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Reported by: Elizabeth Harness
Friday, Apr 4, 2008 @10:00pm EST

Rochester restaurant shares secret of success

In Rochester, 90% of new restaurants only last two to three years however, in this tough business climate there is one that's lasted nearly two decades and it's an English pub! So what is the secret to success a "The Old Toad” in downtown Rochester?

“We take students from the UK and offer them an opportunity to come and work in the United States for a full year and it's part of their degree program,” says Jules Suplicki, manager of the authentic British pub on Alexander Street.

The student business program began in 1990 by two businessmen, one from England, the other from Rochester. The program became a training ground for UK students. Each year, up to ten students travel across the Atlantic for a high degree in customer service.

“We really get the idea of the superior service that you guys have over here, cause you really do,” says Jules who herself was student in the program eight years ago before marrying and deciding to make her home in Rochester.

This year nine students are learning how to run every aspect of a restaurant business.

“We do 40, 50, 60 hour weeks. It's very intense, you have to learn it very fast, it's a very fast industry, and even now, it doesn't seem it because of how many people are here but in the kitchen, it's hectic,” says Mark Carney, a 22 year old student in the program this year from Manchester.

“We work very closely with the University, we have four sit-down appraisals with each student every year, they also have to write several papers on their experience,” says Jules.

While the students are taking home loads of fantastic business experience to the UK, ironically, they're also taking home something else as well...love.

“It's a very strange thing, usually at least one or two people will end up getting married per year,” says Jules.

You might even call it a recipe for success.

“When they leave, they are completely aware of how to run a business.”

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"Jules Suplicki, Bar Manager for The Old Toad, uses specialty beer distributors, as well as direct contacts with craft breweries, to build the most eclectic beer selection in town. Her efforts yield a diverse and frequently changing beer lineup that at any time could include Polish porters, obscure English ESB, and specially-casked versions of local and regional ale. Her interest in beer has also led her to stock a vintage beer selection, giving patrons the chance to see how aging can mellow and improve the flavor of certain beer, much as they would a single-malt scotch or red wine.'"
-quoted from 'Beercraft newspaper column #51- the essence of a great beer bar' by Mark Tichenor and Bruce Lish

It doesn't have flashy flat-screen TVs or electronic dart boards, but after 16 years, The Old Toad, 277 Alexander St., continues to draw people in with sultry British accents, a laid-back atmosphere and a unique menu that separates it from its East End counterparts.

"What I really love about The Toad is the atmosphere," says Rochesterian Tricia Seymour, 33, of the tavern, whose wait staff is made up of English hospitality students. "With a diverse range of people that call the place home, it's comfortable and inviting ... and has an amazing selection of beer."

Favorite dishes at the pub, meanwhile, include The Old Toad Double Decker, a large bowl of British chips topped with cheese and bacon and served with a side of creamy onion gravy. There's also Bangers and Mash — three Cumberland sausages on top of mashed potatoes with fried onions, peas and gravy.

This event, honoring the arrival of the New Vintage Beer Fridge, kicks off at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 21, and features a vintage beverage with each entrée. For example, cured salmon with sweet citrus asparagus and dill hollandaise will be paired with 2004 Lindeman's Cuvee Rene Guezue. Also, an apple and walnut galette with green apple sorbet and cinnamon custard will be paired with a 2002 Schneider Aventinus.

The fridge will hold beers three to 10 years old, including Sam Smith's Triple Bock, J.W. Lee's and North Coast Old Stock.

A random customer will be chosen to tap the "pin" at 7 p.m. (This is the British version of "kill the keg.")

Anyway, since the plane is leaving in three hours, let's get down to today's topic: Trappist Ale. And no, it's not made by dudes in buckskin and fur hats with raccoon tails.

The Trappists are a monastic Catholic order that follow the teachings of Saint (not Pope) Benedict. They're technically called "The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, but that's awfully wordy for a beer bottle. Instead they take their moniker from the abbey of La Trappe. Most of their abbeys are located in Belgium, although the order has spread to other regions as well.

These guys are serious monks. They live a life of rigorous personal poverty. They remain silent as much as possible during the day. They basically do two things: work and pray. When not at prayer, they're making products to support the abbey: Cheese, bread, even clothing. But the most famous fruit of their labor is the Trappist ale that has given Belgium international renown as the world's beer Mecca.

Belgian law allows only six abbeys to sell their beer as Trappist ale: Achel, Orval, Chimay, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren and Koenigshoeven. There are numerous other "abbey ales" that are brewed by laic interests and not necessarily at the monasteries themselves.

For many, the beers produced by these six represent the holy grail of brewing. They are all exquisite, Brown or reddish in color, with a fruit and nut aroma and complex malt flavor. Each sip reveals more intricacy of flavor: a hint of coriander, caramel, is that citrus? Trappist ales are more deep and complex than any other beers in the world.

Trappist and Abbey ales are categorically divided by strength. There's Singel, which is already strong, Dubbel, Tripel and Quadrupel, which can tip the scales at a skull-crushing 12%. Hey, even a monk gets to live a little!

Unfortunately, Trappist ale seems nigh-impossible for brewers outside of Belgium to duplicate. Each abbey uses a proprietary strain of Belgian yeast, and they're not giving it out to just anybody. Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown New York comes the closest, benefiting from the resources of its Belgian parent company Duvel, a longtime brewer of abbey ales.

Other American stabs at the Trappist/Abbey style have yielded good, if inauthentic, results. If your only exposure to "Belgian Ale" has been through a bottle out of the Saranac Summer Sampler 12 pack, it behooves you to try a glass of the Trappist stuff. It's night and day (although we'll happily down a few of the Saranacs too).

As you might expect for a beer style brewed by monks in only six abbeys in a tiny European nation, Trappist ale is not cheap. In a Rochester beer bar, expect to pay wine prices. But that's the cost of greatness. If it's cheaper in Belgium, we'll let you know.

Last Sunday the Toad was featuring Okocim Porter on draft and Czechvar (the real Budweiser) as a bottle special. You just don't find these beers in Rochester bars. Well done, Jules!

Suplicki's predecessor in the Toad's Cellar, Joe McBane, is hard at work hand-renovating his new beer bar, in the old Gregory Street MacGregor's location. We recently had a look at the construction. He's gutted the place. Don't expect MacGregor's when the new bar opens in August. Do, however, expect a fantastic beer selection!

Because even though direct descendants of English Pilgrims founded Rochester, settled it and today make up this area's fourth largest ethnic group, no nation is harder to spot in daily life.

We don't mean Britain — the island containing Wales, England and Scotland. We mean England — the tiny nation whose language, religion and legal system formed the very core of Rochester's identity, yet whose culture here now seems barely perceptible.

Or, is it this: What Shakespeare called "this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England" actually colors everyday Rochester life so much, even now, that it's simply hiding in plain sight?

Ask an academic, a historian, a local of English ancestry or someone newly arrived from London, and they'll probably say it's a bit of both.

"You don't see a lot of 'Kiss Me I'm English' bumper stickers," says Timothy Madigan, president of the Rochester branch of the English Speaking Union, an international group devoted to English culture. "I suspect it's because they simply wouldn't draw attention to themselves."

Plus, he adds, "Who isn't English, really? Because so many of us have the heritage going back to the Pilgrims."

But with some exploration, it's clear that 400 years later, English heritage and people are indeed all around us, as irresistible as the first Beatles song you ever loved.

When Englishman Nicholas Rochester set sail for Virginia in 1640, he may have thought the quaint town he was leaving — Rochester, in the southern county of Kent — would be the only place ever to share his name. But only three generations later, in 1802, Nicholas' great-grandson Nathaniel traveled up the Genesee River, and with two bankers bought the 100-acre tract they would later name Rochesterville.

Within the decade, another son of England made history here: Hamlet Scrantom (whose ancestors arrived in 1611) moved his growing family west from Oswego to Rochester, thus making him not just our first permanent settler but also the first Rochesterian ever to have spring plans ruined by a freak snowstorm.

"He gets here in mid-April (of 1812) and it's snowing," according to Ann Salter, former executive director of the Rochester Historical Society. "His cabin wasn't done, it had no roof, but he stayed. These people were resolute."

Over the next decade, as more settlers trickled in from overcrowded northern and southern colonies, the population grew rapidly: 15 ... 300 ... 1,000 ... 1,500. By the time the Erie Canal was finished in 1823, a steady influx of skilled English laborers — some Puritan descendants, others newly arrived — were augmented by scores of Scottish and Irish descendants and new arrivals, swelling the population to more than 3,000.

Even so, in looks and culture, the settlement — now called Rochester — undeniably bore the stamp of the New England colonies, said longtime city historian Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck.

It was "their vision and ways, their Puritanism and work ethic, that made the 100-acre tract the nucleus of Rochester as we know it today," she said.

For the next century, much of Rochester would be shaped by English entrepreneurs and their ancestors: seed impresarios Joseph Harris and James Vick, Hiram Sibley, Frank Gannett and, of course, George Eastman.

By 2005, according to the U.S. census, there were 92,727 English-Americans in the five-county Rochester region — including about 1,400 English natives in the Rochester metro area. Yet, scarce is the evidence one would expect to find of a group so primarily responsible for our way of life.

Some suggest cultural celebration is distinctly absent here because England itself has rarely done it — it's never had to. Said Clive Barrons of Webster, who left England in the mid-'80s for a job with Xerox: "They didn't feel the needed to demonstrate or celebrate England, because England simply was."

With few public traditions to mimic, locals of English descent say they work hard to keep their heritage alive.

Linda Greenfield's father's family hailed from Brighton, Sussex. Greenfield and her parents returned there in the 1970s in search of her father's roots — a trip so important to him, she says, that he sold all of his Kodak stock to fund it.

She has largely kept her English heritage alive since then by turning the first floor of her North Chili home into the Victorian Doll Museum, which includes about 80 antique English dolls.

Tending her dolls and watching BBC programming on WXXI-TV make Greenfield "feel more connected" to her heritage. "As I get older, it means more to me."

Roberta Meier of Pittsford celebrates her grandmother's childhood in England by having traditional afternoon tea at Hicks & McCarthy on Main Street in Pittsford.

Meier remembers her grandmother's accent and her devotion to English ways, even decades after being brought to Chicago by her parents in 1912. "Once they moved, their loyalties were to America, but I think they always felt English in their hearts," said Meier, who displays the flag of England in her living room. "And I've always felt it very important to continue those traditions."

Apparently, many in this region feel the same way during the Genesee Country Village and Museum's summer re-creation of the War of 1812.

"It's interesting to me how many come to the re-enactment and ask to portray the British or Canadian troops," said Brian Nagle, the director of interpretation there. "They really cling to their English heritage."

Some Anglophiles contend that, far from being hidden, our English roots are everywhere, right in front of our eyes. "I see it in our parks, our gardens ... and that is very English," says Rosenberg-Naparsteck. "Look at the strong archways of our East Avenue mansions, the Tudor doors and windows, the winding brick and stone walkways, our landscaping — that is the heritage we carry with us to this day."

Other samples of English life are scattered around Rochester, if you know where to look.

Ground zero is The Old Toad Pub on Alexander Street, where the entire 14-person staff is English (but for one Scot and one American), and most have been brought to Rochester specifically for a job at "the Toad" as part of a University of Sheffield work-study program. Intent on keeping the pub as traditional as possible, there's no jukebox, pinball or TV — just plenty of board games, hand-drawn pints and folks well up for a chat, especially if it's about soccer or rugby.

Local public radio and TV also offer authentic sounds and sights from England. WXXI-TV (Channel 11, cable channel 21) airs BBC World News at 11 p.m. Monday through Friday; and on Saturday evenings airs British comedies such as Keeping up Appearances and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Meanwhile, on WXXI-FM (91.5), morning host Simon Pontin, a Berkshire, England native, has delighted classical music listeners since 1975. (On certain Saturdays, from 7 to 8 a.m., Pontin has been known to play nothing but English music during what he whimsically calls The Citrus Hour, a play on the word "limey," an old epithet for British sailors.)

While the English have long been said to have a frankly abusive relationship with cuisine, it does have some tasty traditional treats, many of which can be found in any Wegmans International Foods section.

According to spokesman Jo Natale, PG Tips tea, Heinz baked beans, Cadbury drinking chocolate, Bird's custard and tea biscuits are among the most popular items. Anglophiles can also find English beers, and — in utter defiance of the classic Monty Python sketch — cheese shops that truly do stock dozens of English varieties.

These foods are a delight for many, but a powerful emotional trigger for others: One woman at the Pittsford store saw a can of Batchelor's Mushy Peas — a pub favorite — and burst into tears, to the astonishment of a Wegmans worker standing nearby.

"It turns out it was the first time she'd seen them since she moved to the U.S. many years before," said Natale. "It was quite overwhelming."

Perhaps the most visible sign of Rochester's English heritage is the prevalence of the Episcopalian Church — the Americanized version of the Anglican Church of England.

Governing 52 churches in eight counties, Rochester's Episcopal Diocese has some 14,000 members. Congregants still worship from The Book of Common Prayer (revised and published in the United States in 1789, pointedly missing prayers for the monarchy). And, they still use the centuries-old Anglican liturgy.

Said the Rev. Canon Carolyn Lumbard, Diocesan spokesman: "Keeping that liturgy ... is very important to Episcopalians. Saying ancient prayers that go back hundreds of years keeps us tied to our church."

But maintaining ties to the church — and England herself — isn't crucial for all descendants and expatriates here.

Though she still finds her country "very beautiful, with fantastic history," and cannot fathom giving up her British citizenship "because it would feel a bit traitorish," Jules Suplicki, a native of the Channel Islands, plans to remain in Rochester, where she's been for 10 years.

Now the general manager of the Old Toad, married to an American and the mother of an infant daughter, Suplicki, 30, says staying put had made increasing sense over the years, as England has become more, well, Americanized: "I used to think America would be more dangerous when I first moved here. But, actually, now England is getting worse. It's rougher, there's more crime, and people drive like maniacs."

Contrarily, it's the similarities that Barrons sees, between English life and Rochester life, that made him only too chuffed — that is, pleased — to become a citizen in 2002.

However, there is still one way in which, to quote Gilbert and Sullivan, he remains an Englishman: