284 Exchange Blvd. Rochester NY
9.27.08 5:30 pm
Rochester is one city that I frequent at least every other month. In my opinion it’s the perfect mix of culture, college towns, and a taste of a big city (remember I am from Syracuse). Well one weekend my friends from Buffalo and Rochester and I made plans to go to dinner, we decided on a spot called Virtu. Most of us had been there before but, it was for a private party. That being said I’d rather do a review on a restaurant when they aren’t on their best behavior.
When you walk into Virtu, you are enveloped into an extremely posh atmosphere. A walk up the staircase takes you to the bar and around the corner is the main dining room. The ceilings are decorated in layers of warm colors and wavy textures. Picture windows surround the main dining room with a beautiful view of the Genesee River. In the evening flickering candles illuminate the room for a very sultry atmosphere.
My friends and I had a great time talking, laughing, and enjoying good food. The staff was great and extremely pleasant and accommodating. Our meal started when our waiter brought us a basket of what I believe to be a date bread, served with three different spreads. A group favorite was the Cinnamon Honey Butter.
“Cinnamon Honey Butter is…GREAT!”-Claud
When you look through the menu you’ll find that Virtu provides a large variety of American Cuisine. One dish that I plan on trying really soon is the Pittsburgh Steak Salad, which is made with field greens, red onion, tomato, cheddar cheese and French fries in their house ranch dressing, and is topped with rare flank steak and that’ll only run you about $11.
I started my meal with the Virtu house salad. A mix of greens, sun dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and crumbled blue cheese tossed in the house balsamic vinaigrette. A whole salad is $8, but with a meal you can get a half salad for only $4. For my meal I ordered the Jerk rubbed chicken served with corn fritters and pineapple- coconut compote ($17). I really didn’t know quite what “compote” was (so my friend’s iphone came in handy…ahh technology). Dictionary. com enlightened me that compote was actually a French word for a stewed fruit, cooked in sugar or syrup, served as a hot or cold dessert. The compote was amazing; hot and sweet but not too sweet, a real flavor explosion! The jerk rub chicken has a great flavor also and was cooked very well, a nice crisp outside with a very tender juicy inside. The meal was also plated with steamed asparagus and corn fritters, both were very good.
Overall the experience at Virtu was a great one and I can’t wait to go back. They definitely live up to what virtue brings to mind, a love of or taste for fine-art objects.
But one other thing I have to mention is the half wall that is in front of the kitchen. The wall is designed to almost look like a city skyline and is tiled in one inch shell mosaic tiles and while you’re eating you can see and hear the flames of the fire where they are cooking your food…beautiful!
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