Getting Normal in Lima NY

^{[jump to itinerary]} When you go to The Normal in the Village of Lima, you’re in for an experience that’s anything but. The tin ceiling and stained-glass windows harken back to the pre-war era, but the restaurant has been updated to reflect a more modern atmosphere. At the same time, The Normal’s branding taps into a nostalgia for all things mid-century atomic: “Brunch at the End of the Universe” is advertised alongside comic-book style renderings of astronauts, super-scientists, and the nuclear family. The owner, Adam, is a warm, friendly guy who remembers you as “the Conesus Lake House people” because you always place the same order: Sandwich #003 and a half-pound of beef brisket. “I like it,” he chuckles. “Brisket sandwich with a side of brisket.”

From The Normal’s website, in mint condition

The Normal doesn’t march to the beat of the every-day barbeque restaurant’s drum. For one thing, patrons order using an app on their phone: there are no paper notepads or punching in orders on a POS machine. Ordering and paying is automated, in a tribute to true atomic-era technology. Flashbacks to HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet — or 1950s housewives showing off the latest “kitchen of the future” — pique your appetite for modern yet retro BBQ. Tipping is also taboo at The Normal, a good indicator that Adam pays his staff properly. The menu offers a variety of meat platters, sandwiches, and sides with a “Swedish twist” (Adam’s ancestral influence is apparent in sides such as lingonberry bread pudding and smoked salmon bagels). To your delight, the beverage menu features unique options for craft cocktails, pop, and local beers not found anywhere else*. No Bud Light here, folks.

It’s like church, but with smoked meats instead of communion wafers.

The day you decide to dine in instead of pick up is a warm spring day, and even on a lazy Saturday afternoon the dining room has a few lively tables. The Village of Lima comes to a point at the intersection of NY-5/US-20 (Main Street) and NY-15A (Rochester Street/Lake Avenue), and The Normal is positioned conveniently one lot in from the corner. Wide sidewalks provide ample room for a few outdoor tables and chairs. There is plenty of street parking on both sides of 15A. One rule you and your companion established from your travels: good barbeque hits you in the nose first. If you don’t smell the smoke from outside, it’s not real BBQ. The Normal certainly fits the bill, its smoky olfactory beckoning to you like the anthropomorphized smell of so many cartoon pies left on the window-sill. You and your travel companion elect for a table inside and settle into a nice spot by the window.

Scanning the QR code for the menu, faint memories come flooding back of those strange times before you moved to Conesus Lake. You don’t have to wear a mask anymore, but you still keep your social distance in public out of habit. You grew accustomed to taking extra precautions with surfaces like menus and tables. A bottle of hand sanitizer has found permanent residence in the console of your car. Ordering cocktails for delivery was a fun experiment back in those days, but you’re grateful to enjoy one on-site again. You opt for the X-Ray Vision, a concoction of fruity spirits and bitters; your companion orders a hard cider. You confirm the order on your smart phone and, like cosmic magic, a server appears with the drinks.

BRLO wild berry cider and the X-Ray Vision cocktail

Choosing meats is a less daunting task than drinks. From your Texas and Long Island days, you’ve narrowed down beef brisket as the main event of any barbeque joint. Your companion prefers straight-up meat by the pound, while you lean toward brisket in sandwich form. The question then becomes what sides to choose. You’ve noticed many restaurants in the greater Rochester region sell “grandma’s style” macaroni salad like it’s on tap — and that’s cool. But in your version of The Joy of Cooking, no barbeque is complete without classic mac and cheese. You order a bowl for the table to share and call it a day.

One taste of the brisket, and you know The Normal makes the top of your best barbeque list. The meat is succulent, juicy, and smoky, with a perfect blend of fatty and lean. The sandwich melts in your mouth with a cacophony of flavors and textures working together in harmony: sweet, tangy, spicy, salty, and smooth all at once. The soft brioche bun keeps everything in its right place. The burnt ends provide a delightful spiced crunch. You’re floating in a tin can far above the world in Lima, New York.

Sandwich #003: Beef brisket, homemade “Arby’s” sauce, caramelized onions, whizy cheese sauce.

When you moved back to rural upstate New York, you had resigned yourself to the fact that good barbeque would be hard to come by. That your prior experiences in the Midwest, lower Appalachia, and the South would set the bar too high. The Normal changed all that. Not even twenty minutes from Conesus Lake House, you enjoy real barbeque made by an entrepreneur not unlike yourself — an individual who saw the potential in this area and chose to build something special for the local community and tourists alike. And despite the space-age ordering system, you can’t help but recognize the man inside the machine: Adam at the helm of his spaceship, boldly going where no man has gone before.

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