Chus On Chow

Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that we love good coffee and will go to some effort to find it in any city we visit. Given that we visit Rochester often and had a fairly disappointing experience the last time, we decided to check out a cafe that had been recommended to us by the friend of a friend: Cole & Parks in Victor, NY, some 20 minutes southeast of Rochester.

Cole & Parks is located in what used to be an old farm house that is now surrounded by a sea of auto-centric suburban strip-mall development. The building is lovely and the interior very pleasant, with rooms on both floors for sitting and relaxing. When you walk in, you are greeted with the sight of a variety of yummy fresh desserts and jars of delights such as lemon curd and Maine maple syrup. There is a giant espresso machine straight ahead and helpful people behind the counter further in to the right.

What there is not is any evidence of coffee actually being served there. And by that I mean there is absolutely no aroma of coffee!  It was the strangest thing I’ve ever experienced in a cafe, like some coffee-neutron-bomb had come in and killed the coffee smell, leaving just the black liquid and some people drinking it.

I asked the young lady attending us how many shots in their cappuccino, and was informed that there’s small, medium and large.  Huh?  She then explained that she pushes one button for small, one for medium, and one for large. Ah.

I asked for the large quantity of espresso but in half the usual milk, no foam. This she did, God bless her. (Some places you actually hear, “I can’t do that.” But that’s another story.) Dave got a regular cappuccino.  We also ordered an apple pie to share.

In short, the pie was delicious. The coffee was reminiscent of coffee – had a roasty flavor and a dark color in the milk, just the way I’d ordered it. But still there was no aroma! I stuck my nose right in the cup and inhaled deeply. No aroma of coffee. It was the dangdest thing. I know the suburbs can be a bit on the sterile side, but this was ridiculous!

Dave said that he was surprised by what seemed to be a pretzel flavor accord in his coffee.  He didn’t find this disturbing, though, and actually liked his cup of coffee.  He went on to say that when he pronounced the name of the cafe and thought about it, he found it slightly disconcerting.

So we’re still on the lookout for good coffee in Rochester. Makes this Syracusan kinda glad to call our wacky city home, given that we often smell coffee roasting just blocks away when we step out the door.