Rambling Rhodes

New Rochester Restaurant

Rochester is a weird city in one major respect. That being, when a new restaurant opens in town, it becomes THE place to be, and it can seriously be months before you can even get in the door to try it out for yourself. It's like army ants dismantling a fresh corpse. When an Olive Garden opened a few years ago, the traffic and parking looked like the closing scene in "Field of Dreams." Likewise, when a Green Mill opened back in the summer of 2006, just a couple miles from my house, parked cars spilled out from the restaurant's parking lot and into the street.

The latest addition to Rochester's pantheon of franchise resaurants is "Hu Hot," a Mongolian grill place located in the city's main mall, across the hall from Applebees. From some initial reports following the opening of its doors earlier this month, patrons could expect a waiting interim before getting seated that would make an organ recipient list seem quick by comparison. You need a kidney? Right this way, sir! Oh, wait, you wanted to eat at Hu Hot? I'm afraid we'll have to put you on dialysis for a few days, first.

At any rate, Mel and decided to try Hu Hot during non-peak hours, so we ventured through its doors around 3 p.m. yesterday, and we did, indeed, get seated right away. The food was actually very, VERY good and, dare I say it, kinda FUN. I mention all this in this post primarily to see what effect it will have on the targeted ads, because I'd hate to see ads appearing for "Smashed Assholes." That would be embarrassing.