Delaware Avenue & Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY
Web: Taste of Buffalo 2008
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Buffalo Festivals Seafood
Western New York has lots of food festivals, some ethnic, some geographic, and occasionally one or two dedicated to a specific type of food (wings) or drink (beer). Going forward, we're going to cover these events in a pretty straightforward way: we're going to show up, sample a bunch of whatever's there, and tell you about the noteworthy items we liked and didn't like. For the 2008 Taste of Buffalo, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, we've divided our coverage into three parts, starting with seafood because a surprising number of local restaurants enticed us with different takes on a classic: the crab cake. Sure, there were hundreds of other items to choose from, but we've been on a "find some great seafood" kick lately, so we gravitated over to whatever looked especially great in the crab, lobster, and shrimp departments. Here are some of the vendors that were worth spotlighting.
Red Coach Inn: Our top photo depicts the best of the crab cakes we tested at the Taste, a Lobster Crab Cake from The Red Coach Inn in Niagara Falls. While it's hard to do a crab cake wrong, it's equally challenging to make one as right as the Red Coach's version, which was a little crispy on the outside, completely soft and packed with stringy and chunky pieces of peppers, crab and lobster meat inside. The flavor was simply outstanding, and slices of pineapple and melon were served alongside (shown further below) as a fresh contrast.
Forestview: Our first item of the day at Taste was Depew-based Forestview's Pina Colada Shrimp Skewers, which were presented whimsically rather than tastefully - some saw the two shrimp as offered, and wondered whether this interesting sounding dish would also be worth tasting. It was: served in a plain ice cream cone, the coconut-breaded shrimp were dropped headfirst into a sweet, gooey pineapple and coconut dip, which lingered after the shrimp were done to serve as a dessert of sorts. Differently plated, this memorably good item could have won an award.
Bing's: This Kensington Avenue in Amherst restaurant was the first to lure us in with crab cakes, served here with a creamy Remoulade sauce. Though it wasn't the most memorable of the day on size or flavor, Bing's crab cake was served hot, especially crunchy on the outside - almost like a hush puppy - and appropriately crabby on the inside. It also came with a nice but predictable portion of toasted, garlic buttered Italian Bruchetta bread, topped with tomatoes, basil, onions, and parmesan cheese.
La Marina: Still located on Hertel in Buffalo, the seafood restaurant La Marina also showed up with a crab cake in tow, here with a drippy Cajun cream sauce. We liked both the size and flavor of the cake itself, but found that it wasn't served quite warm enough, and the cream sauce added nothing to the experience. We barely gave it the edge over the Bing's version, but preferred the Red Coach Inn take by a wide margin.
Red Coach Inn, Part 2: We actually tried three different items from Red Coach at the same time - the only restaurant that had us so interested in multiple offerings. Our last picture here shows off the Coconut and Toasted Almond Fried Tiger Shrimp, which was served in a cup with an orange marmalade-like sauce. Though the lobster crab cake was a winner this year, this dish won an prior year's Taste of Buffalo award, which is no surprise as it's similarly a sophisticated take on a more common menu item. While we'd rate the tastes of this and the aforementioned Pina Colada Shrimp Skewers as similarly very good, the slightly cooler presentation and ingredients of Red Coach's option demonstrate why it won judges' praise.
Notably Not Shown: Chester's, an East Amherst Cajun restaurant, brought Cajun Boiled Crawfish and delicious Blackened Cajun Shrimp to the event. We've included pictures in the separate Chester's review; though we were familiar with this restaurant before the Taste, Chester's colorful, flavorful items really gave attendees a reason to come and check out its full menu.
There's more to say on the 2008 Taste of Buffalo! See part 2 and part 3.
