Buffalo is not a new city. In fact, it’s so old that they have a place called Ulrich’s 1868 Tavern. The 1868 means it first opened in 1868, you know, three years after the Civil War concluded and the first year of the Meiji Restoration. So the place is old, and despite some recent renovations, Ulrich’s definitely maintains the old world charm that makes it easy to picture old shipmen in the 1800s hanging out with Buffalo wenches.
Despite the apparent misgivings of my waitress, I decided to have one of their specials for dinner. It was called the Holstein Schnitzel and was basically a variation on their regular weinerschnitzel with a fried egg on top. I picked chicken over veal and while the menu said it came with potatoes, I decided to get an additional side of mac and cheese because it was supposed to be damn good.
Unfortunately, when the schnitzel came out, it appeared to be the veal variety and also had a bunch of sauerkraut. These were both disappointing and although I told the waitress it was the wrong meat, she seemed confused and I just decided to go with it. Unfortunately the kraut juices effectively destroyed the potatoes, but the schnitzel survived for the most part and was pretty good despite being the wrong meat. The egg was perfect and runny, but could not make up for the kraut.
The mac was just as delicious as billed, though. It was perfectly creamy and the noodles were cooked perfectly. If I were to go back to Ulrich’s, I would just load up on mac and cheese. I can’t imagine anything better on the menu and very few things go better with beer in a tavern 146 years young.
