S Kultura at Kusina packs a ton of personality into its cozy Bloomfield space. Owners Shawn and Suzette Woodard dish up Filipino staples: savory chicken and pork adobo; smoky chicken and pork barbecue skewers served in bento boxes with rice and crispy lumpia (Filipino spring rolls); and sizzling sisig — a tangy, citrusy dish with Thai chiles and Vidalia onions. Then there’s pancit canton, their most popular noodle dish, tossed with chicken, shrimp and vegetables. When the weather cools, warm up with a Filipino hot pot, served steaming at the table on its own stand. Choices range from hearty noodle soups to traditional Filipino favorites. Shawn said the hot pots are a hit with customers rolling in after outdoor adventures. Despite its fancy-sounding name, S&S Kultura at Kusina is a casual spot where

Top: The Filipino Barbecue plate (sold as a Bento box meal) is served with rice and lumpia (Filipino Egg Roll). Chicken and pork pictured here. Middle: Sisig is a sizzling dish featuring Thai chile, vidalia onion, mayonnaise and an egg. Bottom: Some of the snack selection in the grocery section of S&S. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

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hiking boots are welcome, whether you’re exploring local trails or stopping in after a day at nearby Bristol Mountain. Don’t skip the halo-halo, a technicolor mountain of shaved ice, ube (purple yam), vanilla ice cream, palm fruits, jellies, rice flakes and homemade flan, topped with condensed milk and a drizzle of caramel sauce. “Halo-halo” means “mix-mix,” and yes, that’s a cue to take your spoon and stir it all up before digging in. Shawn makes the flan himself, and some folks swing by just for dessert. Keep an eye on Facebook for weekend specials, too — Suzette often has something cooking that isn’t on the regular menu. Shawn is quick to credit his wife, calling Suzette “the brains and the drive behind this whole venture.” Seating is limited, and everything is made to order, so call ahead (257-5006), or order online for takeout. S&S Kultura at Kusina is open Wednesday through Sunday.

Made In Mexico madeinmexicomenu.com 6564 Route 88, Sodus

At Made in Mexico in Sodus, the handmade corn tortillas arrive at the table tucked into cheerful fabric warmers. They’re perfect for scooping up creamy refried beans that are served alongside chile rellenos (cheese-stuffed poblano peppers topped with red salsa). Pro tip: save a tortilla for those last, glorious bites. Sisters Gricelda and Fabioala Aguilera started this family run spot, channeling the flavors of Michoacán into every dish. If it’s your first visit, Gricelda recommends the steak tacos or green enchiladas as classic, crowd-pleasing picks. Feeling bold? Go for a pambazo, a Mexican sandwich stuffed with chorizo and potatoes, piled with shredded lettuce, green salsa, sour cream and Mexican cheese, all tucked into a roll coated in red chili sauce.

Beef Huarache (left) Birria tacos (right) Salsa verde. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

Friday specials rotate — sometimes it’s chicken or pork tamales, sometimes something else entirely. On Sundays, you’ll find menudo, a classic Mexican tripe soup. Gricelda wishes more people would try the pozole, a hearty hominy soup served with lettuce, lime and onion; perfect for chilly days. Gricelda makes most of the dishes herself, including those handmade tortillas, with just one other person helping in the kitchen. Her daughter said most customers are locals, but plenty of folks still haven’t discovered this hidden gem and Gricelda is genuinely grateful to everyone who visits. If you need one more reason to visit, Chimney Bluffs State Park and Brantling Ski and Snowboard Center are both nearby. Made in Mexico is open Wednesday through Sunday. Dine in or order takeout online. Jackie Perrin is a regular contributor to food, travel and business media.

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Dave Calus

Dylan Crary

A series about searching for connection by way of chance. by Robin L. Flanigan photos by Michael DeMaria How it works: In a public place, a stranger chooses a cardinal direction, rolls a die three times (each roll is a distance in miles), and draws two slips of paper — marked “left,” “right,” or “straight” — from a baggie. I map out a route with the results, and chat with someone on the other end about life. Each stranger offers a message to the other, bringing the venture full circle.

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A

s I approach Dave Calus at Elvio’s Coffee on Empire Boulevard, he is unsuspecting; typing away on a manuscript he’s had an on-again, off-again relationship with since 2016. When he hears I’ve selected him for The Random Route, the 55-year-old senior recruiter from Webster raises his pecan latte, welcoming the distraction and the chance to control my short-term destiny. After the father of three completes his tasks, I have mine: Head east one mile, then turn left. Drive six miles, then turn right. Drive four miles, then stop. His message for the person on the other end: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and don’t forget to breathe.” Back in the car, the first few directions go swiftly. But if I don’t want to drive into Lake Ontario (I don’t), I need to make an adjustment and turn right onto Lake Road after three miles instead of six. I assure myself that the minor detour is OK, that there can be tweaks along the way if absolutely necessary. Soon, I’m passing sign after sign for Webster Park, and I get a bit cocky. It’s a gorgeous autumn afternoon, and with the park spanning 550 acres, it will be a cinch to find someone to talk with once it’s time to pull over. Oh, the naivety — mostly because I’m persnickety about details (see: Lake Road), especially when I’ve designed them. When the odometer flips to 4.0, I have a conundrum. Yes, the park sprawls to my right, and there likely are plenty of hikers I could ambush — nicely, of course — on its trails. But there’s not a soul in sight. On

the other hand, to my left is a lake house; the gate is open, and there’s a construction worker there for the cornering. After a firm pass from him and the homeowner, I backtrack one-tenth of a mile to a lodge, where a Paychex employee picnic is breaking up. A man in the crowd seems genuinely intrigued and commends the concept for a bit. Unfortunately, he is eager to head back to the office and eventually declines. (I nominate him for “Employee of the Month.”) This is when I spotted 39-year-old Dylan Crary, a parks supervisor. He has no choice but to stay on the grounds. Captive audience? Thank goodness he’s easygoing and agrees to chat; he just needs to lock up the lodge real quick. When he returns, we sit at a picnic table, where he takes me back to his 20s. Crary never wanted kids. Not even a dog. Too much responsibility. His plan was simple: Once out of the Army, he’d land a job that paid enough for a small house, car, and cell phone. What wasn’t in his plan? That his life would change at 27, on a routine Friday night at Salinger’s. That’s when, at the East End bar, he talked with a woman he would start dating three months later. Crary dated Allie for seven years before they married. He knew she wanted children; she knew he didn’t. Allie won. “She was very into it, and I very much was into her,” he recalled. “She’s smarter than me, so I kind of just went with it— and I’m very happy I did. We now have two beautiful kids.”

Camille is three, and Reed is one. Crary smiles when he talks about them, about how he picks them up from daycare after work and they’re always “super pumped” to see him. In return, they’ve brought him perspective and made him feel centered. Between the little ones and his wife, Crary appears to be living quite the love story. What was Allie’s secret sauce? He says she constantly comes up with ideas for how to meet other people’s wants and needs. “She always has one loaded for any situation,” he said. I’m curious what Crary would tell his younger self. “Oh, that was a lifetime ago,” he said. “I guess it would be to keep an open mind, and that there’s no rush.” “And what’s your message to the stranger who sent me here?” Because I stay mum about that stranger, Crary doesn’t know anything about Calus or his message just yet — certainly not that the aspiring author is newly back at work on a book he has been circling for a decade. Crary is quiet for a few moments, staring at an empty playground, before answering: “Just keep going.” Robin L. Flanigan is a national award-winning freelance journalist and author of five books, most recently “Secret Rochester: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure.” She embraces her weirdness, tries her best to be wonderful and works hard to avoid obscurity.

roccitymag.com CITY 45

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A visual culinary education from the couch.

TV to table FILM & TV BY JOHANNA LESTER

T

he kitchen cabinets in my childhood home were filled with weathered cookbooks, the drawers jammed with recipes clipped from the local newspaper. Countless hours of PBS included episodes of “The French Chef ” and “Yan Can Cook,” which paved the way for my teens and 20s, when I jotted down ingredients from episodes of “America’s Test Kitchen” and Food Network shows of varying pedigree. Now that the air in Rochester has started to chill, it can only mean two things: sweater weather (another topic for another time) and indoor cooking season. Whether you’re looking to source recipes or while away some hours eating takeout as a seasoned professional crafts a four-course meal onscreen, these gustatory TV shows, available on various streaming platforms, offer a seat at the table. TRAVELERS WELCOME

Through nine seasons of “No Reservations” and 12 seasons of “Parts Unknown” (and a couple of other shows of lesser renown), the late Anthony Bourdain scoured the world for the best and most interesting dishes, drinks and conversations. It was never about famous chefs or buzzy restaurants — although he had plenty of knowledge about and connection to those, too. He was interested in culture and heritage, why a cold beer on a scorching hot day was impossible to beat and why hand-pulled noodles from a roadside stand taste better than a five-star dining experience. With his tragic death in 2018, we lost a true original, someone for whom food was life and love and calling. He always had the noblest of intentions, and 46 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

making something yourself (pretty sure she’s kept Tate’s Bake Shop cookies in business singlehandedly) and is sincerely interested in properly preparing food as she instructs her audience how to do the same.

because he never wavered in showing his truest self on camera, these shows remain timely and relevant rewatch after rewatch. BATTLE ROYALE

When it debuted in 2006, “Top Chef ” was an island mostly unto itself. The reality cooking competition landscape has changed drastically since then, but “Top Chef ” remains. There are, of course, middling seasons, annoying sponsored challenges and infuriating contestants (as expected when you’ve been on the air for nearly two decades), but it’s still a riveting, entertaining ride season after season. It’s emotional, funny and instructive — and the chefs, at various stages of their careers, are almost always able to produce extraordinarily good-looking dishes under mostly impossible (to me, a person who requires more than 30 minutes to decide what to make for dinner) circumstances. Pack your knives and go (to your living room and watch an episode straightaway). AN IN-TENTS APPRECIATION FOR NICENESS

Sometimes you want your cooking shows to be riveting and fraught, and sometimes you need them to be as calm and soothing as a cup of hot tea. Enter “The Great British Bake Off” (or “The Great British Baking Show” in the U.S. and Canada because of copyright reasons). Gathered under a tent, a group of amateur bakers vies for the absolutely cherished-yet-quaint “Bake Off” cake plate trophy. Each week is themed, with each episode structured around three challenges: signature (typically a classic British baked good), technical (baking a seemingly well-known item without the benefit of a proper recipe) and showstopper (exactly as it sounds). The goal is to be crowned Star Baker

CHILD’S PLAY

of the episode and, for some, to obtain a “Hollywood” handshake from dayone judge Paul Hollywood — the importance of which has grown annoyingly sought after in recent years (don’t email me, you know I’m right). Other judges and hosts have come and gone (Mary, Mel, Sue, Prue: we miss you most of all), but current hosts Noel Fielding (also a welcome presence since day one) and Alison Hammond have given the somewhat thankless task of cheerleader-slash-timekeeper a patina of comfort and charm. HOW EASY IS THAT?

No one vets a recipe quite like Ina Garten, better known as “The Barefoot Contessa.” Like Julia Child (more on her below), Garten moved from a career in government to teaching the less culinarily inclined general population how to cook. She’s owned a popular store in the Hamptons, published a baker’s dozen of cookbooks and filmed nearly 300 episodes of her cooking show for Food Network (which has since branched off into several tangential shows, including one that currently airs, “Be My Guest”). Some of her hosting tips may seem basic (fresh flowers! get the good cheese!), but she knows from what she speaks. She batches a mean cosmopolitan, assures you when store-bought is fine versus

We’ve yet to have another cooking personality who so fully infiltrated the public space and consciousness quite like Julia Child. Her time as “The French Chef ” on PBS launched Child into our living rooms in 1962, changing the landscape of cooking-astelevised-entertainment forever. Even if you’ve never watched an episode (which you can remedy at once via the PBS Passport app) or picked up a copy of her “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” you know of Child. She was parodied memorably in the late 70s on “Saturday Night Live” by Dan Akroyd — an early sign of pop culture celebrity (and an impression she was allegedly quite fond of ). In 2009, Child’s legacy hit the big screen in “Julie & Julia,” written and directed by Nora Ephron (who knew her way around a recipe), featuring a love letter performance from Meryl Streep as Child, with Stanley Tucci portraying Child’s devoted husband, Paul. Child’s essence came back to television in 2022 in the lovely but short-lived eponymously titled show, “Julia,” on HBO, where, in two short seasons, we’re given a front-row seat to how Child (played by Sarah Lancashire) came to public TV and the many executives, producers and home cooks she won over along the way. Johanna Lester is a pop culture critic who mainlines movies, TV and the best cookies Rochester has to offer. She’ll also hold that grudge on your behalf. Follow her @theauntjojo.

roccitymag.com CITY 47

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The Dish WHET YOUR PALATE

Fina Pasticceria, an authentic Italian bakery, will open soon on Liftbridge Lane in Fairport. SKYE Social will open in the former ONE Nightclub location, 1 Ryan Alley, by end of the year. And Double Chocolate Crepes & Waffles quietly opened on Monroe Avenue in September, featuring a menu of coffee, waffles and crepes and ice cream (don’t sleep on the Biscoff waffle stick). East Roll Fusion opened in late July in the former location of Flavors of Asia, at the corner of Meigs and South Clinton. Babycakes Bakeshop, the bakery from Alexxis Ellison who hosted Cake Fest ROC at Highland Park the last two years, has opened a storefront location at 3141 State St. in Caledonia.

SMÜ Cafe + Market has relocated a few miles to 2536 Rochester Rd. in Canandaigua and now offers a breakfast and lunch menu in addition to house made smoothies, coffee and snacks. Rimal Coffee House opened

48 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

FOOD AND BEV NEWS, GOSSIP, AND GATHERINGS CURATED BY LEAH STACY

in mid-October beneath Butler/ Till at 260 E. Broad St., featuring a sprawling floor plan, Yemeni coffee menu and colorful rotating pastries. Across town, the Sicilian-inspired (think almond flavors) Avola Cafe has opened at 2501 Browncroft Blvd. in Penfield. Peppermints Restaurant in Avon has closed and is now Brick Diner, reopened by former Peppermints owner Chris Hetelekides, who came out of retirement, and much of his original crew. Wegmans has closed Amore, its Italian restaurant in the downtown East Avenue store, after 13 years — the company cited a lack of guest traffic as the primary reason. Seasons Noodle, which recently relocated to the Merc on Main, is closing as Chef Yan takes another opportunity in Washington, D.C. It will be replaced by Maishokupan, an eatery featuring Japanese milk breads, sandos and pastries. Bespoke Rochester, which dubs itself “a private culinary experience, driven by the chef,” will soon open at 358 Averill Ave. in the building that once housed Pat’s Coffee Mug. Sarah Farmer, formerly of Farmer’s Creekside in LeRoy, and Chris Cullen, the chef behind Finger Lakes popups Work in Progress and LIDO, are helming the project.

FOR THE LOCAVORES

Voice Wine, a natural wine club founded in Chicago by Rochester native Jahmahl Pardner, has opened another chapter here in town. The club focuses on small, independent producers (and will have plenty to draw from in the Finger Lakes…) and also hosts invite-only parties and events for members. The club is currently waitlisted; sign up at voicewine.com.

FOOD FÊTES

The Commissary, Rochester’s food incubator in the Merc on Main, will host a Friendsgiving fundraiser event at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10 — meet more than 25 local food

entrepreneurs, sample their creations, tour the shared kitchen and experience live cooking demos. Tickets are $50 and include two drinks and gourmet samples. Take a quiz, have dinner with five strangers — that’s the idea behind The Finger Lakes Effect Dinner Club, which hosts monthly dining meetups at a Finger Lakes location revealed the morning of the event. Each diner is seated at a table with five other compatible people, and all the tables converge after dinner at a secret afterparty location. The next two dinners are Thursday, Nov. 19 in Geneva and Thursday, Dec. 19 in Ithaca; sign up at fingerlakeseffect.com.

AN ADVICE COLUMN FROM CITY MAGAZINE

Dear Maggie,

I

went on a coffee date, and it was going well until I noticed he didn’t tip! I was a server in college, so it definitely raised an eyebrow when everything else up to that point was perfect. Some of my friends said it was a huge red flag; that they would never date someone who couldn’t even give a dollar. Others said tipping culture has gotten out of control and they don’t think it should be a dealbreaker. Even though I want to see where this goes, I don’t want a boyfriend who stiffs servers on the check. Is it too early to bring it up? Sincerely, Coffee Confidential

Dear Coffee Confidential, This is such a hot topic, I wouldn’t be surprised if folks wrote in on both sides, either to say this guy is the scum of the earth or a beacon of common sense. Either way, tipping evokes some strong (and conflicting) opinions. Once, I shared a hotel room with a friend and left money on the nightstand for housekeeping. The friend handed it back to me in the car, thinking I had just forgotten the cash. We had an interesting conversation about how, to me, it was common sense that you tip your housekeepers. They clean the toilet you used! My friend had never heard of that, but always tips servers. Some people use a calculator to figure out the gratuity down to the penny, while some just double the tax and add a few extra bucks. Your date is not an anomaly, as Pew Research reported in 2023 that roughly 25% of people don’t tip for a coffee. Ultimately, we all draw imaginary boundaries for our lives and our wallets, and we shouldn’t judge each other based on who selects 10% instead of 20% at the register. So let’s take a step back from the edge. He didn’t skip on the check (or make you pay, ew), he just didn’t drop an extra dollar in the jar. Early dating is not the time to bring up finances, but you do want to test your chemistry and compatibility.

Ask him about his hobbies, passions and future goals, but wait until you know if you want to see him regularly before you start auditing his spending habits. There are worse things you could discover about his personality (ask him who he voted for). If you’ve hit it off and made it past the first month, you could bring a few dollar bills to the next coffee date and casually say, “You always pay, let me get the tip” and see what happens. From my perspective, you’re really asking if he’s generous and shares your values. This early in the game, that’s something worth getting an answer to — but better done through conversation and observation. Does he always pick up the tab? Does he give his time freely? Is he thoughtful when it comes to his family and friends? What about when it comes to you? Is he respectful toward the people who serve him? Is it just coffee, or does he not tip as a rule? (Because that would be an issue.) Don’t write him off just yet. Pay attention to how he treats people and whether his values line up with yours. Then decide whether or not to say, “Check, please!” xoxo Maggie

SEND YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS TO MAGGIE@ROCCITYMAG.COM. roccitymag.com CITY 49

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Answers to this puzzle can be found on page 33

Anatomy of a Composition PUZZLE

BY S.J. AUSTIN & J. REYNOLDS ACROSS 1. Fireplace remnants 6. Gorillas and gibbons (but not monkeys) 10. José Andrés and Martin Berasategui 15. Perks (up) 19. “_____ to break it to you” 20. The “T” of S.A.T. 21. Potter, e.g. 22. A light bulb, in comics 23. [Thanksgiving dish that is an excuse to eat gravy, served with 71-Across] 26. Word found in several national capitals 27. Worker with a blank nametag, maybe 28. Dback or Nat, e.g. 29. Philosopher from 6-Down whose teaching methods were questionable? 31. Vision: prefix 32. Vitamin Shoppe competitor 34. Midterm, e.g. 36. Refusals 37. Waxing and waning 40. Sick as _____ 42. Org. for abandoned animals 46. Calls for help from the control tower 49. [Thanksgiving dish that is an excuse to eat butter, served with 71-Across] 53. Operatic features 54. Arid 55. Jots down 56. Have a bite 57. Media watchdog agcy. 58. Concert souvenirs 60. “Gift” for a chatterbox 63. UK network 64. Bath: Sp. 65. English politician May 67. Arabic for “the greatest desert” 69. Path in China? 71. , or a hint to the wacky answers in 23-Across, 49-Across, 95-Across, and 123-Across 77. Snowden’s agency, for short 50 CITY NOVEMBER 2026

78. Shells out

99. Oysters’ gems

79. Charge a partial amount

100. German Nobelist Herman

80. Spy

101. Make a lion noise

83. Folksy denial

102. Let up

85. RR stop

104. Alpo rival

86. Bank’s claim on a property

107. Native to

87. Mai _____

109. Seminary study: Abbr.

88. Charged particle

110. Syllables that match “Twinkle, twinkle” or “Baa baa black sheep” in a song with the same tune

89. Not intoxicated 91. (Surprisingly) colorless gas 93. Strand during winter 95. [Thanksgiving dish that is an excuse to eat fried onions, served with 71-Across]

114. Rose Bowl Stadium locale 118. Govt. dietary suggestions 120. Dramatic scene 122. Plays, or parts of a play

123. [Thanksgiving dish that is an excuse to eat marshmallows, served with 71-Across] 126. Former transportation secretary Elaine 127. Bird that looks similar, but is not related, to a heron 128. Castro who succeeded Castro 129. Pontiac vehicle produced in Mexico from 2001–2005 130. Adjust the space between characters in a font 131. Where to say “I do” 132. Point on a vane in Spain 133. Kisses from 108-Down

DOWN 1. “We _____ please” 2. Like a new knife or new haircut

62. Article of clothing that becomes a fruit if you remove its middle letter 64. Danish pioneer of quantum physics

3. Goes after

66. Jonathan Larson musical based on La Bohème

4. African nation whose official name begins “Federal Democratic Republic of”

67. Fuel additive brand

5. Label that can indicate you’ve been left on read 6. Site of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896 7. Gravel size often used in home aquariums 8. “30 for 30” broadcaster 9. Vestment for a priest 10. Sham 11. Beanie or beret 12. Greek equivalent of Cupid 13. Refrigerant trademarked by The Chemours Company

68. O-line members 70. Miseries 72. “No fooling!” 73. Neat as _____ 74. Four-bagger 75. Online shopping, familiarly 76. Items of horse tack 80. Heavy exhale 81. What you might do over a cookbook? 82. Change for a five 84. 1972 treaty subj. 86. Rock, to paper

14. Restaurant supply giant

89. Golf’s “Slammin’ Sammy”

15. Spanish artist who was deeply inspired by 24-Down

90. Shingled surface

16. Fix errors

92. Cease

17. Shoe-loving cat of picture books

94. Cause or accelerate a chemical reaction

18. Claims

96. Boomer of the NFL

24. “The Dance Class” painter

97. Blockade

25. George W. Bush or Willie Nelson

98. Wear away

30. Raises

99. Rice dish

33. Turns over

103. Avoid going to trial

35. Time after e’en

105. Pilgrimage destination in Islam

38. Certain bistro employee

106. Growl with bared teeth

39. Title for a knight

108. One caring for una bebé

41. Adjective redundantly added to “pandemic”

111. Headphones maker founded by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine

43. Court declaration

112. Small part for a big star

44. Scottish tribe

113. Dawns’ counterparts

45. Concerning

114. Fill a suitcase

46. Vessels for rapids

115. Post-workout muscle sensation

47. Prefix with -tect

116. One of at least 100 billion in the Milky Way

48. Finely chopped 50. Cancels 51. Place to bet on the ponies, in brief 52. What you might get from a professor or a dean 54. Pinniped 59. ¿Habla _____? 61. What you might need to finish this puzzle

117. Med. sch. course 119. Mmes. of Madrid 121. Tell a secret 124. Genetic code carrier 125. LGBTQ lifestyle magazine

52 CITY NOVEMBER 2026