Erie Grill

Erie Grill is the kind of restaurant that rewards the people who know about it. Attached to the Del Monte Lodge at 41 North Main Street, it carries the quiet confidence of a hotel restaurant that has nothing to prove — and then delivers food that surprises you. Very good food. The kind of meal where the conversation slows down because something on the plate is actually worth paying attention to. We go there when we want quiet. That's the specific gift Erie Grill offers that most Pittsford restaurants don't — a dining room where you can actually hear the person across the table, a pace that doesn't rush you out, a canal view through the open floor plan that makes the whole evening feel a little more considered. Executive Chef John Freezee runs a seasonal American menu that changes with what's local and available. The cocktail program is genuinely inventive — meticulous recipes, fresh ingredients, the kind of bar that takes itself seriously without taking itself too seriously. Happy hour runs Monday through Saturday, 3 to 5pm, and it's excellent. The bar lights soften in the evening, the wine list opens up, and the whole room shifts into something that feels more like a destination than a stop. I've written about the happy hour before and stand by it. For a quiet dinner or a drink worth having, Erie Grill is one of Pittsford's best-kept secrets — which is a strange thing to say about a restaurant that's been here for decades.