Montgomery Court

 

Montgomery Court is a new coffee shop on the corner of Park and Colby (that east section of Park past Culver that’s mostly residential). I don’t drink coffee but they kept posting pics of breakfast foods so I started following them on ye olde IG. 

A while back I stopped in to try the one egg sandwich they had on offer so far - bacon, egg, and cheddar on a cheddar biscuit (left photo), but was unpleasantly surprised to find out that #1, it cost nine bucks and #2, the biscuit was generously flavored with thyme. The biscuit was large which I appreciated for a sandwich (most are tiny and makes holding it as a sandwich impossible) but this bigger size just threw the BEC ratio off. Too much bread and instead of tasting cheddar or aioli I just got thyme. This was early on and I like to suspend judgement while places are finding their groove. 

Last week they posted about a new sandwich that said all the magic words I want to hear: six dollars, NYC style hard roll, bodega vibes. Although the accompanying photo didn’t look like a NYC bodega sandwich I was intrigued! 

Yesterday I was out running errands with one of my kids so we worked a stop into Montgomery coffee to get breakfast. We each ordered The NYC, one with bacon and one with sausage. A few minutes later we got our food and headed to the tables outside (the booths were taken and although there is a bunch of tall tables in place, there is a zoning issue with allowing more indoor seating at the moment).

First impression was good: bacon hanging out the sides, cheddar melting everywhere. The roll still not looking like a hard roll, especially with the lil flat toasted cap, but I can appreciate stylistic differences. We dug in. Bacon was not too salty, a lil chewy, but flavorful. Hallie said the sausage was nothing fancy but good. Cheddar had some sharpness to it, and the egg was…well, a fried egg. Halfway through I wondered if they had forgotten the aioli but Hallie said she had just gotten to the aioli side of hers. I opened mine up and saw that the dollop was squarely in the middle, like a jelly donut. I kept eating and enjoyed the garlicky center. The roll was solid but but not stodgy and held up to breakfast sandwich standards. But this is no hard roll; Instead of a crusty outside (they don’t call them hard for nothin’) this seemed more like a butter soaked dinner roll. It was downright oily. If you can get past that, it’s a solid sandwich.

Montgomery Court

1241 Park Ave, ROC 14610

Sandwich cost: $6 for the NYC, $9 for the OG biscuit

Sandwich rating: You really can’t complain about a $6 sandwich (but that ain’t no hard roll)

DiPaolo Baking Company

Whelp, it's been a few years since I stopped posting and people keep asking me where to find the best egg sandwiches so I figured I'd get back to it. I've been eating and taking photos for the last couple of weeks but I figured I should anoint the return with something iconic, something notable.

If you've read the older posts you know that I am not a Rochester local (though I have lived up here for over 20 years now) so there was a steep learning curve to the differences in bread readily available in WNY as opposed to the greater NYC metro area I grew up in. After figuring out that a hard roll was a soft roll and that bagels (sometimes pronounced bag-gulls instead of bay-gulls here) were not a reliable commodity (more times than not a bagel is usually a breadel: a soft roll in a bagel shape, lacking any heft or shiny, chewy crust) I finally started to adjust to the local culture and see that I was looking for something that didn't exist - a bodega/deli egg sandwich on a kaiser roll (despite beef on weck being popular in these parts decent hard rolls are available, just not at breakfast time). Anyway, once I accepted that the standard roll for an egg sandwich was a hard roll made by DiPaolo's or Petrillo's bakery - a soft, twisted roll that can make a decent sandwich if it's grilled or toasted (but can compress down to a pancake if not) - I stopped my whining and embraced the local standard. 

Which brings me to today. I wanted to show my support for my adopted city and it's cheekily named hard roll and go right to the source for an egg sandwich. What a story arc! What a triumph! What a joke!

I was out bright and early this morning so I made my way over to Plymouth Ave shortly after seven to grab myself an iconic egg sandwich from the DiPaolo Baking Company. After circling the block and finding a seemingly legal spot to park I made my way inside. They supply numerous businesses with their baked goods and there were bags and bags of rolls and loaves waiting to be picked up. They have a bakery case and small counter for walk-ins and a sandwich board advertising an egg sandwich for $5.50 with either bacon or sausage. I was greeted warmly by the woman behind the counter and asked for a bacon, egg, and cheese, please. She walked back to a warmer holding a dozen foil wrapped bundles and asked me if I wanted a bagel or croissant. Bagel or croissant?!? I hesitated as I was dumbfounded that their signature roll wasn't on offer and before I could answer someone walked out of the back and said "Croissant!" The woman behind the counter chuckled and I panicked and said "bagel?" The guy proceeded to walk out the door and said, "See, I told you!" I was so confused. I paid my $5.50, grabbed my foil bundle and was wished a great day.

Once home I unwrapped the suspiciously light foil bundle; No bagel this size should weigh this little. The bread was so big that no egg, cheese, or bacon stuck out to tempt me. I lifted off the top half and saw that there was indeed a tidy patty of egg, cheese, and bacon in there. I put the lid on and took a bite. I was not feeling it; The bagel was not just a classic breadel but a mediocre one at that. I debated for half a second and realized life is too short to eat bad bread and lifted the melded contents off the sandwich and just ate that because I was hungry, not because it was good. The egg was a hard puck, probably microwaved. The cheese looked like white American (of which I will defend to any foodie) but lacked the usual oily creaminess. The bacon was the only thing that made this congealed pancake palatable: crispy and salty (and I probably would have just eaten the bacon if it wasn't glued onto the rest with the plastic cheese). So, bread was a confusing disappointment, egg and cheese were hard and dry, but the bacon was edible. Damn, not the triumphant return I imagined. 

DiPaolo Baking Company

598 Plymouth Ave, Rochester, NY

Sandwich cost: $5.50

Rating: Pure disappointment

Union Street Bakery

I had made plans to go to the Market with our Artist In Resident T. Foley for her last croissant in Rochester, but I had to bail at the last minute to meet the furnace repair man; Apparently, 30 years is pushing it for a gas furnace. I got to work around 11 and as I walked up the stairs I was greeted by the warm and comforting smells of breakfast. A welcome change from my cold house this morning.

When I got to my office door I saw the plastic bag hanging from the handle. BREAKFAST WAS WAITING FOR ME! I quickly made my way to my desk and opened up the bag and styrofoam container and was greeted by a hearty looking egg sandwich. I dove in while it was still holding on to the heat of the grill and it was fantastic! The fried egg and American cheese were melded together, the plentiful bacon was thick, salty and flavorful, and the roll was...an honest to goodness roll. Firm but supple, supportive but not unyielding. We should all have this in our lives. A few more frantic bites and it was gone.

I walked over to the studio and found Teresa (the aforementioned T.) to thank her for bringing back the sandwich after I cancelled on her. Our plan was to go to Flour City Bread Company to get her last croissant in town, but that's not where the sandwich came from. "Eh, they didn't have a sign and I didn't feel like asking so I went down to Union Street." She asked about the breakfast sandwich options which turned out to be either ham or bacon. "What's good today?"
"They're both good!"
"Chef's choice then!"
The guy behind the counter chose bacon and, as I mentioned, it was good.

I swear I tried the sandwich at Union Street early on in this venture and was sorely disappointed that the bread was a smushy hard roll so I've avoided it since, even though people have been suggesting I go there. I just assumed you were all nuts. My apologies. So, either my memory is confused or they decided to step up their egg sandwich game. Either way, I'd happily revisit this sandwich.

Thanks again, Teresa!

Union Street Bakery
4 Public Market, Rochester, 14609
Sandwich cost: $4.50 (we think)
Sandwich rating: That is a top-notch breakfast sandwich

Sonny's Landing

If you've been wondering if I've given up egg sandwiches we probably don't know each other in the real world. I certainly didn't give them up (though I may have been eating fewer in an effort not to get gigantic), but was too preoccupied with all the calamity of the past year to focus on much of anything else. With our new regime in place the need for comfort food is at an all time high. The search for the perfect egg sandwich resumes.

Past Mercy High School is a cute little neighborhood that I cut through to get to Penfield and other points east when I don't feel like getting on the highway. Last week I had to run to Home Depot and the breakfast pickings at home were slim. I've passed Sonny's many times thinking how curious it was placed in the middle of a residential block and figured this was the day I would try it.

I stepped in and stood beside and older man waiting for his food and chatting with a man at the grill. I looked up and scanned the massive menu board. It doesn't mention eggs anywhere - mostly burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and the usual sides and options that would follow. But it was just after 10 in the morning and I was pretty sure the other guy wasn't getting a cheeseburger. Noticing me, the man at the grill (presumably Sonny?) asked what I'd like. I inquired about getting a breakfast sandwich. "Sure, no problem. Want meat with that?" I did indeed and chose bacon. He went back to the grill to start mine and finish the other.

The man waiting for his sandwich and Sonny resumed their conversation about bees and plowing (separate topics) and I looked around. There were a handful of booths, a wall of beverage cases, but most notable the racks full of frisbee golf discs. Hundreds of them. Turns out, Sonny's has the largest supply of disc golf supplies in the country (according to their website). Who knew?! I drifted back towards the counter in time to hear the other customer say "It's amazing how people get their knickers in a twist!" With that he paid and headed out. A minute later my sandwich was done and Sonny brought it to the counter letting me know that egg sandwiches aren't on the menu but they serve them all day.

I got in my car and upon opening the foil bundle the air filled with the comforting smell of eggs and bacon. I snapped a photo and then dove in. I just expect the Rochester hard roll now so no disappointment to be had there, if anything, this seemed a little more firm than I remember them being. The filling was pure perfection; The egg wasn't cooked too hard and had a little run to it, but not messy, the white American cheese (there's a Trump joke in there somewhere) was very melty, creamy, and salty, and the bacon was crisp but not overdone. This was a solid sandwich but the generous shake of black pepper on the egg made it terrific.  This is exactly what I needed.

Sonny's Landing
Sandwich cost: $3.50
Sandwich Rating: That's a solid secret sandwich

Mise en Place

I've never been quite sure what to make of Mise en Place; When I've stopped in over the past 8 years it never seemed to be the upscale market they were going for and like the South Wedge, where they are anchored, it always promised to be up-and-coming (which is especially ironic given their name) but never seems to have arrived. Admittedly, Mise en Place has certainly made it to a respectable, upscale corner store.

Last week I was taking a tour of "gourmet" Rochester establishments and after sampling many sweets on South Ave we made our way to Mise en Place for lunch. I noticed they had a $3.50 breakfast sandwich and proceeded to order a bacon, egg, and extra sharp cheddar. I stopped to ask the nature of the hard roll and was told they were out of them. The woman behind the counter offered to put it on a section of Italian bread which sounded more than fine to me.

I took a seat in the dining area with other folks on our tour as the owner and chef, Casey Holenbeck, gave a short talk about the tragically named seasonal greens: ramps. When my sandwich arrived it looked respectable with its gooey cheese and overflowing bacon. I took a bite. The bacon was thick and salty, and just what I was looking for to counter cheesecake and chocolate for breakfast. The egg was a little hard but I didn't specify how I wanted it fried so no big deal, but the cheddar, oh man, the cheddar. I usually avoid ordering cheddar on egg sandwiches as diners tend to have the most flavorless cheddar on hand, but this was not that. Salty, creamy and sharp made this sandwich a cut above many. And the bread was good, too. Not sure if it was baked there (the sign near the deli counter says that everything is made in house) or if it was from Baker Street (they sell their loaves in the market area). Either way, firm but not tough, soft enough to eat a sandwich on but not flatten to nothing. This was a good egg sandwich.


Mise en Place
Sandwich cost: $3.50
Sandwich rating: An upscale sandwich at a downtown price

Shmeg's Restaurant

Well, it took over a year to get out to Gates to try Shmeg's,  - a contraction of Shawn and Meg who opened it - but last Sunday Karen and I were headed to points west and stopped in for a late breakfast.

We arrived at the tiny strip mall and were pretty sure we found it, though the handwritten logo is tough to read when you're driving. Since there was just two of us we grabbed counter spots overlooking the kitchen so we wouldn't tie up a table. We had a clear view of the prep table, the grills and could look to the other side at the small front dining room.

I'll try to sum up Shmeg's as concisely as I can: more is more. More smell, more food, more noise, more carved Americana plaques, more grunge, more hard to read handwritten type. The menu, an 80th generation photocopy of what looks like the napkin they first drunkenly brainstormed their offerings, was difficult to read at best, but I gleaned that their basic breakfast sandwich was the 2 Egg Chubby (There were sandwiches with up to five eggs in them, you know, in case you wanted more). We ordered our Chubbies with bacon, eggs over medium, Karen added home fries to hers for $1 and then we watched the kitchen as we waited.

If you're a fastidious person I would recommend not sitting at the counter at Shmeg's, you will have an aneurism. Plates flying, clouds of powdered sugar, new pancake batter being made on top of old. I like a good dive but for some reason I was just finding everything about Shmeg's off-putting. It was just too easy to picture Guy Fieri daring us to eat the 12" pancakes that were being plated. And frankly, the name's not doing them any favors, either.

After a bit of a wait our sandwiches were ready and they looked pretty good. Generous amount of bacon (more!) and a healthy looking house baked roll. I took a bite. Whoever grabbed my roll had recently grabbed a sticky bun and my first bite was an extreme mix of sweet and salty. I took a second bite and was thankful that the sugar was just on the edge. Now, for the positives: the eggs were cooked perfectly, not too hard, the runny yolk filling up the gaps between the eggs and bacon. Speaking of, that was some delicious, thick cut bacon. Not too salty, not over or under cooked. In search of the perfect egg sandwich roll I was excited to finally get to Shmeg's (sadly, the more you say it doesn't make it better) who bake their own bread. The roll was definitely good but a little too sweet for my liking, more brioche than Kaiser. Karen thinks I'm nuts and thought it was the best thing about the sandwich. She would also like for me to mention that the coffee was great. We both agreed that the potatoes were lackluster: not a crisp edge in the bunch and although seasoned, a little too heavily with dried parsley.

So, a good sandwich (which it should be for $6), mediocre home fries, and an environment that left us smelling like a deep fryer. Shmeg's.

Shmeg's Restuarant
3027 Buffalo Road, Gates, NY
Sandwich cost: $5.99
Rating: A solid breakfast sandwich

Mangia Mangia

I had to run an errand to Spencerport last Sunday and as I was leaving town I realized I was hungry. "Siri, nearest diner." She then told me that the Lighthouse Diner was just three quarters of a mile down the road on the left. So I drove, and then I drove, and then I was in Ogden, so then I had her give me directions. After doing a large circle to see new homes in former fields, I got to the intersection of 31 and S. Union. I drove into the plaza and saw what might have been a diner but what was now Rancho Viejo. I turned the corner to check out the south side of the plaza and continued to see no breakfast. As I reached the end of the storefronts I started to turn around but leaning next to the building was a sandwich board with a breakfast special on it; I looked up to see Mangia Mangia. The front door was open so I figured I'd go investigate.

Right at the front door was a pastry case with loaves of fresh baked Italian bread sitting on top. This was a good sign. I took a seat at a small table in the back and looked over the menu. With Italian bread French toast, frittatas, and six varieties of eggs Benedict, Mangia Mangia is not for the light eater. I found their breakfast sandwich which is two scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of bacon, ham, Italian sausage or steak on either a giant English muffin or an Italian roll and after seeing the loaves at the front door, I went for the roll and my usual bacon and American cheese. The sandwich comes with home fries and they charge $6.99 for the combo.

This is a curious place: An Italian restaurant in the back of a suburban plaza open for breakfast with both Red Hot and Sriracha on every table. The kitchen is separated from the dining area by a free standing wall so the smells and noises from the kitchen mingle with the classic rock playing throughout the restaurant. Casual, suburban, pleasant enough.

A few moments later my breakfast arrived. I wish I had put a fork or a quarter in the photo for scale just to impress how large it all was: The sandwich wasn't on a roll but a mini loaf of bread and there was probably a pound of home fries on the plate! I wasn't quite prepared to bite into the loaf of sandwich so I scooped up some potatoes and was greeted with a couple of unexpected flavors. The Yukon Gold potatoes were much sweeter and creamier than most diner home fries and that first bite had a distinct taste of margarine. I did not care for these at all. I tried them with Red Hot and then Sriracha, and then with ketchup, and then with ketchup and the two hot sauces. None of these variations made me like them any better. I moved onto the sandwich. I'll spare you the details of how big my bites were and how many it took to finish this blimp, but I will tell you that the roll had a nice crunch to the crust and good resistance when bitten. However, this may have been too much of a good thing. Did I mention how big this roll was? Unfortunately, the scrambled eggs, cheese, and strips of bacon down the center, got lost amongst all the bread. Honestly, I barely remember the bacon and cheese, only the amount of chewing I had to do. If they could do some proportion control and ditch the margarine, this would be a worthwhile breakfast.

Mangia Mangia
Sandwich Rating: Thatsa alotta bread
Sandwich cost: $6.99