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How can you talk about the Roc food scene without mentioning Vern’s? It’s one of the Swan Family restaurants – one of Roc’s main restaurant juggernauts with locally famous spots like Roux and Swan Dive. We had five Rouletters and they were all well-seasoned Roulette veterans. This is another one that is super late. Your croupier is still cleaning up our 2024 adventures with the holidays and all.
We started out with the roasted garlic: local butter, charred flour city bread, which was tied for second best dish of the night. Before we move onto the main attraction, we start with the bread and butter: the bread had a perfect char and the butter was nicely warmed. No notes. The garlic was a little more controversial among Rouletters. The way it was served led to a lot of handling the charred heads of garlic to access the cloves, which is a little awkward if you’re sharing (as the dishes on the menu encourage). Additionally, the garlic had deep exterior char, and tasted lovely, but it wasn’t cooked well enough to smear it on the bread. At the end of the day, this was still a delightfully creative deconstructed garlic bread. ⭐️ 4.4 ⭐️
We followed this up with the highest rated dish of the night and the one picked as best dish of the night by three Rouletters: tomato pie: with flake salt and the best olive oil. The sweetness of the tomatoes with the perfect bite of the flake salt is heavenly. The seasoning is on-point and the flavor incredibly balanced. One of our Rouletters is from Utica and noted that even though this isn’t traditional tomato pie, it is super tasty – I’m sure Vern’s will take the compliment. Okay, what’s different? It has a texture a bit more like focaccia, doesn’t have grated parm on top, and a few other subtle differences that only a Rochesterian going to a restaurant in Utica that was proudly serving a garbage plate would notice. ⭐️ 4.6 ⭐️
Next up was the fried olives: fennel sausage, castelvetrano, lemon. Overall, Rouletters really dug the flavor and texture of these little fellas. Fennel can be overpowering and divisive, but here it blended in seamlessly to make a delicious sausage – nicely seasoned and a perfect fry. Your croupier suspects that if the rest of the dishes weren’t so good this one might have seen a little bit of a higher score – so is the way of the Roulette. ⭐️ 4.2 ⭐️
The second lowest rated dish of the night was the broken burrata: smoky tomato sauce, fried eggplant dumplings, herb oil, parmesan. The textures were terrific: the creaminess of the burrata with the crispiness of the dumplings was a delight. Unfortunately, the burrata wasn’t particularly noteworthy and the delicate flavor got a bit lost. At the end of the day, Rouletters would prefer their burrata spread on some bread where it can shine. ⭐️ 3.8 ⭐️
In a strange twist, the lowest rated dish of the night was also the Parisian Paradox: baked polenta: braised utica style kale, chilies, pecorino, crispy prosciutto. Some Rouletters found themselves saying “I absolutely loved this,” as they reminisce about the polenta, which had a sear that was absolutely delicious highlighted by a crispy bottom cheesey layer that mixed perfectly with the greens and proscuitto. And that slight hint of vinegar? Masterful. Other Rouletters shrugged and filed this under another unmemorable and average polenta. Our Utica expert notes that kale is never “Utica style” – Utica greens are made with escarole. Utica is not living that kale life. ⭐️ 3.6 ⭐️
The other dish tied for second highest rated dish of the night was the carrots and parsnips: labneh, hot honey vin, toasted seeds. The veggies were perfectly roasted and nicely seasoned. This dish had a lovely combination of flavors and textures. No two bites were exactly the same, but they were all delightful. ⭐️ 4.4 ⭐️
We followed this up with thelost meatball ragu:shellbows, fresh ricotta, basil, parmesan, olive oil. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and the tasty sauce perfectly coated each piece for a really consistent taste experience. This is a simple dish that some Rouletters found a bit boring. Also, Rouletters were genuinely confused: was there supposed to be meatballs? Lost meatball indeed. ⭐️ 4.2 ⭐️
For dessert we went with the allspice olive oil cake: stewed apple, soft whip. This cake was dense and spicy, but not overpoweringly so. The apple compote gave a delightful sweet counterbalance to this savory cake and the whip added a lovely creamy element. One Rouletter named this their top dish of the night. ⭐️ 4.3 ⭐️
Turning to the drinks, Rouletters enjoyed many of the cocktails with the espresso martini: espresso, vodka, mr. black and brew liqueur, chocolate taking top billing. The sovereign remedy: bourbon, cardamaro, lemon, ginger, bitters leaned a little too heavily into the bitter notes but was otherwise a nice drink. The Vern’s dirty martini: vodka or gin, house brine, blue cheese olives was good but not great. The issues really stemmed from the set-up: we wereasked if we wanted it straight up or on the rocks which seemed weird and we ordered without vermouth but weren’t asked which vodka or gin brand nor how dirty – two standard questions with a martini like that. The giuseppe sanchez: tequila, amaro Montenegro, lime, coriander basically tasted like a margarita with a missing element. At the end of the day, a margarita is a better drink, so might as well drop that on the menu to manage expectations. The beer options were good. The wine selection is limited to natural wines, which led to some unhappiness from wine-loving Rouletters who felt backed into sticking with cocktails because natural wine just isn’t their thing. ⭐️ 4.2 ⭐️
The service was great, and everyone was attentive overall including the host and bartending team while we waited for our table. The meal could have been coursed out a bit better as we hit a couple points of too many dishes on the table to try to eat everything while it was hot. Generally, we got our drinks when we needed them and more water when requested. Our server was friendly and curious about what we were doing, which is always fun. ⭐️ 4.7 ⭐️
The worst part about Vern’s is that they don’t take reservations. It would be cool if they took them some days of the week (say less busy days like Monday and Tuesday or something). Getting in there is super hit and miss, so you want to have a back-up option, which can be hard. Also, the parking for Park Ave. restaurants is a pain. Finally, accessibility isn’t great as most of the seating is upstairs. All that being said, the terrific food and service make Vern’s a go-to in the Roc culinary scene – and it’s clear why: the creative and thoughtful approach to food comes through every bite. Plus, it’s open 7 days a week. We also love the all-gender restrooms. ⭐️ 4.3 ⭐️
