Going Local

I love trying new restaurants and going out to eat, it can be such a nice change of pace from cooking at home, or eating dinner with a barking dog right next to me. I especially love local businesses and my husband and I try to avoid chain restaurants as much as possible. This post is a shout out to my current favorites, and a big thank you for making delicious food, my husband and I will continue to support your businesses every chance we get.

Bartram House Bakery- Don't let the name bakery fool you, this place has everything; homemade soups, breakfast sandwiches, pepperoni rolls, salads, crepes, and everything in between and beyond. My personal favorite (at least until my next visit) is their breakfast sandwich - you get to choose your bread, type of egg(I went with egg whites), cheese, meat, and as many fresh veggies as you want to put on it. The best part?-the bread is soft and not covered in any butter-it was a healthy choice and delicious. One point of advice though-make sure you are either super hungry, have someone to share it with, or plan to take half home because the size of this sandwich is no joke.

I do have to mention the bakery items(it is a bakery after all) the pain au chocolate is my favorite, second to only the red velvet cupcake, it is flaky and has just the right amount of semi sweet chocolate pressed in the middle-so good!

Franklin Inn-in the mood for Mexican and near Rochchester Road? Then you will want to go here, the Franklin Inn wins without a question as my favorite local Mexican place. The salsa and guacamole are great to start and my favorite dish is the chicken mole enchiladas. The chicken is moist and the mole sauce is thick and just to die for. They also have an awesome black bean and corn salad as a side- which I highly recommend, I do not even like corn and I love this salad; it is served cold and has a great tangy taste. Another unexpected favorite at the Franklin Inn is actually not a Mexican dish at all...but it is their hot wings. They are crispy, made on the grill, and super spicy! They only come one way,and they are perfect.

What is a Mexican Resturant without margaritas!? Well they are excellent here too! They come in a Mason jar and there are tons of favors to choose from including mango, strawberry, peach, and traditional. I recommend sharing a 32 oz, or drinking it all yourself if you don't mind stumbling on your way out. BUT before you do that, make sure you save room for some ice cream! It is homemade and they have awesome Mexican hot fudge ...just the right amount of spice to go with your chocolate.

One last favorite for this post is Cenci's in Wexford, not only do I know many people who work here, but I love the fact that they are open every day and serve food until 2am. This is perfect for when my husband gets off work at midnight and we still want to go out and grab something to eat. Cenci's has your typical Italian dishes, along with hoagies, pizza, and a variety of appetizers. They have the best Sicilian pizza, which can be ordered in a variety of sizes inducing a two cut, which is perfect for a midnight snack. They also make homemade ranch dressing which I dip everything in-it is really that good! In addition to the pizza the hot garlic wings, Roma puffs (fried pizza dough), house salads (which yes, I put ranch on!)and fried ravioli are some of my favorites. They also have craft beers on draft and by bottle, and six packs to go which makes this place perfect.

I hope that this post will inspire many of you to visit one of these local restaurants, or a local restaurant near you. This is only a start to my favorite local places, expect to see more in future posts. Enjoy!