New restaurant, Stephen's Loft, opens in downtown Brockport

There's a new restaurant in town boasting a reputable chef and a menu that stands out from other local restaurants. Stephen's Loft is located on Main Street, Brockport next to The Strand in a second-floor loft that has been home to several other restaurants in recent history.

Owners Sandi Holmes and Stephen DeSantis, both Rochester-area natives, are no strangers to the restaurant business. They previously owned and operated Carlton's Four Seasons Restaurant in Albion for the last three years, where DeSantis worked as the head chef.

"It was a struggle out there, because it's such a remote area," Holmes said.

Business was OK at Carlton's, but died completely in the winter, Holmes said. About 75 percent of their clientele at Carlton's was from the Brockport area, so they turned to Brockport when they wanted to start a new business.

DeSantis and Holmes looked at several vacant properties in Brockport, including the building, which previously housed The Smokehouse on the canal, before settling on their current location.

The space was the former home of Chianti's Restaurant, but has been vacant for at least five years.

Holmes said they had their eye on the space each time they came to Brockport, but it was not for lease. However, when one of their servers alerted them the owner had listed the space on Craigslist for a low rental price, they jumped at the opportunity.

After cleaning and painting the space for about a month, the restaurant's opening day was Nov. 18.

"The first week was really good for just being open a short amount of time," Holmes said. "A lot of customers from Carlton's came right along and customers from Brockport were excited to not have to drive to Albion."

Holmes boasts that it's DeSantis' style of food and reputation that keeps customers coming back. DeSantis has also held chef positions at area restaurants, such as Richardson's Canal House in Pittsford and Rooney's Restaurant in Rochester.

The loft space is unique for a restaurant, with three connected dining rooms overlooking Main Street. The terra cotta walls, simple décor and intimate tables make for an inviting atmosphere.

Holmes describes the restaurant style as casual fine dining and DeSantis' food as international, with mostly French and Italian influences.

"He's all over the place," Holmes said about the chef's menu. "He doesn't stick to just one style."

DeSantis creates all items on his menu from scratch and is focused on using fresh, local ingredients in his kitchen. They will soon be changing their menu to a one-page menu and plan to create an entirely new menu every two weeks so DeSantis can utilize what's in season and what's fresh to "avoid bringing in stuff that's been around for a while," Holmes said.

"He does everything from the dressings and his fresh bread all the way up to desserts," Holmes said. "Everything he does is extremely good."

Their menu includes a variety of seafood options, such as dry sea scallops, calamari and parmesan crusted salmon. Holmes said perhaps the best item on the menu are his Maryland crab cakes, a recipe he perfected with a fellow chef when he worked at The Rochester Club right out of culinary school.

"People come from all over for his crab cakes," Holmes said.

The dinner menu is filled with what Holmes described as "comfort food," such as chicken French, chicken parmesan, pot roast and meatloaf. Currently, their best-sellers are the two chicken dishes, Holmes said. When they change their menu some staple dishes will remain, such as scallops, duck, pork, chicken and beef, but DeSantis will change the sauces and ingredients of each depending on what's fresh.

While business is going fairly well right now, Holmes said weekday business is slow and she hopes it will be busier in the future.

Stephen's Loft is open Monday through Saturday, serving lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m.