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

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

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...

Posted on February 25, 2010

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

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...

Posted on February 22, 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

Wok 28: Getzville Chinese + East Amherst's Samurai, Updated

Only a handful of Chinese restaurants in Western New York are actually known outside their immediate neighborhoods, and then, the almost complete disappearance of truly distinctive places - the semi-fancy New York, N.Y. and Rita's Crystal Palace, or even nice...

Posted on January 1, 2010

P.F. Chang's: Walden Galleria's Upscale, Semi-Chinese Bistro

Having previously dined at P.F. Chang's China Bistro restaurants outside of Western New York, we've anxiously awaited this week's opening of the Walden Galleria location for months. One of us has liked both the food and the ambience at the...

Posted on October 27, 2009

Spicy Tuna Saves Elmwood's Me-Too Tokyo Shanghai Bistro

We're close to purists when it comes to Asian cuisines, but we make exceptions for certain especially excellent fusion items, and Japanese spicy tuna rolls are generally at the top of that list. For whatever reason, however, the spicy tuna...

Posted on October 25, 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

SoCal Chow: Izakaya, Ramen & Markets, Or, Asian Done Better

Buffalo Chow's editors are serious fans of Asian cuisine: Japanese is a common favorite, but whether we're at home or abroad, our reference points for what's great, good, or bad often come from meals we've enjoyed in Singapore, Thailand, China,...

Posted on September 28, 2009

Ming Cafe: Strong Chinese At A Tiny, Pricey Buffalo Venue

By comparison with other parts of the country, Western New York is value-obsessed: sometimes, we are collectively so fixated on prices that quality becomes a second or third consideration. Consequently, whereas this area used to have a nice mix of...

Posted on September 4, 2009

Local Chinese Secrets: Prince BBQ + T&T Asian Supermarket

"I can't believe what I just saw," said Jeremy from the passenger's seat. "That was a real Chinese barbecue shop. I'm sure of it. Where exactly are we right now?" "Kenmore," Christina responded, "on Elmwood, near Sheridan. You're excited. I'm...

Posted on August 31, 2009

Williamsville's Eastern Pearl Rises From Chang's Ashes

"Cautious optimism" is the trite, overused weasel of a phrase that enables critics to obliquely suggest that they're concerned about something they've tested but hopeful that it will improve. We've read the words a million times over the years, and...

Posted on August 19, 2009

Taste of Buffalo 2009 Guide, Pt. 2: Far-Flung Ethnic Foods

With over 220 items on offer at the 2009 Taste of Buffalo, it's easy for even hard-core foodies to find items that they mightn't have tried before. In this second part of a three-part series on some of the many...

Posted on July 12, 2009

News: Duff's in Depew, Eastern Pearl & Dunkin' Bankruptcy

When local food news is of interest to our editors, we'll bring it to you here. In this week's update: first word on a brand new location of Duff's, an update on The Eastern Pearl, "WNY's newest fine dining Chinese...

Posted on July 7, 2009

D.C. Chow: Blue/bucks & Other Washington Food Delights

By any standard, this past weekend was wonderful - an opportunity to visit family and friends in Washington, D.C., relying both on their expertise and our own past experiences to sample some of the best foods and drinks in the...

Posted on June 8, 2009

Eight Great Local Places Out-of-Town Visitors Should Try

You've probably been on one side of this experience before: a friend from outside Buffalo comes to visit for a few days - maybe longer - and you need to quickly pick some places that show off Western New York...

Posted on May 25, 2009

Imperial Buffet: Cheap, So-So Chinese & A Little Japanese

Sometimes, in doing too many things at once, a place succeeds in doing few or none of them right. At Depew's Imperial Buffet, the latest Chinese buffet to appear in a plaza that has housed at least one such place...

Posted on May 16, 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

News: Spot Coffee's Williamsville Debut, 2 Chinese Updates

After many months of waiting and the unexpected opening of a very good competitor just down the street, Spot Coffee has finally announced the grand opening date for its Main Street, Williamsville location: Friday, May 1, 2009. Even given the...

Posted on April 29, 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

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

NYC Chow: What We Lack From Japan, Vietnam & China

As much as we love Buffalo, we acknowledge its culinary omissions: compared with 15 years ago, the city and suburbs have declined in authentic - underscore authentic - Japanese and Chinese foods, and these days, it's difficult to find a...

Posted on March 15, 2009

Cheap Korean, Bad Chinese at Tonawanda's Seoul Garden

"Cheap food." Generally, those words imply "poor quality," and it's no surprise when that's what you get. But if an inexpensive restaurant surpasses such low initial expectations, it can count on steady business, and perhaps greater things. Seoul Garden in...

Posted on December 26, 2008

A Tale of Two Wegmans, Part II: Mostly Awful Restaurants

As much we love Wegmans as a supermarket - and we do - we really don't like it as a place to eat or take out meals. Walk into certain locations and you'll initially be amazed to find several sushi...

Posted on December 25, 2008

Kauai Chow: On This Hawaiian Island, Food is No Paradise

Writing about bad meals is, at least for us, a joyless affair. Some critics revel in splashing red ink all over the fur coats of sub-standard restaurants, but we hesitate to recall sad dining experiences, doing so only out of...

Posted on December 10, 2008

Seattle Chow, Part 2: Pike Place Market, a Culinary Hub

We won't claim to be experts on Seattle's Pike Place Market, but it's quite possibly one of America's most interesting destinations for foodies. Where else can you see two guys tossing around whole fish, visit the country's first Starbucks, and...

Posted on November 29, 2008

Toronto Chow, Part 1: Sky Dragon Dim Sum + Ikea Meatballs

Bored of dining in Western New York? No. We've been on hiatus for a bit as our other site, iLounge.com, published our 2009 iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide. When a friend came in from out of town, we spent half...

Posted on November 9, 2008

From Asia's Menus, Papaya Crafts Good, Expensive Meals

As we've noted in a prior review, Asian Fusion restaurants - and occasionally their counterparts, Pan-Asian restaurants - confront diners with an initial hurdle. Unless you read a trustworthy review or hear details from friends, it's generally impossible to know...

Posted on September 26, 2008

A Sad, Brief Lament, and Possible Reprise: Chang's Garden

If Chinese food becomes passe in Western New York, as it very well might, we will blame the disappearance of truly classy Chinese restaurants - the once-great Chang's Garden and Rita's Crystal Palace amongst them - for that sad state...

Posted on September 22, 2008

Is Buffalo's Best Chinese Food Now in Canada, at Ming Teh?

At one point, Western New Yorkers didn't need Fort Erie's Chinese restaurants - we just appreciated these places as the closest thing to Toronto's thriving Chinatown we could get without driving further into Canada. Only minutes past the Peace Bridge,...

Posted on September 5, 2008

For Dim Sum, Many Plates at Rochester's Cantonese House

Obsessed as we are with Chinese dim sum - small $2-$3 plates of unique steamed or fried snacks, served on weekends off of special "pick what looks good" carts by roving waitresses until you're stuffed - we're hard-pressed to recommend...

Posted on August 24, 2008

Southeast Asia, Boxed, in Amherst: Ni Hoowa Supermarket

Once the site of a seriously authentic Chinese restaurant - quite possibly the only one in Amherst to offer "frog's legs with foo chow sauce," "assorted sausage bladder skin," "sweet and sour boneless duck hand," and similarly exotic items -...

Posted on July 5, 2008

Bamboo China: Quality Chinese, in a Time Warp

When a restaurant opens up and does a good job, it can continue to grow and improve, or stay pretty much the same. Bamboo China is every bit the restaurant that it was 20-some years ago, a Main Street in...

Posted on July 3, 2008

Peking Garden, or, Why We Quit Dim Sum for a Sandwich

Any fan of Chinese food should know that something's hugely wrong at a local Chinese restaurant when they want to leave mid-meal to grab something at the Subway sandwich shop next door. But that's exactly what happened when we were...

Posted on April 27, 2008

Sun Garden: Once-Authentic Chinese Food, Delivered

Updated! In late February 2009, Sun Garden changed management and chefs, so we've stripped our original 3.5-star rating and updated this review briefly at the bottom. Though we preserve the text and photography from our original review below for your...

Posted on April 19, 2008

Golden Duck, or, Buffalo's Sad Dim Sum & Mongolian BBQ

Maple Road in Williamsville was formerly home to two notable Chinese restaurants: the impressive, semi-formal Chang's Garden, and the smaller, less pretentious Golden Duck. What Golden Duck lacked in sophistication and floor space, it made up for in menu variety,...

Posted on March 30, 2008

Uncle John's No. 1: Real Dim Sum, Albeit Cramped

The elegant and widely beloved Chinese brunch of small dishes known as dim sum, we believe, was not meant to be served in the small, unkempt corner of a tiny takeout restaurant. Every memory and instinct we have leads us...

Posted on March 1, 2008