2011 Am Worlds

[Tom McManus]

I am not sure who is going to Am Worlds, but thought the following might be interesting.  One of our assistants grew up in Rochester so I forwarded her the link about Am Worlds in Rochester.  Here is her response:

Yup, I actually know most of them very well...

Frontier Field is really nice and if you like baseball the Rochester Minor League team, the Red Wings, play there.

I don't know about your eating habits, but I'm going to warn you now about garbage plates at Nick Tahous'. It's a layered "plate" where it's home fries and macaroni salad on the bottom layer, then either 2 hotdogs or 2 burgers on top of that and then a meat sauce to top it off...pretty much looks like it's named but people in Rochester are addicted to them (myself included). Dinosaur BBQ in one word is amazing, best bbq sauce ever, but I would advise to go there for lunch not dinner because on a Friday or Saturday night there's at least a two hour wait. Abbotts is also really good and they give you a ton of frozen custard for a cheap price. Also if you like sweets, you have to go to Savoia's Pastry Shop (2267 Clifford Ave) they make the best Italian cookies and they also make pepperoni bread that is amazing.

I would say the House of Guitars is one of my favorite places in Rochester, it's a huge music store where there's music memorabilia all over the walls and ceiling and then they sell all kinds of records, CD's, and musical instruments.

The Strong Museum of Play is really interesting and they have some fun exhibits, but it is geared toward children...there also is the Rochester Museum and Science Center that's downtown that has interesting exhibits as well, yet again geared more toward kids but also has some neat historical exhibits and also a planetarium.

The George Eastman house is a must see, it's a gorgeous Colonial mansion especially during the summer there's a beautiful garden in the backyard and it goes through the history of Kodak, as well as it's a photography museum so they always have interesting photography exhibits going on. High Falls is downtown as well, right near Frontier Field, and is a really pretty spot too.

The Erie Canal runs all through Rochester but, in Pittsford, NY, a suburb of the city, their downtown area has a canal walk (which actually runs from Genesee Valley Park) and fun shops to check out as well.

I don't know if you're going with your wife, but some places for her to check out for shopping are Craft Company #6 (which is right by the George Eastman house) and Parkleigh, which is on Park Avenue, that is a main street downtown and has a lot of interesting shops and restaurants.

Finally, and this might sound silly, but you must go to Wegman's. It's the grocery store chain in Rochester and it is an institution there. It actually was named Forbes #1 Best Company to work for in 2005, and has been in the top ten for the last ten years. I cannot say enough about how amazing Wegman's is; you just have to experience it for yourself.

Sorry for the lengthy e-mail...if you haven't already noticed I pretty much adore Rochester and am excited for you to check it out, hope this helps!

Sounds like a good time.

[Steven Jacobs]

Thanks for the post! Sounds Yummy.

[Jon Brakel]

I would stay away from the garbage plate while playing competitively. I used to work at Rochester Wire and Plastic binding on the 2nd shift and I'd head to the original Nick's (which I think is closed now) at midnight on some nights and get a garbage plate to go. The combination of spice and grease would leave me with some pretty good heartburn well into the next day.

I did some volunteer work at Strong Museum. Since I was a printing major at Rochester Institute of Technology I was put to work doing the text graphics for their changing displays and events. At that time the museum had some good leadership but were seeking an identity and a direction. It was fun to see a museum from the backside but this place looks nothing like it did when I was there. It was then known for its doll collection but I worked mostly on the local history wing. Looks like they took that doll collection and made that their base as a museum. Looks like it would be a lot of fun!

House of Guitars was the place to go back when we still played vinyl. It was like taking a look through the basement or garage of someone that hoarded vinyl records. They had stuff that even they didn't know that they had. They used to have the usual sorted music in stand-up bins but then they'd have just as much in piles on the floor and on tables. Record avalanches were common. It was something that I have never seen before or since. House of Guitars continues to be a throw back of how both record stores and guitar stores used to be before all the franchise music stores (most of which are out of business now) came along.

There were always great live music at the bars in Rochester when I was there. So much has changed that I'm sure they aren't the same anymore but Rochester has always been a little oasis for the performing arts because of such great corporate benefactors the city has. Eastman/Kodak, Xerox, Bausch + Lomb so hopefully there's still a lot of live entertainment.

Wegman's? It's a grocery store. Their new stores are of the "super store" variety but I think everyone in the Chicago area is familiar with the concept. In 1990 it was the first grocery store that I ever went into that had a full sit-down cafe in it. It served decent food also. But now that it is 18 years later I don't think they offer anything that you haven't seen.

[ziggy]

Roch. Inst. tech (RIT) is also home to the second largest "college" or postsecondary education for Deaf students.

I have some experiences there as a visitor and temp resident for some of the summers in years gone by

I would recommend
DiBella's (think a local flair of jimmy john/subway)
MacGregor's by RIT (basic pubgrub but tons of beers on tap)
Empire brewery (think goose island out by wrigley)