One bakery reopens, another closes temporarily

Hello friends,

The past week or so had some ups and downs when it came to our beloved bakeries.

Georgie's Bakery and Cafe has reopened at 857 S. Clinton Ave. It's not far from Highland Park, if you're in the neighborhood for the Lilac Festival.

Georgie's is probably best known for its Cubans; its front window declares it has the "Best Cuban Sandwich in Upstate New York." I don't know if it's the best, having not tasted every Cuban in Upstate New York, nor will I claim that it's particularly authentic. But it sure is delicious, and large.

The bakery was closed for six months due to the health issues of owner George Ruiz. I'm glad to see they are back in business. Here's more.

Sadly, a different bakery has closed for much of the summer, also for health reasons. Goodman Bakes , whose delicious granola pie I mentioned in my newsletter last week, is closed until Aug. 1 . When I touched base with owner Lucas Santiago, he said he couldn't make granola pies fast enough in the week leading up to Mother's Day. If you ordered one, I hope you enjoyed it. If you were holding off, he'll be back in August and I'll see you in line.

Best things I ate this week

Here are the best things I ate this week, on and off the job.

A chicken arepa at The Empanada Shop in East Rochester. I do love an empanada ― who doesn't? ― but I couldn't stop eating the chicken arepa at this new restaurant . Pulled chicken was enlivened with peppers, loads of garlic, a bit of spice and lots of stringy cheese, and piled between a split cornmeal cake. It was delicious and enough food for two meals.

Fish and chips from The Union Tavern , across the street from Seabreeze. These reminded me of childhood fish sticks in the best kind of way. I picked up the strips of beer-battered cod and dipped them in tartar sauce. I think this preparation has more crispiness in every bite than the Rochester-style giant haddock! My friends who ordered a classic fish fry were happy with their selections as well.

Lilac Festival scents and flavors

On Tuesday my friends, husband and I headed to the Lilac Festival to take in the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. It was a fabulous concert, rain and all. A benefit of the rain: we had the lilacs almost entirely to ourselves. They are past their peak, but they still smell heavenly and you can still find some bushes in bloom. If you can, make your way to Pinetum Drive, off of south Goodman, to see the azaleas, which are gorgeous right now.

As for food, we shared a bit of this and that: a blooming onion, a dish of Abbott's frozen custard and fried dough. I to have to give the nod to Neno's Gourmet Mexican Street Food , though, which is serving in the food tent. Our fish tacos were freshly prepared, beautifully presented and full of flavor.

Neno's is one of three food trucks that will appear in the show Carnival Eats on the Cooking Channel. The show taped last weekend; our social media reporter was on hand but was told she couldn't shoot video, so sadly we have no behind-the-scenes scoops to share.

The Lilac Festival continues through May 19; I highly recommend seeing the fabulous Danielle Ponder on Thursday evening if your schedule allows.

One more thing pertaining to the Lilac Festival: I hope you had a chance to read Kayla Canne's lovely story about Rochester's plein air artists . Marili Vaca also did a beautiful video on the D&C Instagram page. I actually joined the plein air artists on the day Kayla and Marili were in the park for the story. I'm a newbie to this kind of thing, and found that creating art from real life with the hubbub of Highland Park around you is much harder than it looks.

Scroll down for this week's food headlines and I wish you a delicious week!

Tracy Schuhmacher, food, drink and culture reporter

Feel free to forward this to a friend. If you'd like to subscribe to this newsletter, sign up here .

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: One bakery reopens, another closes temporarily