Bingo's Dim Sum House: Amherst's Tiny Chinese Delights

If you consider yourself a fan of Chinese food, two little words may change your life if they haven't already: "dim sum," a Cantonese term for "small dishes." In other cities, these special appetizer-sized items are popular enough to fill...

Posted on March 8, 2011

The Last Year: Buffalo Chow Explains Our Hiatus + Return

Personally and professionally, the last year was fantastic. We welcomed our second daughter into the world. Traveled a lot. Lost all the weight we'd put on during Buffalo Chow's initial two-year run. Decided we weren't going to be anonymous restaurant...

Posted on March 4, 2011

Rocky's Indian Restaurant Joins Getzville's International Plaza

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...

Posted on February 17, 2010

Cheeburger Cheeburger: Amherst's Deluxe Diner Burgers

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,...

Posted on February 11, 2010

Quick Bites: Snyder Bar & Grill, Jojo Bistro + Chipotle Updates

Most of the time, we struggle to condense our thoughts about the restaurants we visit into something short enough for people to enjoy reading, but on occasion, we come across a place that we don't have a lot to say...

Posted on January 18, 2010

Dim Sum At Amherst's Gin Gin: Small Plates, Varying Quality

When we reviewed Gin Gin Chinese Restaurant back in April, we were generally impressed: this wasn't just another takeout-quality Chinese place, but rather a real dining room with a menu that went beyond the confines of Americanized sorta-Chinese food. Obviously,...

Posted on January 3, 2010

Update: Five Guys In 2010 + Replies From Other Top Chains

We were thrilled by the response to this week's list of Ten Great Chain Restaurants Buffalo Should Pursue: readers added many great suggestions, including Yard House, Mongolian BBQ, Legal Seafood, California Pizza Kitchen, and Joe's Crab Shack, amongst others, but...

Posted on December 19, 2009

Chipotle Opens In Buffalo (Well, Amherst); Here's Why We Care

We're going to have more to say soon, but the big food story of the week is one we've been discussing on Twitter: after a soft launch yesterday, national Tex-Mex chain Chipotle officially opened its first restaurant in Western New...

Posted on December 11, 2009

At Carrabba's Italian Grill in Amherst, A Nice Menu, Fine Food

In the world of chain Italian restaurants, there's a middle ground between the ubiquitous low-end Olive Gardens and the uncommon high-end Maggiano's - a territory occupied by mall and plaza places such as Bravo! Cucina Italiana and Carrabba's Italian Grill....

Posted on October 19, 2009

Picasso's + Second Helpings: Zetti's, Eastern Pearl + Sake Cafe

We're unusually crunched for time this week because of our work on iLounge's 2010 iPod and iPhone Buyers' Guide (enter the contest, cast your vote), but we wanted to post a summary of some of our recent local dining experiences,...

Posted on October 9, 2009

Yogen Fruz: It's Not Pinkberry, But It's Frozen Yogurt in Buffalo

If you've been reading Buffalo Chow for the last year, or even the last month, you know that there's a frozen yogurt craze sweeping the United States, and that we're huge fans of the reformulated "Italian" recipe, popularized by several...

Posted on October 4, 2009

U.B.'s New Jamba Juice + Earlier Good Korean, Indian Options

Every two or so months, Buffalo Chow's editors have a "which restaurants is WNY missing" discussion, and three weeks ago, Jamba Juice's name came up on our list. A purveyor of smoothies that can double as full meals, this 729-location...

Posted on September 17, 2009

Update: Duff's Depew + Anchor Bar's Buffalo Airport Locations

As this year's National Buffalo Wing Festival has successfully concluded - more successfully than ever before, with over 92,000 attendees versus the prior year's 78,000 - it's time for a brief update on two franchised locations of Western New York's...

Posted on September 9, 2009

San Marco: Upscale Italian, In Ingredients, Plating, And Setting

Massively positive reputations precede only a handful of Western New York restaurants, and San Marco Ristorante is certainly among them. Considered one of the area's best for the better part of its quarter-century existence, San Marco brought upscale Northern Italian...

Posted on September 7, 2009

At Arby's, Curly Fries & Milkshakes Surpass Sandwiches

Before we say anything else about Arby's, we want to make one thing clear: it mightn't be the biggest or the most popular fast food restaurant chain out there, but we like it. For years, the roast beef-focused Arby's has...

Posted on August 11, 2009

Is Wendy's Content To Be Number 3, Or Thinking Bigger?

Oh, to be back in the 1980's, the halcyon days of fast food - when "burger wars" made the covers of national magazines, and big chains fought to see whose oddball character - Wendy's old "Where's the Beef?" lady, Burger...

Posted on August 11, 2009

At Franco's Pizza, Square Surprises Come in White Boxes

Of the dozen or so foods that just taste different - and better - in Western New York, pizza is probably the one that varies the most. No matter which pizzeria you choose around here, unless you're specifically hunting for...

Posted on July 29, 2009

As At Taste of India, So-So Indian At Buffalo's India Gate

Having spent many hours dining in Western New York's Indian restaurants over the years, one stood out from the rest due to location: Buffalo's India Gate, the Elmwood Avenue location of Amherst's Taste of India. By way of background, we'll...

Posted on July 9, 2009

Yes, It's a Chain, But Bonefish Grill Offers Seafood & Class

Chain restaurants aren't bad by nature, and over the past 10 years, certain upscale chains such as The Cheesecake Factory have demonstrated that patrons can benefit when smart people popularize winning formulas of decor, food quality, and pricing. Amherst's location...

Posted on May 29, 2009

China Max: A Humble Take-Out Evokes a Famed Temple

While the Temple of Heaven might not be recognizable to most of patrons of Amherst's China Max, its visage is impossible to miss on the restaurant's door and menu; in fact, it was the sight of this iconic structure that...

Posted on May 6, 2009

At China King, Cheap, Forgettable Chinese Food In Quarts

No matter how much we have come to appreciate the culinary traditions of Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea, Chinese food will forever have a special place in our hearts. It was the first of the Asian cuisines to really gain...

Posted on May 4, 2009

One Room, Two Bellies, 15 Pizzerias: Buffalo's Pizza-Fest

We came. We saw. We ate - probably too much. And after the two of us had finished nine total slices of pizza at Buffalo Pizza-Fest, a weekend event held at the Hearthstone Manor in Depew, we didn't feel as...

Posted on May 2, 2009

Zetti's: A Wide Variety of Decent NY-ish Pizza, By The Slice

Though SUNY at Buffalo brings plenty of Eastern New Yorkers - read: Long Islanders - to its campuses every semester, it's fair to say that many Western New Yorkers aren't exactly wowed by all things Manhattan. A self-described "NY-style" business...

Posted on April 24, 2009

Fourteen iPhone Apps For Buffalo's Foodies and Drinkers

Every once in a long while, our work at iPhone and iPod web site iLounge overlaps with our coverage at Buffalo Chow, and this is a prime example: an article discussing 14 different food and drink applications for the iPhone...

Posted on April 22, 2009

For T.G.I. Friday's, Glory Days of Flair & Food, Fading Fast

Restaurant critics have ignored chain restaurants for years in favor of local ones, a practice so pervasive that the Association of Food Journalists warns new freelance reviewers to ask their publications in advance whether chains are off-limits. At Buffalo Chow,...

Posted on April 20, 2009

Amherst Pizza & Ale House Offers Huge Plates, Solid Food

We know, we know: we tend to over-order when we're reviewing restaurants, and we were surely overwhelmed on our second visit to the Amherst Pizza & Ale House in Getzville. But who would have guessed that a Buffalo News photographer...

Posted on April 16, 2009

Liquid or Solid, Gin Gin's Chinese Treats Widen Its Appeal

We wish it weren't true, but authentic Chinese food is becoming more difficult to find in Western New York: low-end plaza take-outs with Americanized menus have multiplied across the area, as classier mid-range and high-end restaurants continue to disappear. Thankfully,...

Posted on April 6, 2009

Subway vs. Quiznos: Who Makes Better Sub Sandwiches?

It's easy to assume that local is better - Western New Yorkers know that it's all but impossible to find authentic Buffalo-style wings or pizza whenever they leave town - but is that always true? Of course not; there are...

Posted on April 2, 2009

For DiBella's Old-Fashioned Subs, Fresh Bread's a Big Deal

For a time, Buffalo's sub shops weren't just places that you wound up visiting on the way to or from somewhere else; their submarine sandwiches were, at least by local standards, something close to destination-quality meals. But over the past...

Posted on March 29, 2009

Historic Eagle House Soars With Strong Food, Great Venue

Thanks to a combination of fond memories and less than kind gossip, The Eagle House has been idling on our "to do" list for months. We still recall visiting this 180-year-old restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville back 25 years...

Posted on March 22, 2009

For Surf or Turf, Marinaccio's is Unpredictable, Intriguing

During the many years we drove past this place on Main Street, we knew it as The Little White House - a large, imposing, and historic restaurant that we'd never actually visited. But in 2003, the building was renovated and...

Posted on March 22, 2009

Pricing, Not Flavor, Is Spilios' Grecian Formula For Success

Some restaurants just don't stand out from the pack. Case in point: Spilios Family Restaurant, a 20-year-old Greek and American restaurant on Transit Road in Clarence, which offers a budget-conscious menu and caters mostly to an older crowd. Our first...

Posted on March 18, 2009

For Chinese or Vietnamese, Red Pepper Needs More Spice

If we rated restaurants on pure friendliness, Amherst's Red Pepper - a Chinese restaurant with a Vietnamese side menu - would come pretty close to scoring four stars; on our three visits over the last six or so months, we've...

Posted on March 17, 2009

Palace of Dosas: New Owner Averts a Royal Indian Travesty

As we prepared to drive past the Palace of Dosas in Amherst for what seemed like the twentieth time in recent weeks, Christina asked a fair question: what does an "under new management" sign mean, really? A change in staff?...

Posted on March 2, 2009

More Mediterranean: Natalie's and Rachel's Cafes & Delis

While Western New Yorkers may lack for fancy Mediterranean restaurants, we have no shortage of Greek souvlaki and gyro shops - every Erie County city and town seems to have at least a couple, and Buffalo has many more, including...

Posted on March 1, 2009

Greasy, Passable Chicken & Hoagies at Jim's SteakOut

Oil isn't evil - in fact, disasterous results often await those who try to eliminate it from every possible food: Buffalonians know well that chicken wings and fish fry wouldn't taste the same without deep frying. By the same token,...

Posted on February 15, 2009

Taco-Off: Mighty Taco & Taco Bell vs. Real Mexican Food

Call us food snobs or just critics, but after living in Southern California and honeymooning in Mexico, we can't pretend to be passive about the quality of Mexican food. Once you've had the real thing, it's obvious that there are...

Posted on February 15, 2009

Does Rock Bottom Eatery Serve Buffalo's Best Burgers?

If Ruzzine's Rock Bottom Eatery in East Amherst lacks for anything, it's certainly not self-confidence: the menu's first page touts its banana peppers, mussels, and wings alike as "the best" or "perfection," immediately causing us to wonder if they'd be...

Posted on February 6, 2009

Taco Time: Limited Mexican Menus at Moe's & Salsarita's

Thanks to a huge Mexican population, Mexican restaurants were so numerous when we lived in Southern California that we realized how deprived we'd been in Western New York: our conceptions of this legitimately great cuisine had been based on Mighty...

Posted on February 3, 2009

From Traditional Italian to Modern Updates, Siena Engages

Many people love Siena with a capital "L." Many years ago, it drew crowds as the second restaurant to bring a wood-burning pizza oven to Amherst, and today - without taking reservations - it remains the sort of thriving, impressive...

Posted on January 31, 2009

Vietnam, Writ Small or X-Large: 99 Fast Food Restaurant

Pho. If you don't know it already, learn the word - pronounced "fa," as it has been amusingly co-opted by "What the Pho!" restaurants elsewhere - and know that it describes an increasingly popular Vietnamese beef broth soup, typically served...

Posted on January 25, 2009

At Sheridan Family Restaurant, Comfort Food at Fair Prices

Comfort foods are generally simply prepared items that evoke a sense of home or sentimental appeal. For years, Amherst's Sheridan Family Restaurant has offered such items - fried chicken, broiled fish, roast beef, pork chops, and sandwiches - but its...

Posted on January 23, 2009

Saigon Bangkok's Seconds: Williamsville's Thai/Vietnamese

Reviewing a restaurant based on its opening night is akin to judging a play based on its final dress rehearsal: no matter how expert the players may be, the jitters and uncertainties of performing before a real audience take a...

Posted on January 16, 2009

Down Home Cookin': Cracker Barrel & Old Country Buffet

Old Country Buffet, we remember your Amherst location fondly as the wholly American alternative to the Chinese and Indian buffets we used to love during college - the place we'd go for some good carved ham or beef, fried chicken,...

Posted on January 13, 2009

Palladino's, a Hidden Pizza, Wing, and Garlic Bread Master

The hottest chicken wings we'd ever eaten, years ago, now stand as one of our few indelible memories of growing up in Western New York. We can still picture them: they were a bright, nearly glowing orange. Impossible to eat...

Posted on January 3, 2009

You Want to Know: Western NY's Top Cheap Coffee Shop Is...

As a rule, Western New Yorkers love cheap coffee, a fact that has driven the local growth of low-end coffee and donut shops such as Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts during years when Starbucks was rapidly expanding elsewhere. But which...

Posted on January 2, 2009

Coffee-Off: Dunkin' Donuts, Strong on Drinks and Sweets

If there's any business story more improbable than Dunkin' Donuts' two-year-old effort to take on Starbucks as a serious American vendor of coffee, we can't think of it: Seattle's Starbucks was flying high, opening its 10,000th or 11,000th U.S. store,...

Posted on January 2, 2009

Coffee-Off: With McCafe, McDonald's Coffee Gets Serious

We won't mince words: we don't really like McDonald's. Though there are occasionally items that we don't mind on its menus - the McFlurry remains good, the declining McRib was once a standout, and its Indian-influenced U.K. menu items were...

Posted on January 2, 2009

Coffee-Off: At Tim Hortons, Awful Coffee May Await You

Like McDonald's, we've never thought much of Tim Hortons - except, of course, to the extent that it has become a successful business. As a 45-year-old Canadian coffee and donut chain, Hortons is, like Swiss Chalet, a comparatively smaller player...

Posted on January 2, 2009

Coffee-Off: Wilson Farms' Big Savings, With Compromises

The idea that a Wilson Farms convenience store could be a serious player in the coffee business might seem strange to some; unlike many of its current competitors, it doesn't offer drive-throughs, employ coffee baristas, or even attempt to offer...

Posted on January 2, 2009