Brighton's Food News Runs Through Its Bakers: Lot54, Malek's and Fine Bagels

Brighton's newest sit-down restaurant has a bread maker running its kitchen. The owners of Brighton's longtime kosher bakery have bought a building on South Winton Road so its ovens, deli and butcher counter can share one roof. A bagel company has filed plans for a commercial bakery on Monroe Avenue, and less than 30 percent of that project's cost goes to the retail counter. In each of the three, the baking is what the business is built on.

That shapes what each place will feel like once you're inside, and how soon you'll actually be ordering there. Lot54 is serving now, Malek's is aiming for 2027, and Fine Bagels so far exists only in an application.

Lot54 Opened at Brickstone, and the Bread Came With It

Lot54 Casual Kitchen opened the week of Sept. 28 at Village Square at Brickstone, 1325 Elmwood Avenue, in the space that used to be Joey B's at Brickstone. As RochesterFirst reported, two longtime Rochester restaurant people built it together. Brandon Wiggins created Amazing Grains Bakery in Fairport and grew it for a decade before selling it a few years ago. David Watkins, the general manager, previously ran Hicks and McCarthy in Pittsford.

Wiggins's background explains the menu. He told RochesterFirst that Amazing Grains "supplied over 100 restaurants with bread on the table every day," and the "salty bread" he made known there shows up often on Lot54's menu. He described the cooking as "regional American cuisine with a lot of Southern influence," drawn from time he spent in South Carolina and Alabama.

Watkins explained to the same outlet why the two of them chose this corner of Brighton:

"We asked, 'What is this area missing?' There used to be Zeb's and other things you could get out here. I don't want to say the phrase 'fine dining,' because I think that gets thrown around too much. It's going to be an elevated experience for dinner. We have pizzas, sandwiches, salads. You can get steak frites here, but you can also get a Caesar salad."

Lot54 opened for dinner first, and breakfast and lunch were scheduled to start Oct. 13. The restaurant's own site now posts this schedule:

• Tuesday: 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Wednesday through Saturday: 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., then 4 to 9 p.m.
• Sunday and Monday: no hours listed

The October report mentioned breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, but the posted hours start on Tuesday, so check the site before you go on a Monday. Sunday brunch is planned for "later this fall." For now, Lot54's dinner service runs four nights a week and its daytime service runs five days. The restaurant also does events and catering, and the site lists a separate events email, [email protected], for anyone booking a gathering.

Malek's Wants the Bakery, Deli and Butcher Under One Roof

Lot54 put a baker in charge of a restaurant kitchen. Malek's Bakery is going further and building a whole market around its ovens.

The longtime kosher bakery sits on Monroe Avenue near Twelve Corners. 13WHAM reported in August that owners Anna and Naf Hanau had closed on a property on South Winton Road. The address is 885 South Winton Road, at the southwest corner of Varinna Drive. The Hanau/Flower City Foods project came before the Brighton Planning Board as an incentive zoning sketch plan on Feb. 18, 2026.

The ownership history explains why the move matters. The Hanaus ran the bakery for Hillel Community Day School in 2024. Their company, Flower City Foods, took ownership of both Malek's Bakery and Lipman's Kosher Market on Jan. 1, 2025. So the company already runs a bakery and a butcher shop. The South Winton building would combine them.

"Next year, in 2027, we hope to move into a new site, which will be a kind of kosher market, and that will be called Flower City Foods, and we will have bakery, deli, butcher — all the things under one roof," Naf Hanau told 13WHAM.

The plans for the building also point back to the ovens. Anna Hanau told the station the new store and kitchen would both have windows. The owners plan to upgrade their baking capacity so they can add products such as focaccia, and they want the space to feel communal. In August, design had taken a couple of months and renovations were described as "set to start soon."

The Monroe Avenue shop stays open until the move. As of August, its hours were 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. The Malek's Bakery site is the place to check for anything newer.

Fine Bagels Filed a Bakery First and a Shop Second

The third project puts the most weight on production. In April, the Democrat and Chronicle reported that the Rheinwald brothers planned a kosher bagel shop, Fine Bagels, in a small Monroe Avenue strip mall near Pittsford.

The details are in a May 19, 2026 application to COMIDA, Monroe County's industrial development agency, published in the agency's May meeting packet. The project address is 2240 Monroe Avenue. Fine Bagels Inc. calls itself "a food manufacturing and retail business" and proposes a $400,000 renovation. That covers a commercial bakery build-out with baking equipment, refrigeration, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and food-safe interior finishes.

The application says less than 30 percent of total project costs go to "the small retail portion of the business." It projects 12 full-time-equivalent jobs over three years, and the request covers sales tax exemptions only. That's a bakery that will also sell bagels over a counter, much like the wholesale side of Amazing Grains that Wiggins described. The filing gives no opening date.

Twelve Corners Is Getting a Different Kind of Food Business

Twelve Corners Plaza shows the contrast clearly. In February, the Brighton Planning Board approved a conditional-use application, with conditions, for Buffalo Wild Wings GO in a 1,550-square-foot tenant space at 1924 Monroe Avenue. The Democrat and Chronicle described it as takeout-oriented, with six seats. At the hearing, the applicant proposed weekday hours from 10 a.m. to about 10 or 11 p.m. and said it didn't expect to stay open past midnight. No opening date has been set publicly.

So within a short stretch of Monroe Avenue, Brighton has a six-seat national takeout concept that's been approved, a kosher bakery getting ready to move off the avenue to South Winton, and a bagel production kitchen filed near the Pittsford line. Of all the new food businesses on this list, Lot54 is the only one serving full meals at tables today.

Two Town Notices Near the Same Stretch

Two town projects are running around the same time:

• Brookside/Brighton Community Center: The South Winton Road parking lot is being reconfigured and repaved for about two weeks starting Monday, Oct. 26. The town says programs continue and the Winton Road entrance stays open. Town notice.
• Buckland Park Playground #1: A Sept. 21 town notice said it was closed for replacement construction, and the town expected the new playground to open by Oct. 31. Town notice.

The Brookside lot work is on South Winton Road, the same road where Malek's plans to land at No. 885.

If you're curious how these openings and moves could shape daily life near Twelve Corners, Elmwood Avenue or South Winton Road, I'm glad to talk through it. Reach out to Stacie Whitbeck and let's connect.