ROCHESTER — A local culinary expert known for her cheese and charcuterie expertise has opened a self-described “Food Utopia” in downtown Rochester.
LeeAnn Zubay’s love of hard-to-find gourmet ingredients inspired the well-known Rochester foodie to launch This Is Food Union in 2021. She creates cheese and charcuterie boxes and other specialty food gift boxes for subscription or for individual purchase.
On March 8, she put all of those tasty discoveries plus “fun tabletop wares and vintage finds” out for sale in her new store, This is The Retail Shop, in the street level space of Wellington Square at 212 First Ave. SW.
That puts This is The Retail Shop next to The City Market deli and across a courtyard from the former Hefe Rojo/original Newt’s building.
“The lower level of Wellington Square became available, and it felt more like me,” she said. “It has a darker, antique-y feel, and I love that,” wrote Zubay in the announcement of the opening.
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This is Food Union will continue to sell her cheese and charcuterie subscriptions and gift boxes.
This is The Retail Shop is the latest manifestation of Zubay’s passion to introduce people to specialty cheeses and other ingredients that they might not otherwise have known about.
She started with a spot in the former Rochester Produce grocery, which led to her opening the Culinary Market shop in downtown Rochester.
Zubay followed that with Zzest , which started out as a market with a small lunch counter before it evolved into a restaurant. In the wake of Zzest becoming Hot Chip, she added a small food market to the former Lettuce Unite booth in the downtown skyway food court.
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