The gate to goodness

The Gate House is a take-out or dine-in restaurant known for its gourmet burgers and wood-fire oven pizzas. While food is obviously important when reviewing a restaurant, the location is as well; this particular restaurant is situated in the Village Gate, which has a rich history, transforming the past decades into one of Rochester’s hottest art spots.

The Village Gate is a key part of Rochester’s Neighborhood of the Arts (NOTA) and is one of the city’s well-known shopping centers, though not nearly as commercial as Marketplace Mall or Pittsford Plaza. It’s surrounded by the Memorial Art Gallery, the George Eastman House and the Fabrics and Findings Building, which houses some of the area’s most talented artists who open their studios to the public the second Saturday of every month.

What I love about the area is that restaurants like The Gate House add to the space, which bustles with other restaurants and an indoor mall that was formerly an old printing factory. Full of history and lots of independently owned stores that sell a grand variety of goods from used books to old records, it’s a far cry from the chain store malls that too often overshadow the locations that truly add to a city’s identity.

The Gate House is known for its gourmet burgers, and the word “gourmet” is placed there for a reason. Combined with the location, which I hadn’t ever been to previously, I decided I needed to check this place out. It definitely didn’t disappoint.
Arriving on a Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., the restaurant was busy with a half-hour wait. But that’s where the location aspect came into play, providing the perfect remedy for such a situation: Instead of just sitting around waiting for our name to be called, we explored the indoor mall and spent a while in The Bop Shop, an old record store that made us feel like we’d traveled back in time. When we returned and the hostess seated us, the restaurant experience began.

The first thing I noticed was that with the crowds came a lot of overlapping, loud conversation; so if you want to get to know somebody more intimately, this restaurant is not the right choice during the dinner rush. That being said, the noise wasn’t a big deal for us. We were immediately seated at a table by a wall of windows that looked out over the Village Gate Square. It was perfect because it felt like we were outside in the courtyard but we weren’t freezing. I highly recommend a window table if possible because even though the lighting is soothing, it is a bit dark inside the restaurant.

The menu was a simple one, divided into four sections: “Small Plates” included appetizers such as chicken tenders and Asian-inspired spare ribs; “Salads” incorporated everything from the classic Caesar to Nicoise and Caprese; “Famous Burgers” had toppings ranging from bacon and feta to pineapple and mushrooms; and last but not least “Landmark Pizzas” had a wide variety of different toppings as well.The simplicity of the menu was fine with me, since I definitely knew I wanted a burger, but the difficult moment was when I had 11 burgers to choose from!

I ended up going with “The Chyna,” a burger grilled in pineapple and teriyaki sauce. I can only describe it as delicious: it came out hot, it was cooked to order and the pasta salad on the side was a nice and tasty change from the typical french fries.

My friend, junior Mark Mendonca, ordered “The Hoffman,” which was Cajun-spiced, with caramelized onions and bleu cheese. “It was juicy ­— very juicy and flavorful,” he said. “Really good stuff.” Junior Ryan O’Leary ordered the “Wease” with smoked Gouda, onion rings and horseradish steak sauce. We really tried to sample a lot of different things. Altshuler switched out the burger for chicken, reminding me that all of the burgers can be substituted with either Kobe beef for a $5 charge or with a chicken breast for free. This allows people who don’t eat/like hamburgers to enjoy the interesting combinations of toppings in their own way.

All in all, the four of us had fun, ate well and enjoyed the hustle-and-bustle atmosphere on a Saturday night out on the town while spending about $15 each. Plus, getting to explore some of the stores in the Village Gate was worthwhile. I definitely recommend heading over there early so you can check out the area and then eat at the restaurant afterward.

Siegel is a member of the class of 2010.