Buffalo Chow

New Orleans Chow: The Powerful Drinks + Standout Seafood

2010-03-10T13:42:00Z

The parallels mightn't be exact, but we see bits and pieces of Buffalo in New Orleans: in Buffalo's case, years of neglect and decline led to a slow corrosion of the city with some simultaneous growth in the suburbs, while New Orleans was recently hit by a brutal hurricane - Katrina - that humbled a city once nationally revered for its dining and entertainment options. Both places have been digging themselves out of holes; thanks to federal funding and a whole lot of local goodwill, New Orleans' resurrection is proceeding faster. Considerably faster. Our two-part article looking at some of the famous foods and restaurants in this city starts here; the second part will be posted later today.

New Orleans Photo Gallery Posted, Plus A Brief Introduction

2010-03-08T22:13:45Z

An engaging discussion of the experience of eating and drinking in New Orleans could be confined to examples from a several-street radius around a certain corner or two in the city's French Quarter, but in truth, this area is but a microcosm of the city - an especially accessible one. The further one gets from the intersection of Conti and Royal, a set of corners where music, shopping, and eating all seem to run together, the thinner the bars and restaurants seem to become, though some of the most noteworthy are a taxi or mule-drawn carriage ride away. Others are only steps from the touristy and debaucherous Bourbon Street, offering seafood, drinks, sandwiches, and sweets that were invented in the city decades ago, spreading out - sometimes without attribution - all across the United States.

Cajun, Creole + Contemporary Cooking In New Orleans, Today

2010-03-04T19:13:21Z

When we asked Twitter fans for their favorite cajun restaurants in Western New York, only two answers came up: Shango and Chester's. This isn't a surprise, as they're two of only three area places specializing in New Orleans-style cooking, and they were both worthy of including on our Top 100 Buffalo Restaurants list. But how do they actually compare with restaurants in Louisiana? That's what we're going to tell you this week as we pay a long-awaited visit to New Orleans, a city that even today is still recovering from 2005's Hurricane Katrina, yet basking in the glow of last month's Super Bowl victory. "Who Dat?" signs and t-shirts are everywhere, with fleur-de-lis insignias covering everything from Saints jerseys to scarves. The Big Easy mightn't be so easy these days, but it still has a lot to offer, especially for big eaters.

Buffalo's 31 Club, A Classic Reborn With Style And Good Food

2010-03-03T00:25:00Z

Reincarnating an old brand only makes sense when it was truly well-known and well-liked, and the Thirty One Club (aka 31 Club) fits that bill: from the 1940's to the 1980's, the restaurant at 31 North Johnson Park in Buffalo was a favorite of our grandparents' generation - a place where celebrities, politicians, and well-to-do locals could enjoy expensive meals and drinks with classy service. One year ago, it reopened under new management as a "swanky, upscale supper club," featuring "fine dining in a classy environment," and now that the new restaurant has had a chance to settle into the old building, we paid it a visit to see whether it lived up to its predecessor's high standards.

Restored, East Aurora's Roycroft Inn Reflects WNY's Potential

2010-02-28T02:27:00Z

Buffalo has aged. Some of its buildings - particularly homes - have rotted and need to be removed. And there are good reasons to oppose efforts to preserve old structures merely for the sake of preservation. But there are some wonderfully impressive historic sites in Western New York that deserve every bit of attention they can receive, and The Roycroft Inn in East Aurora is one of them. We'll leave the extended history lesson for its Wikipedia entry, yet it suffices to say that this is one of the area's cultural treasures - the sort of charmingly restored piece of American heritage that's worth visiting just for fun - and the fact that it happens to have a really nice restaurant on site is just gravy. Great gravy.

Hamburg's Ginger & Garlic, Or, Useless Urbanspoon Reviews

2010-02-26T00:31:00Z

User-submitted Urbanspoon reviews are bogus. Not all of them, of course, but there are so many red flags these days that even Urbanspoon itself is suspicious: (a) first-time reviewers (b) show up in groups (c) to drool over places that (d) turn out to be decidedly mediocre. This week, more than 20 over-the-top raving posts (sample titles: "The Best Barbecue Ever!!!" and "Yee Haw!") in a surprisingly short period of time led us to Hamburg's Big Belly BBQ - unusually closed four days a week, including the day we tried to visit - so we instead wound up at another supposedly incredible Hamburg restaurant, a Chinese place called Ginger and Garlic. According to some Urbanspoon reviews, it's "the best in WNY!" But to make a long story short, it's not, and not even close. Phony or otherwise ridiculous 'reviews' are amongst the reasons we screen our comments, and why Urbanspoon recently added a "shill" button to its reviews to let readers mark obvious fakes. Even with human screeners, however, it's sometimes hard to know whether the "reviewers" are totally fake, just have limited experience, or are expressing subjectively bad taste.

Quick Bites: Lockport's Indian Grill + Bamboo China, Reborn

2010-02-22T13:49:00Z

We have some big adventures planned for the next few weeks, so we took this weekend easy with visits to two small and affordable ethnic restaurants. One was the Indian Grill Restaurant and Bar in Lockport, and the other was Williamsville's Bamboo China, which closed its freestanding restaurant in 2008 and subsequently reopened as a take-out closer to Snyder. Though we weren't really impressed with either place, and haven't assigned either a star rating, this article takes brief looks at each one and offers preliminary thoughts.

Hucklebuckets: Amherst's O Is Now An Oversized Sports Bar

2010-02-19T14:00:28Z

There's no getting around the fact that Hucklebuckets is an odd name for a restaurant, though it sort of makes sense once you've actually visited the place. Formerly an upmarket Asian fusion restaurant called O Restaurant and Lounge, Amherst's Hucklebuckets has shifted into a lower-end American "family grill and sports bar," serving dishes with a huckleberry barbecue sauce, and using colorful plastic buckets to carry both food and garbage. The changes are initially somewhat jarring, but due to slow service from the kitchen - not a great sign given how few people were in the place when we visited - we had plenty of time to sit around and take everything in. Below, we share our preliminary, pre-rating thoughts on this new venue, which may or may not be updated into a full review in the future; read on for all the details.

A Brief Look At Macarons: The Next Cupcake, Or Just A Fad?

2010-02-19T00:14:00Z

Sweet? Definitely. Addictive? Absolutely. But is the Macaron really about to become the next cupcake? Maybe, maybe not. Dating back a century, the macaron is an almond-based French confection that inspired a high-profile Parisian culinary rivalry back in 2002, began to take off in the United States several years ago, and these days is being described as the cupcake of 2010 - a highly portable dessert that pastry shops can customize in numerous ways and sell profitably for low prices. We're not going to repeat what's in the linked articles, and we're honestly not sure whether anyone in Western New York is actually serving macarons, but after a gift arrived in the mail from a family member (thanks, Beth!), we thought that cookie fans around here might want to learn a little about the sugar world's next rising star before it really hits the mainstream.

Rocky's Indian Restaurant Joins Getzville's International Plaza

2010-02-17T05:01:00Z

Earlier this month, we spotlighted a bustling Kenmore plaza full of Asian food destinations, and this week, a strip mall in Getzville added the brand new Rocky's Indian Restaurant to its existing collection of Chinese, Mexican, and American options. Located on Millersport Highway right next to Elmo's, the venue that houses Rocky's has been under renovation since at least December of last year, offering little clue as to its scale until its covered front windows announced a "grand opening" this Monday. Since Rocky's is literally only three days old as of today, we're posting only an opinionated preview; like all new restaurants, it deserves some time to settle in before receiving a rating and full review.

At Elmwood's Nektar, Splendid Desserts Cap Pleasing Meals

2010-02-14T17:58:00Z

On very rare occasion, a good meal ends so well that we find ourselves anxious to return again immediately, and this week, we had one of those experiences at Nektar on Elmwood in Buffalo. In brief, Nektar presents a familiar American and Italian menu with atypical flare, serving meals that will range from and merit roughly $35 to $50 per person. As always, we'll tell you about this restaurant's look and feel, as well as some of its interesting appetizers and entrees, all of which contributed to a really enjoyable dining experience. But the thing that really sealed the deal was Nektar's desserts, particularly the one featured in the first of our photos, which we'll discuss below. We're holding off on a final rating pending a follow-up visit in the future.

Cheeburger Cheeburger: Deluxe Burgers At An Amherst Diner

2010-02-11T05:03:00Z

There are authentic diners - like Buffalo's Lake Effect Diner - and then there are retro diner-like chain restaurants with retro diner-like food. Most of these chains, like Johnny Rockets around here and Ruby's elsewhere, offer burgers, fries, fountain drinks, milkshakes, and a few items for health-conscious customers, but rarely do any particular item in a really special way. Cheeburger Cheeburger in Amherst is a little different. It is, like the others, part of a chain that sets up faux diners in nondescript locations, and its menu tracks exactly with the items just mentioned. But as reader Caroline said in a tip late last year (thanks, Caroline!), it offers the sort of burger and milkshake customization that will blow a first-timer's mind.

The Pomegranate: Williamsville's Shiny New Kabob/Pita Shop

2010-02-09T06:09:00Z

Two things stand out immediately about Williamsville's just-opened Middle Eastern restaurant, cutely named The Pomegranate: as the latest place to open following a ridiculously slow project to expand Transit Road, it is - like its similarly recent Italian neighbor Amaretto Bistro - sparkling new inside, with ethnic decor touches. And fans of its namesake fruit will love that it doesn't shy away from offering ways to sample the taste of pomegranate: the ingredient shows up in juice, bottles of Vitamin Water in the glass display case up front, a soup, and a stew, conspicuously absent only from the limited dessert options. This list mightn't be enough to get Pomegranate's cooks onto the TV show Iron Chef, but it's a good start - enough for us to write this rating-less preview of the restaurant as it gets established.

Discuss It: Is It Time To Change NY's Old Liquor Store Laws?

2010-02-05T14:00:04Z

When people move to New York from other states - or just come back from extended visits elsewhere - they discover two major limitations on the way they can shop here for wine and liquor. First, New Yorkers can't buy wine or liquor while they're shopping for meals at supermarkets; second, wine and liquor shops here are generally small by comparison with ones elsewhere, and offer far more limited choices. A notable Western New York exception, "The Premier Group," notes that it is "an advertising group" with three individually owned member stores, actually named Prime Wines, Premium Wine & Spirits, and Prestige Wine & Spirits. We really like these stores, and in other states, there are legally operated chains just like them - arguably even better.

Orchid Asian Bistro: Kenmore's Nice Japanese + Thai Option

2010-02-03T05:12:00Z

When you hear the words "hotbed of Asian restaurants and shopping," Kenmore probably isn't the first place that comes to mind, but that's changing: a single plaza on Elmwood near Sheridan now hosts T&T Asian Market, the Chinese barbecue shop Prince BBQ, the more traditional Chinese take-out called Ling Ling, and now a new restaurant: Orchid Asian Bistro. With a sushi bar in the front of a nice little dining room, Orchid describes itself as offering a "fusion" of Japanese and Thai food - a locally unique pairing unless you count the few Thai specials at Buffalo's Tokyo Shanghai Bistro. Since this restaurant's so new, what follows is only an opinionated preview; we are going to hold off on a rating until it's had a proper chance to settle into the neighborhood.