For today's Monday Munchies we're headed down to Railroad St in Rochester NY, right down the street from the Public Market, where a tasty taco and tequila haven called Bitter Honey sits. The outdoor patio greets us on this beautiful (albeit humid) day as we approach and the smell of seasonings and spices wafts out from the open door. Then, upon entering, we get floored by this show-stopper of a bar, I mean look at that thing...
...it's gorgeous. I think my friend Lindsey and I audibly gasped. Next time I visit I just want to sit at this bar, sip my drinks, and soak in the atmosphere here. Um...and also eat more tacos of course.
The dark brown of the interior paired with the orange-y glow of the lights, industrial touches and interesting, earthy colors of the paintings on the wall made for a warm, welcoming, and cozy experience before even eating anything.
Which, of course, brings me to our food. Well, actually, before that let's talk about drinks. I ordered a classic margarita, with salt, and Lindsey went with a Paloma- mocktail style. I hadn't realized that she wasn't able to drink yet, after having oral surgery so recently, but she had wanted to drink. I felt bad, but the server was super helpful and noted that they could make any of their drinks into mocktails. Lindsey was stoked about this and commented that she liked how the bartender still put her mocktail in a tall, skinny bar glass so she could still feel like she was enjoying an alcoholic drink. Also, to all my ocean-conscious and plastic-conscious people out there, the straws offered to us were paper!
Fittingly, we went on taco Tuesday, so you'll never guess what we ordered. Yup, burritos! Nah, we got tacos. We started off the meal with chips paired with guacamole and salsa, the guac was chunky, but not too chunky and the salsa had a great balance of heat and flavor. All of it was delicious. For the main course I got the taco platter which came with three tacos of my choice, crema, salsa, and guacamole. If you're thinking that I went for this option simply so I could be greedy with the guac and salsa, you wouldn't be wrong. I also wanted to try a few different tacos so I love when restaurants offer this kind of menu option. The three I chose are pictured in the middle photo and are the barbacoa (braised beef, salsa roja, onion, cilantro) on the bottom left, Al Pastor (roasted pork, charred pineapple salsa, cilantro) at the top, and the calabacin (tempura fried zucchini, chipotle dill aioli, pickled red onion, jalapeño) on the bottom right. I liked the calabacin so much, and it was such a different type of taco than any I had seen before, that I had to star it in that last photo. Look at those pickled red onions! And the tempura zucchini was crispy while the dill in the aioli balanced out the heat of the chipotle. All three tacos were bang on, but I think (surprisingly) the calabacin was my favorite.
A quick and awesome note: Lindsey mentioned that she was going to have to ask a lot of questions and make a lot of modifications in order to ensure she was ordering gluten free and dairy free food. After letting our awesome server know about her dietary restrictions, Lindsey told her what she wanted and asked if there were any modifications needed. NOPE. The tortillas are corn tortillas and neither of the tacos she ordered had any dairy products in them. I don't think two of the three that I ordered would have been an issue either, looking back at their ingredients. To be safe, as I'm sure you already know, check with the server, but it seems like Bitter Honey is able to accommodate, at least these, dietary restrictions quite easily!
If you want to check this place out for yourself, I know I'll be back to tackle some other delicious options on their menu, then head over to 127 Railroad St. Suite #110 Rochester NY 14609 and (if you're like me) check out there menu ahead of time here.
Tues-Thurs 4-10pm || Fri 4-11pm || Sat 2-11pm
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