This past weekend I was in Rochester, NY visiting my best friend from high school. She has lived there for a year and I figured it was about time I visited. Everyone asked, "Why are you going to Rochester?" with a look on their face as if they just bit into a lemon. I found it was actually quite charming and beautiful! These next several posts are a snapshot of my weekend adventures!
After touching down at the Rochester airport and making a stop to see the university campus, we headed out to lunch. We grabbed a sunny, outdoor table at Magnolia Deli and Cafe on Park Ave. Our waitress was a bit short with us, but the menu looked so good and the patio was so beautiful we tried not to care.
We ordered the cheese fondue to start which came a bit separated in the bowl because the flame kept going out. We asked our waitress if we might be able to have the lighter to re-start the flame to which she answered, "It generally doesn't work outside. Too much wind. But I GUESS I could bring you the lighter." Um, yeah. Go ahead and do that Little Miss Sunshine.
She was right, the flame did repeatedly go out (despite our tower of bread to protect it) so we made do with the separated cheese. Thankfully the snacks for dipping were excellent - strawberries, raspberries, grapes, blueberries, green apple, bananas, oranges, pineapple and warm baguette.
For lunch I ordered the "make your own panini" with mozzarella cheese, tomato, spinach, roasted red peppers and balsamic vinaigrette. It came with Cape Cod potato chips and a pickle.
One dining companion ordered a very popular sandwich called "the rising sunflower" which is turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato and basil mayo on sunflower bread. This sandwich arrived to at least one person at all of the surrounding tables.
Minus the sub par service, the food at Magnolia was fantastic and the people watching from their patio is excellent. On a less busy day I'm positive the experience would have been perfect.
There were so many items on the Magnolia menu I wanted to try. I will absolutely have to go back!
