Beyond wings
Buffalo has much more to entice, entertain visitors than its namesake bar snack.
Being from Buffalo, I can admit it used to be boring. In the past decade, the city has gone through a revival, completely transforming its canalside, dining scene, neighborhoods, and more while embracing the city's history. It’s grown into a bustling metro filled with adventure and has been nationally recognized for its historic hotels and dining scene. You’ll definitely want to have Buffalo on your list of places to visit this year, for many reasons. Note: All locations are within Buffalo unless otherwise specified.
Hotels & Architecture
Our architecture and history pull people to the city. Frank Loyd Wright designed the Darwin Martin House (125 Jewett Parkway), which is open for public tours. The Buffalo Central Terminal (495 Paderewski Drive) was Buffalo’s railroad center from the 1920s to the 1970s and is now used as an event space. The Richardson Olmsted Campus, once an insane asylum, sat vacant for years. It has been transformed into a luxury boutique hotel called Hotel Henry (444 Forest Ave.), even maintaining some of the internal beauty of the original layout like pillars, wallpaper, and more. The Curtiss Hotel (210 Franklin St.) puts you right in the heart of downtown Buffalo and has a gorgeous urban hot spring.
The Food
We have so many foods that we’re known for, from beef on weck (tender juicy roast beef on a salty kummelweck roll, usually with a spread of horseradish) and wings to sponge candy (chocolatecoated spongy honeycomb with a toffee flavor) and loganberry (a very sugary drink). Immersing yourself in the local cuisine, like a char-grilled hotdog from Ted’s (multiple locations around the city) with a Loganberry milkshake, is a great way to try some local favorites.
Beef on weck is delicious from Swiston's Beef & Keg (101 Young St., Tonawanda), Charlie the Butcher (multiple locations), and Bar-bill Tavern (185 Main St, East Aurora). The rolls, coated in coarse salt, are thick so they don’t get soggy, and the meat is flavorful and fresh. Bar-bill also happens to have some of the best wings, and offers a combo of beef on weck with a side of wings.
When searching for the perfect wing, you want the right sauce coverage (including the butter-to-hot sauce ratio), crispy skin and juicy meat. Some of my favorite places that cover all of the bases are Wingnutz (1530 Kenmore Ave.), Gabriel’s Gate (145 Allen St.), and Duffs (multiple locations). Sponge candy is a must from places like Watsons, Fowlers, and Platters (all with multiple locations around the city and in grocery stores).
There’s more than just sandwiches and wings; Buffalo boasts some high quality, fancier dining experiences at restaurants like Toutant (437 Ellicott St.) for high end Southern cuisine; the Black Sheep (367 Connecticut St.) for the best sticky toffee pudding and delicious dishes created from farm-fresh ingredients; and Remington Tavern (184 Sweeney St., North Tonawanda) for chops, fresh seafood, and raw bar items, and cocktails.
The Beer Scene
We have the Niagara Wine Trail very close by for grape lovers and plenty of local distilleries like Hartmans, Tommy Rotter, and Lockhouse, but even with all of those options, we’re known for our beer scene. We have dozens of breweries, putting their own spin on things and creating unique flavors. Froth Brewing (700 Military Road) came out with a line of lollipop beers with bold candy-like flavors and a sour-tart tang. Riverworks Brewing Co. (359 Ganson St.) came out with a line of cereal beers. Not only that, but in the summer, Riverworks' adjoining entertainment space has a zipline through their beer garden that ends with a double zipline, so you can race a friend to the finish line. Loser buys the next round. They also host winter activities like curling and "ale and axes," an axthrowing option.
Things to Do
Speaking of ziplines, there is one where you can go over the Erie Canal called the Niagara Zipper (5 Gooding St., Lockport). There are beautiful hikes in the area, including Chestnut Ridge Park (6121 Chestnut Ridge Road, Orchard Park), and in the winter they have tobogganing shoots where you can rent toboggans or bring your own.
Even just enjoying a hike to the Eternal Flame Falls, in the Shale Creek Preserve, is beautiful at any time of the year. The eternal flame is exactly that: a tiny flame, powered by a natural gas source, one can see through the waterfall. During the winter, you can try curling or ice skating at Canalside’s ice rink (44 Prime St.). For those not good on skates, you can rent ice bikes, which were invented in the area. It is a full bike surrounded by bars to maintain balance with blades, so you can actually pedal on the ice. In addition, they’ve added ice bumper cars which look like big giant tubes that light up in the dark.
If you love boutique shops, check out Hertel Avenue, Elmwood Avenue, Main Street in Williamsville, and Main Street in East Aurora for some of my favorite locations housing some of the best boutiques with affordable clothes and accessories, candy shops, home décor and more.