Glory days 

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It’s 2 p.m. on a Thursday when Jackie Powers steps away from the kitchen and pulls up a patio chair outside her restaurant. She checks her phone quickly, then loosens her rooster apron and tucks a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. One more check of the phone, then it’s flipped face down on the table to minimize distractions. There’s an hour left in lunch service, but the usual line out the door has tapered, due in part to the mid-August haze hanging over the city. A few guests remain seated, chatting over last bites of the cafe’s famous cookies.

The cozy dining room is speckled with plants and mismatched tables and chairs, and there are knickknacks on almost every flat surface. The name ‘Orange Glory’ feels apt — everything in the space seems tinged orange somehow, whether it’s the whimsical art by Nancy Diliberto and Peggy Hutchens or the sunlight pouring through almost floor-to-ceiling windows that face out to Main Street. But the name isn't referring to a color (though it is Powers’s favorite hue). Powers spontaneously chose the name of a friend’s cat, which was also an homage to the rock band they once talked about starting under the same moniker.

This is Powers’s nineteenth summer as owner and chef at Orange Glory Café and Catering, which she opened in 2005 at 240 East Avenue in a tiny storefront space beside The Little Theatre (then owned by William Coppard and John and Pam Blanpied, not WXXI). The kitchen was in the basement and there was little-to-no-seating inside, but the cafe’s reputation as a walkable lunch destination quickly grew.

Powers’s culinary journey is a nontraditional one that includes stints at The Little Bakery, in the building that now houses Ugly Duck Coffee, and 2Vine, the longtime fine dining spot on Winthrop Street that launched many a Rochester hospitality career. (In 2019, Redd moved into the vacant space.) Outside of that, her five years as an aesthetician in Atlanta and her college degree in psychology didn’t prepare her to own a restaurant — except, she noted wryly, perhaps with managing people. 

“I really always wanted to be in the food industry,” said Powers. “So I went to my guidance counselors in 1985 and told them what my interests were, and they were like, ‘Listen, find yourself a nice husband you can cook for instead.’”

There were two catalysts that pushed Powers to open Orange Glory 20 years later. The first was Aaron Smith, pastry chef and co-owner of The Little Bakery, who convinced Powers to explore her catering chops using his facilities. The second was a two-week training program in 2004 at famed culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu.

“Going to Paris for the first time, seeing these beautiful pastry displays, cheese shops and bakeries — there wasn’t anything like that at home,” she said. “So I wanted to bring a little bit back here.”

Powers drew inspiration from things she tried in France; first, the ideas for her lentil and spinach burgers, followed by the mushroom artichoke and chickpea and eggplant burgers. Surprisingly, Powers isn’t vegetarian — she simply cooks with ingredients she likes. Because of that, Orange Glory’s menu was an early local offering of vegetarian options.

“I’ll take breaks, I quit eating meat again a month ago, so we’ll see how it goes,” she said. “But as a chef, sometimes it's just like a habit to go, “oh, let’s see what that tastes like, and I eat it and it’s meat and I’m like, oops.’”

She stops mid-sentence to greet a regular.

“Hi, Gerry,” she said. After he walks away, she notes that he was not only one of her first customers, but she’ll still see him multiple times a week.

It’s a common story here, within walking distance from the Eastman School of Music. A group of middle schoolers walking home from the YMCA peeks in to see if their favorite cookies are still in the jar. A handful of regulars will often come in before Orange Glory opens, sometimes bringing their own box of Ridge Donuts, ordering coffee and settling in with the newspaper while Powers and her staff prep for the day’s lunch service.

The “Gerry” that Powers greeted is Gerry Szymanski, devoted OG regular, photographer and Eastman School of Music librarian. It’s because of Orange Glory and Powers that Szymanski began showing and selling his photos around town; she hosted his first photography show, “Play of Light,” at the original space in 2006. 

Like so many, Szymanski first heard about Orange Glory from a friend.

“I knew the space when it was Lulu’s in the 80s, back when I was seeing things like ‘Room with a View’ at The Little,” he said. “It had gone through many failed iterations, so I wasn’t sure, but I was blown away by the amazing chicken salad sandwich I had. And of course, the potato salad was so different from the mayo-covered ones you’d have at a picnic or a German salad covered in vinegar.”

Szymanski quickly became a regular.

“It was the perfect walk away from Eastman,” he said. “In the winter, I'd put on a coat and gloves. It was far away enough that I got off campus, but it was rare that I went there and didn’t know someone.”

Nearly 20 years later — Orange Glory will reach that milestone in April 2025 — the cafe has much the same operating hours (Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.) in an expanded location on 480 East Main Street and, as of June, a newly minted second location in the new Constellation Brands building. Powers was first approached by one of the architects on the project and it ended up being a good fit for all parties. While the building has gourmet kitchens on every floor, they wanted to have an option for outside catering and lunch nearby.

Powers trusts her staff at the Constellation location to function without her constant supervision as she stays primarily at the main location to oversee catering and baking operations. It’s a nearly identical menu, but with expanded hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

Kathrine Hammerl, who’s been with Powers for about two-and-a-half years, is the manager of the new location. Hammerl started her hospitality career at a Pontillo’s in Churchville, and moved back from New York City a few years ago after working in management there. She met Powers through her roommate, Thea Chiarenza, another longtime OG staffer.

“Working here is just a beautiful coincidence,” said Hammerl. “Thea was working a brunch with Jackie and said, ‘do you want to come wash dishes?’ Since I didn’t have a job at the time, I said ‘sure’ — and then I never left. Jackie is the nicest, best boss you could possibly ask for.”

Hammerl also appreciates Powers’s approach to fresh ingredients and her generosity toward not only staff, but the community.

“I love her ideas and what she does,” she said, “It’s fast, healthy and genuinely delicious food.”

As Orange Glory approaches 20 years in April 2005, Powers is reflecting on what’s next. At 56, she’s never borrowed money to start or keep the business, and she’s currently working to bring her spinach and veggie burgers to the wholesale market through the Minority and Women-Owned Business Investment (MWBE) Fund.

“It's in the very baby stages, could be a pipe dream,” she said.

Powers is also a mom of three — Emily, 32, Dylan, 27, and Stanley, 17 — and a recent first-time grandmother. But while her sons are helping with the wholesale strategy, none of the three have worked for Powers throughout the years.

“It’s not a family business,” she said. “I let them do their own thing, have autonomy, go their own way in life.”

Instead, Powers has surrounded herself with a small-but-mighty staff, and many of her friends are also industry lifers. As someone who’s been a force in and watched the hospitality scene for the last 20 years, she is happy the pandemic is past, and cautiously optimistic the local industry will continue to grow and support each new concept.

“We need more casual restaurants with good food,” she said. “Somewhere you can have a special meal, but you don’t have to pay $45 for an entree. At a certain point, you’re paying for the experience or a scene, even if the food is delicious. I like to go somewhere quiet if I’m going out. We need more classic spots.”

Classic. Stalwart. Like Orange Glory.

In two decades over two locations, Powers hasn’t really changed the hours (except to close on Mondays), and she’s adamant there will never be dinner service given the demands of the catering side. Lunch, cookies, catering — these are all proven successes for Orange Glory. And of course, the chicken salad (with grapes, on cinnamon raisin toast, with a hint of honey mustard) remains on the menu.

“I can’t believe I’ve been making it for 20 years,” she said. orangeglorycafe.com

Leah Stacy is the editor of CITY. She can be reached at [email protected].