The ingredients were all there, ready to be recognized and combined by a pair of dedicated restaurant professionals. Chet Thompson, a classically-trained chef from the East Coast, and his life partner, Californian sommelier and restaurant professional Rose Curry, found themselves in Penn Yan, courtesy of a Valentine’s Day snowstorm in 2020, where they saw delicious opportunity.

The pair—owners of the Burnt Rose Wine Bar and Restaurant at 13 Main Street and the 18th Amendment Kitchen and Cocktail Bar a few steps away at 7 Main Street—created two similar yet distinct eateries where nearly everything is cooked in-house and sourced, in season, from neighboring farms. Last spring, restaurant patrons were awed by Chet’s grilled asparagus, and many begged for the secret behind its incredible flavor. Rose explains they rushed to the farmstand as soon as the earliest asparagus was picked. And then, “We like to let the ingredients speak for themselves,” Chet says seriously.

“We call it ‘field to table’ rather than ‘farm to table,’” Rose says. “Farm to table sometimes includes mass farming. We buy from small farms, and there are some that grow produce specifically for us.”

Their menu, mostly based on the availability of seasonal produce, is a mix of ethnic specialties and tasteful classic favorites, with an eye toward pleasing a variety of palates from the adventurous to those limited by preference or sensitivities. At this writing, at the Burnt Rose, their butter chicken is a runaway success, as is their lobster and mascarpone. Rose describes the varied food at the Burnt Rose as a more casual grazing menu. Diners are encouraged to share in order to experience a broader variety of tastes. The menu changes at least four times a year. In its third year of operation, diners have learned to anticipate the first sweet corn harvests, which also bring esquites, or Mexican street corn salad, something Rose and her son both loved in Los Angeles. It’s different, perhaps even a little edgy, for a village which abounds in offerings of traditional comfort foods, but customers have learned to trust what they’ll taste here is good. And pairing meals with complementary wines is, for many, a continuation of good times spent considering the area’s best-known agricultural product.

Always, the wine takes center stage. At the Burnt Rose, a mix of varietals and vintages are hand-selected from thirty-one Finger Lakes vineyards, mostly chosen from those on Keuka and Seneca Lakes. “As of this year, we’re 100 percent local,” Rose says.

The 18th Amendment, until 2022 owned by Barrington Distillers, is named for the constitutional amendment ratified in 1919 prohibiting the production of alcohol in the United States—at least, until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. In the years of Prohibition, this was an area of industrious and well-planned bootlegging, Rose learned. Her research turned up special shoes worn by clever bootleggers, with deer hooves strapped to the soles to disguise a smuggler’s footprints.

The 18th Amendment offers wines selected from vineyards across the country, mixed drinks, and a heartier, slightly more formal dinner menu that generally includes filet mignon and NY strip steak as well as ethnic cuisine. Thai peanut chicken is a current customer favorite, as is pollo con papas, an Argentinian-style half-chicken smoked over cherrywood in-house. “Chet is brilliant,” Rose says, with admiration at his deep dive into inspirational cuisine from afar. She jokes that their food experimentation at home in their downtime might be one of the world’s more exhausting and expensive hobbies.

Both eateries can seat just under fifty people; on a busy night, with table turnarounds, they might serve sixty or so. Chet, who’s been honing his culinary arts since the age of fifteen, works in two small and efficient kitchens, one at each location. He says the pandemic influenced kitchen administration, shrinking many to leaner staffing. This means he necessarily must be hands-on, from creating the menu to cooking and plating the food. Sometimes he’ll get some pre-meal prep help from Rose. “If people come to experience my food, you expect me to make it,” he says. “It’s the only way I’d do it!”

Rose grows some of their ingredients—the tomatoes, basil, thyme, lemongrass, tomatillos, and jalapeños finding their way to a plate likely originated in the couple’s garden. “We try to minimize waste and our carbon footprint,” they say. This translates to daily shopping, no use of frozen foods, even a careful return of their egg cartons to the farmers they buy eggs from.

Scratch cooking extends to the ingredients in cocktails and the growing trend toward “mock-tails”—non-alcoholic mixed drinks, often including less-usual fruit juices, that can be as sophisticated as their punchier alcoholic counterparts.

Tourists from metro areas are not surprised by the menu, Chet says. Rose adds they’re often very thankful to have found the Burnt Rose and 18th Amendment, appreciating their cosmopolitan approach to food. Décor at both is industrial chic, with subtle touches like the facing on the wine bar that appears to have been woven from recycled barrel staves and the rose motif burned onto coasters and some of the tables by Dan Mitchell, a.k.a. the Staving Artist. Take a closer look and you’ll see the Finger Lakes shaping the rose’s petals. “It’s meant to feel warm and inviting,” Rose says. “We may not be for everyone, but if you’re willing to try it, you’re welcome!”

Attention to detail even prevails outside the Burnt Rose on the “dog patio” where tables, chairs, and a large bowl of water welcome customers whose four-footed family members accompany them. Appropriately, the concrete sidewalk outside was “engraved” by a wandering dog before it hardened, something Rose noticed when they were first looking for a place for their restaurant.

For hours of operation and to make reservations—highly recommended though walk-ins are accommodated whenever possible—check burntrosewinebar.com, 18thamendmentkitchencocktailbar.com, or call (315) 924-3000.