SHUFFLE OFF . . . AND CHOW DOWN
There’s more to Buffalo than chicken wings and Cheerios,
BUFFALO— This city smells like toasted Cheerios. Buffalonians get a secret thrill out of the sweet scent of the General Mills plant making the iconic cereal. Heck, they’ve even made T-shirts celebrating this quirky fact. But nobody thinks to tell the tourists to inhale deeply when they’re near the Buffalo River. We love that kind of insider info.
And as far as the buffalo kitsch goes, there aren’t nearly enough photo ops of the shaggy animal also known as bison. Why is the world’s largest buffalo monument in North Dakota and not here? Well, at least the Buffalo Visitor Center has a newish, albeit token, buffalo statue named Roamer. Buffalo should learn to boast. It’s exciting to visit a post-industrial city where you can tour the abandoned grain elevators of Silo City or explore the waterfront on water bikes.
It’s refreshing to eat somewhere where trail-blazing eateries are helping to revitalize patches of the city, where hungry citizens are grateful for every new thing to eat and where businesses are genuinely pleased to serve you.
Brian Hayden, communications manager for Visit Buffalo Niagara, speaks of a “sea change” in the way people view his hometown, and of a “newly found confidence” in a city where restaurateurs are investing and diners are responding.
“It’s becoming so much more diverse and so much more adventurous,” Hayden raves.
OK then, let me do the boasting for Buffalo. These are the things I love when I cross the border — not to shop or watch a game, but simply to eat.
Toast The toast trend makes so much sense, especially when it’s connected to a bakery. At Five Points Bakery + Toast Café (44 Brayton St., five pointsbakery.com), Kevin and Melissa Gardner bake gorgeous wholegrain breads with wheat and other ingredients from local farms. Order toast and watch them assemble plates from quirky, mismatched accoutrements. Blue cheese and hot sauce is an oh-so-Buffalo combination, so go for the extra-sharp cheddar toast that comes with those two things plus sour cream and a garlic pickle. Oatmeal toast with farmhouse cheese and plum cherry jam is simple done right.
Grits I’m obsessed with American grits, possibly because the coarsely ground corn dish has never caught on in Canada. At Sweetness 7 Café (220 Grant St., sweetness7.com), order Megan McLeod’s Stacks, cheesy grits topped with fried eggs, homemade sausage, tomatoes and toast (go for the homemade English muffins). Owner Prish Moran is hailed as a trailblazer for restoring a Victorian building helping build up this neighbourhood full of immigrants, artists and scholars. Her world view is front and centre, from the sign outside that says “Attention Johns, you are being watched,” to the name of the Wi-Fi network (DalaiMama7). “If you’re in a hurry you’re probably in the wrong place,” reads one of the many signs inside. “Thought is free. Indulge,” reads another.
Doughnuts We’ve become so peanut-phobic, it feels naughty to celebrate the legume. Paula’s Donuts (2319 Sheridan Dr., Tonawanda, and other locations, paulasdonuts.com) makes swoon-worthy peanut butter doughnut filled with peanut-butter angel cream and frosted with chocolate. Peanut jelly doughnuts and peanut cream doughnuts also rock and there are plenty of nut-free options. Paula Huber’s family business has been hand-cutting doughnuts since 1996. If you want to be ridiculous, special order the Texas doughnut that serves six to eight people.
Signature sandwich Wings get global acclaim, but beef on weck is an equally deserving Buffalo creation. It’s a thinly sliced, warm roast beef sandwich with fresh horseradish on a kummelweck bun that’s topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds. The “au jus” doesn’t come alongside. Rather, the underside of the bun is dipped in au jus. The best weck comes from Charlie the Butcher, whose slogan is: “Taste what Buffalo is all about.” I like the atmospheric, free-standing Charlie the Butcher’s Kitchen location with picnic tables near the airport (1065 Wehrle Dr., Williamsville, and other locations, charliethebutcher.com) because you’ll often see Charlie Roesch himself working.
Wings (and beer) You could be contrarian and eat anything but wings in Buffalo, or you could just surrender and enjoy them. Gene McCarthy’s (73 Hamburg St., genemccarthys.com) is a tavern in the Old First Ward that does wings and weck and beer well. Get your wings with sweet-and-spicy McCarthy sauce and topped with crumbled blue cheese. The decidedly non-hipster tavern houses Old First Ward Brewing Co., so they’ve got your craft beer covered. You’re steps away from a great view of Silo City and might even luck into a whiff of Cheerios.
Barbecue If you know what I mean when I say barbecue is a noun and not a verb, then you’ll love Suzy-Q’s Bar-BQue Shack (2829 River Rd./Niagara St.), a bare-bones diner along the Buffalo River tricked out with a smoker and atmosphere to spare. “I’ll go grab your plasticware for ya,” drawls a waitress, who hands over food with a handy cardboard “bone boat.” Greedy carnivores like me get three meats (brisket, ribs and pulled pork) and three sides (greens, fried corn, mac and cheese). Suzy’s is only open Wednesday to Saturday, while supplies last, so “when it’s gone, so are we.”
Signature sushi (a.k.a. fancy food) The cheekiest beef on weck variation comes as a sushi roll from chef/restaurateur Mike Andrzejewski. Mike A., as he’s known, at Seabar ( 475 Ellicott St., seabarsushi.com). He wraps beef carpaccio around sushi rice and seared beef for a maki-style roll, which is sprinkled with coarse salt and toasted caraway seeds and served with creamy horseradish mayo. The tongue-in-cheek interpretation was born after a wine-pairing dinner when Andrzejewski and a former sous chef “were polishing off the last of the sample bottles of wine while cleaning up, and stared snacking on leftover trimmings of tenderloin carpaccio and wads of sushi-style sticky rice from another course” and dipped everything in horseradish aioli. They refined this surprisingly delicious creation into a maki roll the next day and have now served more than 10,000.
Also upscale: Doors away from Seabar, Toutant ( 437 Ellicott St., toutantbuffalo.com) serves “new southern” food inspired by chef/owner James Roberts’ Louisiana roots. Oshun (5 E. Huron St., oshunseafood.com) is a slick, sustainable seafood and oyster bar in a former1946 Waldorf Astoria luncheon counter. The Mansion on Delaware (414 Delaware Ave., mansionondelaware.com) offers free “butler transportation” and I took them up on it for the short
journey in a Land Rover to Buffalo Proper ( 333 Franklin St., buffaloproper.com) for craft cocktails and a gorgeous tomahawk rib-eye.
Coffee Coffee nerds should drive directly to Public Espresso + Coffee in the Hotel @ The Lafayette (391 Washington
St., publicespresso.com). The small-batch, third-wave coffee roastery, espresso shop and pour-over bar is run by James and Matt Rayburg and Sam Scarcello. Expect a flagship location soon. For now, enjoy the coffee kiosk in the Laf (especially the funky lounge seating). Fantastic pastries are sourced from other wellloved local businesses.
While you’re here: The Laf was built in 1904 in French Renaissance style, deteriorated into a flophouse and shut down awaiting demolition until developer Rocco Termini restored it into a boutique hotel and apartment building (buffalobrewerydistrict.com/Lafayette). There are several restaurants and bars inside, but Butterwood Sweet & Savory ( butterwoodsweetandsavory.com) has glamorous desserts in a sunny downstairs space that used to be a speakeasy.
Beer (and pretzels) Buffalo is having a craft beer moment with almost a dozen breweries, including some where you can drink and eat. Resurgence Brewing Co. (1250 Niagara St., resurgencebrewing.com) in a transitioning industrial corridor has a lovely beer garden and short food menu. Get warm pretzel stix with three dips to go with your beer flight. More craft watering holes: Downtown, the Big Ditch Brewing Co. (55 E. Huron St., bigditchbrewing.com) housed in a former Verizon Communications service centre has a tap room that’s quite the postwork scene. In Larkinville (see Food Truck Tuesdays), Hydraulic Hearth (716 Swan St., hydraulichearth.com) is a restaurant/brewery with brick-oven pizzas and beer brewed by Community Beer Works.
Soul food I’ve been going to GiGi’s (257 E.
Ferry St.) since I first ate my way through Buffalo in 2001. This soulfood spot, open since 1960, is frozen in time and makes good, honest food with daily specials. Come for breakfast grits and eggs, fried chicken, ham hocks, ribs, candied yams, collard greens, etc. You can’t go wrong with peach cobbler or sweet potato pie. Cash only, just like it’s 1960.
Also worth it: There are a lot of Burmese Buffalonians so try popular sit-down restaurant Sun Restaurant (1989 Niagara St., suncuisines.com) or Kyel Sein Hein in the West Side Bazaar food court (25 Grant St., westsidebazaar.com). The bazaar is a small business incubator for refugees and immigrants and has an international food court.
Poutine The Tragically Hip is playing when I pop into Allen Street Poutine ( 242 Allen
St., allenstreetpoutine.com). Canadian co-owners Jake Fraser and Konstantine Kentros wave the flag when they can. It’s nice to see the vegan gravy/vegan cheese option, beef-on-weck poutine and expanding menu. Get the Buffalo chicken poutine because the buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese work beautifully with hand-cut fries and Corfu, N.Y. (!) cheese curds.
Nearby: Chuck Incorvaia, the “bubble man of Allentown,” apparently blows bubbles from his apartment at Allen St. and Elmwood Ave. While I caught a heady whiff of Buffalo’s Cheerio smell, I never spotted the bubble man in action. At Allen Burger Venture ( 175 Allen St., twitter.com/abvbuffalo) get burger “five” with Jiffy peanut butter, pickled jalapenos, applewood-smoked bacon and white cheddar because it actually works. And order it medium rare, because American health authorities don’t police burger doneness like their Canadian counterparts do and because it tastes better this way.