An Insider's Rochester Weekend: Food, Art and Local Favorites

Rochester is a city people underestimate right up until they visit. It has a world-class photography museum, one of the best public markets in the Northeast, an Olmsted park system, and a food scene that punches well above the city''s size.

                                            Here is how I would spend a first weekend here.

                                            ## Saturday morning: the Public Market

                                            Start at the [Rochester Public Market](https://www.cityofrochester.gov/publicmarket/). Saturday is the big day. Produce, prepared food, flowers, coffee, and a genuinely mixed crowd from every neighborhood in the city. Go hungry.

                                            Grab coffee on the way or after — [Fuego](https://www.fuegocoffeeroasters.com), [Joe Bean](https://joebeanroasters.com) and [Glen Edith](https://glenedith.com) are all roasting locally.

                                            ## Saturday afternoon: the Eastman house

                                            The [George Eastman Museum](https://www.eastman.org) is the oldest photography museum in the world, set inside the Kodak founder''s mansion on East Avenue. Even if photography is not your thing, the house and gardens are worth the afternoon.

                                            If you are traveling with kids, swap in [The Strong National Museum of Play](https://www.museumofplay.org) instead. It is enormous, and adults quietly love it too.

                                            ## Saturday evening: dinner and a drink

                                            [Dinosaur Bar-B-Que](https://www.dinosaurbarbque.com) sits right on the Genesee River downtown and is a reliable good time. For something quieter, [Village Gate](https://villagegatesquare.com) in the Neighborhood of the Arts has restaurants and shops in an old factory building.

                                            Afterwards, [Radio Social](https://radio-social.com) for bowling and food in a converted radio factory, or [The Little Theatre](https://thelittle.org) for an independent film and a drink in the cafe.

                                            ## Sunday morning: breakfast, properly

                                            [Jines](https://www.jinesrestaurant.com) on Park Avenue or the art-deco [Highland Park Diner](https://www.highlandparkdiner.com). Both are Rochester institutions for a reason.

                                            ## Sunday: outside

                                            [Highland Park](https://www.monroecounty.gov/parks-highland) is an Olmsted design and home to the lilac collection — spectacular in May during the [Lilac Festival](https://www.rochesterevents.com/lilac-festival/), lovely and empty the rest of the year.

                                            Then walk a stretch of the [Genesee Riverway Trail](https://www.cityofrochester.gov/GeneseeRiverwayTrail/), or drive twenty minutes north to [Ontario Beach Park](https://www.cityofrochester.gov/ontariobeachpark/) and stand on the edge of a lake that looks like an ocean.

                                            ## The thing most visitors miss

                                            [Mt. Hope Cemetery](https://www.fomh.org). It sounds strange until you go. It is a Victorian garden cemetery built into rolling hills, and both Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony are buried there. It is one of the most peaceful places in the city.

                                            ## Before you go: the garbage plate

                                            You cannot leave Rochester without one. [Nick Tahou Hots](https://nicktahous.com) invented it. Home fries, macaroni salad, a couple of cheeseburger patties or hots, meat sauce, onions, mustard. It makes no sense and it is perfect.

                                            Staying with us? Ask me for recommendations when you arrive — this list is just the start.