Five reasons why the city of Rochester doesn't suck

After spending my summer in San Francisco, I was a little worried about coming back to the city of Rochester. Rochester doesn’t smell like piss the way San Francisco does, but along with the tang of stale urine comes some obvious advantages of living in the Bay Area: authentic taquerias, the Golden Gate Bridge and Market Street to name a few. Rochester’s answer: garbage plates, the Ford Street Bridge and Monroe Avenue – no contest.But, I’m here for another year, so I might as well make the most of it. Here are five places that I’m trying to convince myself make the city of Rochester worth living in.Highland Park’s 155 acres were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to mimic nature’s simple flow and texture. The park’s cascading hills and varied landscaping remind me a lot of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Both are teeming with wonderful nooks and crannies waiting to be explored. One of my favorite places is the Sunken Garden. You can find it behind the Warner Castle, which is off of Mt. Hope Avenue. The small garden is well-shaded and shrouded in weathered stone. The cages fenced off by iron bars add to the spooky, I’m-not-supposed-to-be-here, feel.If on the walk back to campus you get a bit hungry, stop in at Pellegrino’s on 1120 Mt. Hope Avenue. The deli slash caf is one of the closest and cheapest eateries around town. Use the Rochester Every Day discount and you can get two foot-long subs for about five bucks each. After San Francisco’s steamed tofu and grease-less pizza, my first bite into a Pellegrino’s Buffalo Chicken Sub brought on a little twinge down in my stomach. The sub’s bleu cheese and buffalo-sauced chicken fingers combine to create a uniquely upstate sandwich.To wash down the grease, try LUX lounge on 666 South Avenue. I haven’t been there much, but the joint seems pretty chill. LUX has a bunch of comfortable places to sit, both inside and outside. The bartenders are pretty mellow, a personality trait they share with the usual clientele, while the dim red lighting preserves the laid back atmosphere. Best of all, their definition of domestic beer includes the good parts of Canada, which means I can get a $2 bottle of Molson or Labatt any day of the week. Also, on Mondays you can get a burger for a buck, as long as you don’t mind using the grill out back.If you wake up the next morning, check out the Rochester Public Market, which opened its gates in 1827 and is still the cheapest place to grocery shop in Rochester. It’s one of the few places in Rochester that actually seems culturally vibrant. On weekend mornings, the market bustles with consumers who desire a greater connection with the farmers who grow their food.When you can handle the smell, the fish market is awesome. A few months ago I got some sashimi-grade tuna and salmon for about eight dollars a pound. I ate it and it was good – If that doesn’t speak for the faith I have in the Public Market, I don’t know what does.And if you can’t think of any more conditional transitions, go to Artisan Works, located at 565 Blossom Road. The place looks like an insane art dealer’s warehouse. Walking into the space, you are literally immersed in art. The pieces envelop the walls, the ceiling above and sometimes even the floor below. There are no white walls at Artisan Works, so the $7 admission fee seemed worth it, if only to shatter my preconceptions of an art gallery. After an entire summer, I still hadn’t found a place like Artisan Works in San Francisco.So Rochester’s got a few things over San Francisco. For example, in Rochester most people understand that a bathroom doesn’t mean pissing in between two parked cars. We’ve got some cool places to eat and drink too, not to mention a unique gallery, a beautiful park and a thriving market. I guess this year won’t be so bad after all – wait, no, Rochester sucks. Rudolph can be reached atdrudolph@campustimes.org.