We were ordering late in the evening, and just went for a small meal and drinks.  The food was lobster mac and cheese, which I thought was a very nice idea, and it was as delicious as it sounded.  Bravo!  The rest of the menu looked very appetizing, too, and included some pretty creative selections.  Our server was extremely friendly and helpful.  We ordered port, and it was top quality.  Not a cheap meal, this is the Hyatt, after all, but very high quality and priced competitively with similar establishments, in our opinion.  Not only a nice place to eat while staying at the hotel, but it could be a nice option for a date, too.  The very center of Rochester’s downtown, which has suffered in recent years,  doesn’t offer much of this, so this is a welcome addition.  I’d typically recommend another neighborhood, such as Corn Hill, Park Ave., and so on, so it’s nice to have another choice.

We had breakfast the next morning in the restaurant as well, and enjoyed that, too.  We’re big coffee snobs, as anyone reading this blog will attest, but remarkably, their coffee passed muster.  When we read the name “Sustainable Omelet”, we laughed and decided to order it.  I was picturing an omelet held way up in the air by a giant crane.   I asked the server if it was really sustainable.  I must have sounded serious, as she simply said yes, even I thought I was pretty obviously smirking.  In any case, it was delicious, with some nice cherry tomatoes cooking lightly in oil, and very tasty herbed potatoes.

To me, the Hyatt brand implies a pretty fancy, posh hotel.  Indeed, you do get very responsive, even enthusiastic service.  The rooms are plush, with very high quality and color-matched decor.  Even the shampoo is really nice.  The customers are often well-dressed and cosmopolitan.  [apart from the kids that show up at breakfast looking stupid in their pajamas or other cheesy clothing, and I don't mean young kids, but ones that are old enough to drink and reproduce]  Given all that quality, I was irritated to find that this Hyatt did not offer free Wifi.  Even the cheapest motels offer this nowadays.  Yes, you can pay T-mobile for it if you want to.

I tried to imagine why they’d cheap out on this.  Possible reasons I thought of:

1. The economy sucks so bad that even high-end places are suffering.
2. Some bean counter just wants yet one more thing he can monetize, just like Barnes & Noble did until they got publicly pilloried.

Then it occurred to me that maybe the calculus was something like this:  nowadays “everyone” is using their IPhone/AT&T overpriced plan (or the like) to do their web surfing, so they aren’t using plain Wifi anyway.  In that scenario, maybe bean counters figure that if any outliers want to use it, Hyatt should spank ‘em for the privilege.  But wow, a Hyatt being stingy when they charge that much for their rooms?  I’ve got to believe that there are business travelers who might want to use their laptop for some work, research, surfing to look for restaurants, etc.

For the most part, though, we really enjoy the Hyatt when we’re in the mood to splurge and pamper ourselves.   Our kudos for the new restaurant.   I just won’t stay there when I need to do work, as I need access to the internet for that, and I don’t want to pay more than their usual fee for that.

We were enjoying a sunny day off last Monday in Rochester and were heading out for breakfast at the popular Highland Diner, but had talked about trying to find locally roasted coffee.  Purely by chance, I happened to notice the Boulder Cafe on Alexander St. as we drove by.  It looked as though it was good-sized, and its sign and decor seemed to indicate a good product and atmosphere, so we decided to stop.

The decor was the characteristically youthful and funky style you tend to find in city cafes, splashy paintings, posters, ironic paraphenelia from the second-hand store, you know the drill.  It was very spacious, with plenty of comfortable seating.  Then the fun ended.  We went to the counter to order, and were greeted with “what do you want?” by a young white brown-haired woman.  We were both brought up short by this noticeable brusqueness, but ordered anyway.  I’ve written elsewhere about some cafe staff being distracted and apparently resentful of having a menial job, but at least they usually manage to force out a “can I help you?” or “what can I get for you?”  Maybe rudeness is the new assertiveness, a way of sticking it to the Man.

By contrast, when our coffee was served, it was very good.  We sat down to enjoy it.  They have a large sound system there, and the music was pretty loud for a cafe.  I enjoyed some of it, such as Regina Spektor, but much of the other music was standard-issue angry indie dreck, which actually went well with the personality of our tough little barista.  We finished fairly quickly and left, instead of our planned leisurely sipping, reading, and snacking.

One could easily, and rightfully, say that everyone has a bad day, other staff are friendly, the music is normally not so loud in the daytime, and so on.  But as any restaurant or cafe owner knows, you only get one chance for a first impression, and we will not be going back.  If it had been something like an honest mistake, as opposed to deliberate rudeness, we might have been willing to try again another time.  Hey, if you like very good coffee and have no need for friendly staff or tasteful music volume, this could be your place!

We went on to have a nice breakfast at the Highland, and decided to go to our usual favorite cafe, The Spot.  Although the music was pleasant and the atmosphere good as usual, even they managed a couple missteps.  We nearly always order the pie there, which is delicious and served in generous portions.  There was none this time, so we opted for a couple of fruit tortes.  These looked nice, but proved to be very dry.  We turned them back in, and the staff member was kind enough to substitute lemon tarts, which were much better.  She said that they bring in the tortes every other day, but even two-days-old tortes should be in better shape than that.

The other thing was the men’s room, which smelled really nasty, and definitely needed a cleaning.  They had the door propped open, which may have been an attempt to air it out until some male staff member arrived?  Ouch.  So I wonder if they are starting to deteriorate, or maybe are undergoing cost-cutting measures.

Our search for a really great cafe in Rochester will continue on our next visit – with all the ones they have, there has to be one!

• Their coal-fired oven makes awesome pizza. It’s got a very thin crust that becomes nearly crispy. The flavors of the toppings are the star because they’re not being swallowed up in a inch of bread dough.
• The ambiance is fun, warm, friendly. The place is small, so we found ourselves sitting close to other humans (horrors!). If you don’t like feeling as though you’re in Europe, you’ll probably want to go back to Pizza Hut.
• The location at 288 Exchange Blvd. is great, on the Genesee river, right at the edge of the Corn Hill district, so nice for a stroll before or after stuffing yourself.  (This is only about three blocks from the Rochester Dinosaur Barbecue. Eat at Tony D’s, go dancing at the Dino – you can eat at the Syracuse Dino any time!)
• They have great wine and beer selections.
• You can get a seat at the counter overlooking the chefs’ station. Now that’s fun.
• The prices can’t be beat.
• Oh, and did I say the pizza was awesome? Don’t miss it. And for God’s sake, don’t complain about the bit of charring that makes this pizza unique. It’s part of the flavor profile. If you don’t like that, try a different dish. You will not be disappointed.

Now the last thing Syracuse needs is one more pizza joint. But I want to know if anyone in Syracuse can duplicate this pizza. I don’t require that you have a view of a river. Just get that oven incredibly hot and the crust thin and really crispy. For God’s sake, know what you’re doing with a pizza. Be from Brooklyn. 

A glass of good chianti or even a shiraz would make me happy, too.  Can anyone in Syracuse do this?