Our big list of especially excellent Western New York foods, drinks, and dining establishments continues from Part 2 with 20 more picks in this Part 3: inside, you'll find everything from Thai and German items to several novel twists on Buffalo's famous pizza and wings, and some of our very favorite local sushi and cannolis. Whether you have a taste for something spicy, sweet, salty, sour, or savory, you'll find dishes and restaurants worth checking out inside.
60. Thoung Tong at The King and I. Years ago, we fell in love with "Kratong Thong," golden baskets, at Toronto's Young Thailand restaurant; these days, these bite-sized golden rice paper sacks filled with chicken and veggies can be found as "Thoung Tong" on The King and I's menu. We have yet to find this special treat anywhere else locally, and it goes well with numerous other excellent items here.
59. The Frau SchlauBraten, with included Pecorino Cheese and Salad, at Prosit. As much as we enjoyed the schnitzel - flattened, breadened chicken and pork cutlets - the highlight item at the cozy German and Eastern European restaurant Prosit was the Frau SchlauBraten, a massive portion of excellent beef brisket smothered in gravy. Served as a set meal with pecorino cheese and a startlingly good salad made from greens, tomatoes, grapes and dark croutons, the SchlauBraten may well be too much for one person to finish.
58. Chicken Legs at Buffalo Wild Wings. As die-hard fans of traditional, spicy chicken wings, it takes a lot for us to even consider recommending wings from an out of town chain as worthy of a place on this list. But Buffalo Wild Wings' Chicken Legs - particularly when they're sold for 60 Cents each one night of the week - are a surprisingly cool jumbo-sized twist on the wing, identically sauced but two or three times the size. You can pick from 14 different sauces, but the thrill for us is going with a familiar spicy version and enjoying the extra meat a leg has to offer.
57. The Fra Diavolo Pizza at Just Pizza. As much as we lead the cheer for classic Buffalo-style pizza, Just Pizza's truly awesome Fra Diavolo is its match: it uses the spicy Italian sauce from Fra Diavolo noodles, plus hot peppers, sausage, and onions, in one of the very rare fusion options worth saluting outside of California Pizza Kitchen.
55 + 56. Mango Smoothie and Red Tea Chai at Clarence Center Coffee Company & Cafe. When it's hot, we know of no better, fresher-tasting frozen drink than CCCCC's award-winning Mango Smoothie, a tall, bright orange cup that's stronger in mango flavor than we'd have ever thought possible from a liquid. And when it's cold, we drop by this place for the delicious African red tea chai, rich in flavor, spice, and creamy warmth. For some, this might be a long way to go for a drink, but we'd strongly recommend a visit in Summer.
54. Taste of Thai's Pork and Eggplant with Green Curry. As partial as we used to be to a special item here - the Spicy Crispy Duck with Cashew Nuts - Taste of Thai's version of Pork and Eggplant with Green Curry, oftentimes called "Imperial Pork" elsewhere, is a classic: coconut milk and spicy pepper sauce mixed with pork, bamboo shoots, zucchini, green beans and broccoli, then rested atop a plate full of crispy eggplant.
52 + 53. The Sunrise Roll and Shrimp Tempura Hand Roll at Fuji Grill Our appreciation for Fuji Grill's sushi has continued to grow since we penned our review, though two of our top picks have from the beginning been consistently better here than elsewhere: the Shrimp Tempura Hand Roll, which is packed with so much shrimp that it sometimes winds up in twin nori cones, and the Sunrise Roll, an awesome but expensive specialty maki made from a spicy tuna roll with cajun tuna, sliced onions, and bonito flakes on top, drizzled with ponzu sauce. You won't find it at any other local Japanese place, and in fact, you'll have to ask for it by name - it's a secret menu item - but you won't forget it once you've tried it.
50 + 51. Dancing Seafood and Mi Xao Don at Saigon Bangkok Amherst. Though most of the Vietnamese and Thai fare at the Amherst location of Saigon Bangkok is good or great, two special local standouts are the spicy chili and lemongrass glazed, shrimp, scallop, fish and mussel-packed entree Dancing Seafood, and the mild crispy noodle dish Mi Xao Don, served as a yellow nest with your choice of lightly peppered meat or seafood and fresh vegetables inside.
49. Taquitos at La Tolteca. There are four types of Mexican food in the world, three of which are available in Western New York: bad Mexican, fresh Mexican, homestyle Mexican, and classy Mexican. There's plenty of the first and none of the latter in this area, but La Tolteca does a great job as far as homestyle Mexican is concerned, with its enchiladas, tacos, fajitas and nachos all more than passing muster. We'd pick the Taquitos, crisp fried corn tortillas stuffed with beef or chicken, as a consistently impressive item that will surprise Buffalonian palates and satisfy out-of-towners, too.
48. Ming Teh's Chewy Dry-Fried Beef Strips with Ginger and Garlic. There's only one way to excuse the presence of this single, extraordinary dish - a spicy, intensely flavored plate of thin-sliced beef - from a Fort Erie, Canada restaurant on our list of top Western New York dining options: it's so close to Buffalo that you can be there in 30 minutes and remain on American cell phone towers.
47. Pistachio Cannoli at Molinaro's New York Pizza. There's not much to say about this green-colored, pistachio-hinted cannoli cone, save that it's one of the very best we've had anywhere in Western New York; the Italian menu at Molinaro's is a plenty good prelude if you're not just dropping in for dessert.
46. Garlic Bread with Mozzarella Cheese at Palladino's. We really like the wings and pizza from this Harlem and Sheridan take-out, but the thing we have yet to taste better anywhere is Palladino's rendition of Garlic Bread with Mozzarella Cheese - a shamelessly buttery, never once burned loaf with a ideally proportioned cheesy center. As an inexpensive appetizer at a restaurant with other strong items, it somehow manages to justify orders on its own.
45. Fiery Thai Udon Noodle at Papaya. We rarely praise either noodle dishes or fusion restaurants, but we were impressed enough by our meal at Papaya - and specifically the Fiery Thai Udon Noodle dish - that its sweet, rich, and slightly peppery taste remains in sense memory months after the fact. Though you wouldn't find this dish in Thailand, the chunky, thick Japanese wheat noodles go wonderfully with your choice of meats or tofu.
44. Any Italian Dessert, but Really, the Fresh Cannolis, at Pino's. This small, sweet little Italian bakery makes tons of different Italian pastries, but we're partial to the cannolis, filled with creamy, sweet ricotta as you watch - one of several reasons these classic alternatives to the ice cream cone taste utterly fresh whenever you get them.
43. A Pizza Pod at Pizza Plant. Akin to a calzone, this Western New York original reimagines pizza as a stretched football filled with ingredients of your choice, moister and more interesting than the typical pizza due to interesting dough options and the closed shape. It's a classic; just be careful which version you order.
41 + 42. Karahi Lamb and Seekh Kabab Sampler at Kabab & Curry. We once held Tandoori up on a pedestal for its authentic Indian food, but in recent years, it's been surpassed by Kabab & Curry, thanks to dishes such as the hot, cinnamon and cardamom-spiced Karahi Lamb and the sweet and spicy tomato sauced, minced chicken Seekh Kabab Sampler plate.
Our list of our top 100 Western New York foods, drinks, and restaurant picks continues in Part 4.
