Several weeks ago, we took a driving trip to western New York to visit friends who bought a house in Cuba, a small and charming village with a large lake on its outskirts. It’s a very beautiful part of the world, and I have a connection to the area because I spent childhood summer vacations at my uncle’s house in Belmont, a few miles from Cuba.
Unfortunately, the area is lacking in notable restaurants, so we went with our friends and some friends of theirs to this wonderful Polish restaurant in Geneseo, about an hour’s drive north of Cuba, closer to Rochester. Geneseo is quite pretty, with beautifully preserved old houses and a SUNY campus.
The restaurant, owned by two women from Poland, is about as authentic as it gets. I started with a sour cucumber soup that was new to me and very delicious. For my main course I had a plate of six meat-filled pierogi, topped with bacon and sauteed onions. It’s hard to find well-made pierogi, but these are an excellent example, with tender dough and a generous amount of pork filling. I also had a side of two stuffed cabbage rolls (golabki). The stuffing was done correctly, mostly meat with just the right amount of rice, whereas too often the stuffing is rice with a hint of meat. They have a selection of imported beers from Poland, and Stanley and I had a delicious stout.
The homemade desserts are stunning. It was hard to choose, but we shared a piece of the chocolate layer cake with raspberries.
They even have Krupnik, a honeyed vodka that can be an aperitif or digestif. We first tried in in Krakow, and I’ve never seen it in this country. I ordered one glass for everyone to taste. It was a great end to an excellent meal.
Much of the food is also available in the adjacent deli.
If you should ever find yourself in this region, EuroCafe is an absolute must.
Robert Rems' Open House 