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For our latest review we hit-up a Roc restaurant that has been around for over 25 years: Edibles Restaurant. Perhaps it is its longevity that has led to many folks in the Roc forgetting about it. What a mistake. When people chat about swanky places for dinner in the Roc, places like Good Luck, Fiorella, and Nosh immediately jump to mind. Edibles should be on that list – and as you read here, perhaps it should be rather near the top of that list. For this one we had 7 Rouletters: 6 old pros and 1 brand new off the bench!
They started our meal out with a basket of lovely HOUSE ROLLS: fresh with butter. These are on the house which is unheard of for a nicer restaurant in 2024. They were warm and fresh with a slight sweetness to them. The butter was high quality, and Rouletters noted that had the butter been warm the score would have gone up. ⭐️3.9⭐️
Next up was the TRUFFLE TOTS: truffle oil, sea salt, chipotle aioli. These were fried very nicely: crisp outsides with soft potatoey insides. Truffle is something that is polarizing in pretty much every instance we have encountered it. Rouletters generally felt that there was either too much or too little truffle. The tots required forks for most of us as they had a bit of a tendency to fall apart. If you require a poppable tot, you might have to be gentle with these. If being poppable doesn’t matter to you, then you’ll probably rejoice that there is more surface area for the delicious aioli. ⭐️3.9⭐️
LUNCHBOX SHRIMP: panko breaded shrimp, sweet & spicy aioli was a fun little bang bang shrimp. One of the things that was consistent for this entire meal was the exceptional fry on all of their fried foods. It was done exquisitely. This tempura-esque finish with the tender shrimp center was perfection. Each bite was an incredible mix of sweet and spicy and sesame and crunch! And the presentation in that cute little box? Adorable and fun. Note, they put on plenty of sauce, so if you like your shrimp covering a bit less goopy, this may not be your top choice. ⭐️4.4⭐️
The second highest rated dish of the night was the KOREAN FRIED CAULIFLOWER: panko breaded, sweet and spicy chojang sauce. WTF it’s cauliflower, it should not be this good. Again, a perfect fry. Their fry cook is seriously underpaid. The softness of the cauliflower juxtaposed with the crunchy breading was perfection. The sauce was the perfect companion to those textures with jsut the right heat in terms of both intensity and endurance. The cauliflower pieces were mostly consistent in size. Importantly, the large ones were still cooked through, so you weren’t shocked by a 1/2 raw bite of cauliflower. It kept beckoning us to come back and somehow there was more and more and more. Even the Rouletters who are not cauliflower fans loved this dish and three of us had this down as top dishes of the night. ⭐️4.7⭐️
Some of us don’t typically like duck, but these DUCK LEGS: grilled, plum BBQ glaze were delicious! Again, great fry. Really perfectly cooked, which you can’t really do (or maybe YOU can, but we can’t) in a fryer alone, so we’re assuming they were parboiled or roasted before frying. However, they didn’t dry out and were very tasty. The char and smoky flavor on these mixed with the sweet plum glaze was delicious. We also like that it was truly just a drumstick. Usually when you see a “duck leg” on a menu it includes the thigh. ⭐️4.4⭐️
The lowest rated dish of the night was the BURRATA: cream filled mozzarella, arugula, basil pesto tomato jam, balsamic, crostini. The cheese was cold and not remotely close to room temperature. The bread looked toasted, but there was hardly any crunch or texture change. The basil pesto jam was a good idea, but this was overall pretty bland. At the end of the day, it lacked seasoning, olive oil, balsamic, flavor, and anything else it can lack. Every place seems to have burrata on the menu. Among the many available in town, this one doesn’t rank. ⭐️3.1⭐️
We ordered the App Special: MUSSELS AND FRITES, which should be on the menu regularly – it was the highest rated dish of the night! More impressive perhaps because over half of the Rouletters at this one don’t even l like mussels very much. This was magical: the mussels were incredibly tender, fresh, and flavorful (without a hint of that fishy taste). The fries were crispy and well-seasoned. But that’s not even the best part. That Dijon cream sauce was the star of the show. We kept dipping other things into the sauce: fries, tater tots, bread – we lost our minds. To be honest, that incredible garlic-Dijon-cream sauce would make an old boot taste great.
That’s right folks, we have another Shrimp Toast Award winner!! In fact, we don’t think we have ever seen a nomination for this award so quickly: one of our Rouletters took a single bite and said “this should get the shrimp toast award.” And how could we not? Perfect mussels with delicious fries and a sauce that will visit us in our dreams. ⭐️4.9⭐️
The App Special: FRIED GOAT CHEESE: honey and balsamic should also be a main menu item! We loved these little fried goat cheese morsels. The honey and balsamic paired brilliantly. They were deliciously soft inside with a crunchy outside. Damn, we loved how creamy-melty-sit down and read a book these were. Two Rouletters had this on their list of top dishes of the night. We could eat them all day. ⭐️4.6⭐️
The second lowest rated dish of the night was the CANDIED NUT & BEET: chevre, praline glazed nuts, greens, roasted beets, balsamic. Roc loves its beet salads, so to have a standout one, you have to either 1) put together something truly unique or 2) strike every single note of the salad perfectly. Here, they missed a couple cords. First, it was overdressed. Second, the beets were cut really small. Like diced almost. That meant that at the first Rouletters to the plate had to dig around quite a bit to find them as they slipped under the greens. Finally, a few Rouletters wanted more goat cheese. Overall, we enjoyed the salad. The beets had a nice flavor and the glazed nuts were delightful both in taste and in texture. With a few small tweaks this could be a top beet salad in the Roc, but tonight’s offering was a bit pedestrian. ⭐️3.4⭐️
The Parisian Paradox of the night was the CHICKEN DE MEDICI: panko breaded chicken cutlet, tomato, aged parmesan, lemon, arugula. Some Rouletters found this to be nicely seasoned and well salted with a lovely crisp. Others were convinced this wasn’t seasoned at all before it was cooked. Alas, the fried chicken cutlet is another Roc staple. That means folks have a super high bar so again you have to be unique or pitch perfect. Rochester just can’t go without a fried chicken cutlet (and this, we’ll grant, was unimpeachably well-fried), but if you’re going to do it, don’t do it dry and bland. Do it moist and flavorful. Overall, the chicken was crunchy and had some delightfully fresh toppings. The large shavings of parmesan added a great flavor. The nicely dressed greens and the crunchiness of the chicken paired very nicely. This was also one of the last things we tasted, and some folks were pretty full. That paired with this place absolutely knocking it out of the park with so many other dishes probably hurt the score a bit. ⭐️3.7⭐️
To close out the mains, we had the BURKLE BURGER: 10oz angus, vermont cheddar, caramelized onion, arugula, mac sauce, in house pickles, brioche roll, seasoned fries. This was a big delicious well-seasoned burger. It was juicy, well cooked, and the flavors melded well. The sharpness of the cheese was delicious and contrasted nicely with the creaminess. The cheddar and onion combo was just enough. Plus, the fries were delicious and crispy. One Rouletter had this down as a top dish of the night. ⭐️4.3⭐️
For dessert we started with the CHOCOLATE CAKE. This was a well-executed and moist chocolate cake described perfectly by our server as a slice of the giant chocolate cake from Matilda. At the end of the day it was tasty and unremarkable: Passable! Perfunctory! We wanted chocolate and there it was! ⭐️3.4⭐️
Next up was the PISTACHIO CAKE. The mixture of pistachio and mascarpone cheese was a delight. The cake was moist and well-balanced. We didn’t taste much of the advertised rum infusion but it was a nice slice. ⭐️3.9⭐️
Edibles has some fun cocktails! A few Rouletters started with the Burnt Orange Margarita. This one was a tasty margarita but a bit sweet. Most moved on to try other offerings. In particular, the top drink of the night: the Jalapeno Peach Margarita. We loved the way the flavor of the jalapeno came through, but not too much of the heat, and how it just bumped up against the peach. We will write stories about that jalapeno peach margarita. It was percolating with heat, but never too much. It had a huge and inviting presence, with a savory cactus reminder of growing up in the American West for one of our Rouletters. Can a drink transport you to a place? Absolutely, and this one is good enough to do just that.
To round out the cocktails we have the Gummy Bear Martini – we loved this. It definitely brought us back to our childhoods (with the added delightfulness of booze). Rouletters spent the entire time sipping it thinking how delicious it was and trying to place what candy it reminded us of: it wasn’t gummy bears, so maybe pixie sticks? sweettarts? We would suggest getting this before or after a meal as it is a unique and delicious flavor profile all on its own. The gummy bears at the bottom of the glass felt like an indulgence. Every drink should be served with candy. Our beer drinker had plenty of options in bottled beer but prefers draft – every nice place should have at least three beers on tap. This is a hill the Croupier will die on. ⭐️4.5⭐️
The service was exceptional. She was awesome, observant, kind, efficient, courteous, and polite. Basically, everything you want to see in service. Also, she did an amazing job coursing out our food. As we’ve mentioned before, the timing of the food arriving at the table makes a huge difference. If this is done correctly and our drinks are refilled efficiently, you’ll have some happy Rouletters. We also loved how the servers met our roulette-ing with curiosity and care. People were warm and we felt invited in. We were loud and rowdy, and they were there for it. ⭐️4.8⭐️
We had a wonderful night and were constantly surprised by everything in the most delightful way: the service, the food, the drinks, the atmosphere. This begs the question, why has the Roc dining scene forgotten about Edibles? Is it because it has been around for so long that we just sort of stopped paying attention? Maybe their brand could use a refresh? Perhaps even a new catchy name or something like that? Nowadays googling for “edibles” will not see this place on even the first page of Google. A couple of quick notes: they have all gender restrooms! Also, the parking situation isn’t terrible as there is usually street parking or spaces in the adjoining lot. Whether you’ve never walked through their door or you’re someone who spent every Thursday of your late 20s at Edibles and have now somehow forgot how great it is, get over there and have dinner – you just might have one of the best meals in Roc. This is our second highest rated Roc restaurant of all time (second only to Nosh). ⭐️4.7⭐️