A few weeks ago, I asked readers where you can still get free restaurant bread in the greater Rochester dining area.
My questions were prompted by a story in The Atlantic magazine in which a writer recounted her search for the best free restaurant bread in the United States.
Rochester area readers responded with lots of tips. Though Adrian Leibovici of Brighton did recall a discouraging bread moment from a few years ago.
When asked, the owner of a local eatery looked down on him and said, “We don’t do bread.”
Ouch.
Still, other readers had more comforting thoughts, letting me know that restaurants here do free bread, perhaps not as many as before, but enough to satisfy most appetites.
Here are some of their suggestions, the restaurant name followed by the name of the recommender.
Veneto, as well as Lemoncello, both in Rochester, Hedges, Webster; The Yard of Ale, Piffard, Livingston County (Priscilla Brown).
Hurd Orchards, Holley (Mary Catherine Fenton, who also likes the Yard of Ale).
Polizzi’s Restaurant, Rochester (Norm Geil).
Proietti’s Italian Restaurant, Webster, Mr. Dominic’s at the Lake, Rochester (Mary Weber DiMonte)
Rocky’s, Rochester (Mary DiMonte and Jessie Lazerroff).Public Provisions, Rochester Public Market (Laurie Ammering)
Texas Roadhouse, Greece (Daniel Merritt)
Warfield’s, Clifton Springs, Ontario County (Debbie Amering)
Sherwood Inn, Skaneateles, Onondaga County (Michael Drew)
Fratelli’s, Lakeville, Livingston County, (Peter Kurau)
Fairfield’s Bar and Grill, Penfield (Caterina Leone Mannino)
Cosentino’s, Geneva, Ontario County (Patsy Hewes)
The number of Italian restaurants on the list makes sense, says Tracy Schuhmacher, the food and drink reporter of the Democrat and Chronicle. They are just doing what restaurants in Italy do. Good habits die hard.
The comments along with the recommendations varied, but we can extract some generalizations:1) Heat it up. Readers liked warmed bread. Catherine Leone Mannino noted that the bread at Fairfield’ s is “warm chewy, and fluffy, and made fresh several times a day.”
2) Mix it up. The Yard of Ale got two nominations, perhaps because it offers an assortment of bread.
3) Wrap it up. One reason that Jessie Lazeroff likes the bread at Rocky’s is that you’re encouraged to take home the bread you don’t eat.
4) Butter it up. Some readers shared my preference for butter, rather than olive oil, with bread. And the experience was even better for them if the butter came in a variety of flavors.
5) Summon it up. As I have written earlier, some people who wrote preferred breads from restaurants that are no longer on the scene.
“Unfortunately, the ‘Best Free Bread’ in Rochester is long gone,” wrote Bill Benet. “Roncone’s on Lyell Ave used to serve Veltre’s bread baked fresh right around the corner.”
‘A trip to heaven’
Speaking of bakeries, the Bond Bread bakery on North Street that I wrote about last month is also gone, but Tom Dolan remembers it well.
“I’m 80 years old and lived on Carter Street, about two or three miles from the bakery, as a kid in the ’50s,” he wrote. “My dad used to buy Bond Bread all the time as we had five kids in the family.
“Driving up North Street to the Bond bakery was like a trip to heaven for me as a kid. The scent in the air was intoxicating.
“Bond Bread also used to give out miniature loaves of bread to us kids in the neighborhood. They were probably 2 inches wide, 5 inches long and 2 inches high. I treasured those so much. It was a real thrill to receive them, and here I am at 80 and have never forgotten that thrill.”
Remarkable Rochesterian
I wrote last week of this groundbreaking physician. Let’s add his name to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at: https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/.
Dr. James Vincent Aquavella (1932-2026): A pioneering ophthalmologist and corneal surgeon, he brought sight to, or saved sight for, hundreds of patients, many of them children, even infants. A leader in transplanting small prosthetic lens into eyes that were either damaged or blind, he was also a mentor to surgeons from around the world. A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Naples in Italy, he was a resident at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and had several affiliations in Rochester before joining the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Ophthalmology in 1977. A patron of the arts, he was also the recipient of many awards.
From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott writes Remarkable Rochester about who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: No matter how you slice it, there’s bread in Rochester restaurants
Reporting by Jim Memmott, Special to Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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