Beale Street Café
689 South Avenue
Rochester, NY
585.271.4650
http://www.bealestreetcafe.com/
Beale Street Café is one of those restaurants you just really hope to find one day. This place is slightly funky, in an up and coming neighborhood, with fabulous food and drink. This is the reason people should travel to downtown restaurants – you don’t get this in the ‘burbs.
Word of mouth had already told me I would love the food here, but I have found over the years I have high expectations. I like my food hot and spicy (which most restaurants won’t do) and I like my atmosphere non-chain like. Be original out there!
My dining partner and I got there before the normal evening rush on a Saturday night. We were promptly seated and our friendly server came by to get our drink order and let us know the specials. Normally, for whatever reason, I am less than impressed by most restaurants specials. Not sure why, but I rarely order them. I didn’t order from them again this time, but wow – they actually sounded really good! There was a Cajun shrimp dish that was begging to be ordered. As you can tell, I was seriously conflicted as to what to order. Do I get a Po’ Boy, some Jambalaya, maybe some blackened prime rib? What I finally decided on was the shrimp etouffee. I had heard about it from watching Emeril (I know, I know, food show geek), but haven’t been to a place where I would actually trust to order it.
The Etouffee ($13.99) was out of this world. Imagine the Cajun Holy Trinity (peppers, onions and celery) in a spicy roux, smothered over a bed of rice with a healthy dose of your choice of topping (I chose shrimp). It was so good and spicy; I had to have another round of Beale Street Blues Amber Ale ($3.50).
My dining partner ordered the Nawlins Jambalaya ($12.49). While he enjoyed the meal, it was actually not as spicy as mine. It was well stocked with andouille sausage, hickory smoked sausage, chunks of pork, with tomatoes and spices, over rice. This meal was washed down with an interesting stout called Beale Street Mojo Magic Stout ($3.50).
I highly recommend a visit to this place. The service was perfect – the food was incredible – what more is there to say?
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