All-you-can-eat sushi and more food news

Hi friends,

My favorite kind of dining is getting to taste a little bit of a lot of different dishes.

The popular concept of shared plates is one way of accomplishing that, but it only works if you and your dining companion enjoy the same things. (Take it from someone who likes almost everything and is married to a meat-and-potatoes guy.)

That's why I really enjoyed visiting East Izakaya, the new all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in Victor. The restaurant serves mostly small portions of food, delivered straight from the kitchen, so you can try a variety of items. And you don't have to agree with your dining companion!

The one caveat: sushi rolls are served whole, with eight slices each, and are generously sized. Order strategically.

I tend to be skeptical of all-you-can-eat schemes in general, but I was impressed by what I sampled at its friends-and-family event before it opened to the public.

My story about the new restaurant is here .

Best things I ate: mostly donuts

Zarpentine Farms in Hilton was sold to a local farmer, and its pumpkin patch and 20-acre corn maze is no more. But Kim Zarpentine Francis and Robert Zarpentine, the children of the previous owner, have opened a bakery on the barn on the property. Called Zarpentine Farms R&K , it sells fresh baked goods, most of them baked from scratch and many of them original Zarpentine family recipes. My favorites when I visited: the glazed apple cider donut (right) and the bite-sized apple fritters.

Ridge Donuts, need I say more?

Foodie events of the week

Dan Pashman, creator and host of The Sporkful podcast and inventor of the cascatelli pasta shape, will share stories of his career in food and the creation of his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable , at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Finger Lakes Community College, 3325 Marvin Sands Dr., Canandaigua. A welcome reception will feature samples of Pashman’s recipes, created by FLCC culinary arts students. Book sales and signing will follow. Buy tickets, $45, at nykitchen.com .

The JCC Authors + Innovators Festival (formerly known as the book festival) will be held Nov. 10 to 21 at the Louis S. Wolk Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester, 1200 Edgewood Ave. in Brighton. The festivities will kick off at 11 a.m. Nov. 10 with a cooking demo with Micah Siva , author of Nosh: Plant forward recipes celebrating modern Jewish cuisine . Siva will prepare two vegetarian dishes from her plant-forward Jewish cookbook, with a tasting to follow. Buy tickets, $25 for members or $30 for non-members, at jccrochester.org .

Scroll down for this week's food headlines and I wish you a delicious week.

Tracy Schuhmacher, food and drink reporter

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: All-you-can-eat sushi and more food news