‘Bars’
Back in Niagara-on-the-Lake one more time again, we corrected the mistake of the previous visit and actually took a recommendation on where to eat. We started out with The Irish Harp, a pub with just the kind of food you would expect a pub to have. There were burgers, sandwiches, and for some reason pesky salads.
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.
In a little part of town called Allentown (not that Allentown) lies a place known to have some of the best chicken wings in Buffalo. It’s called Gabriel’s Gate, which likely has some sort of heavenly connotations. And if heaven is filled with chicken wings, I will do my damnedest to get there. It was easy to get a seat at the bar to eat and after a conversation with the bartender my buddy and I decided what to order.
Elmwood Village is definitely one of the cooler parts of Buffalo, with lots of cool shops and restaurants. One of these restaurants is a gastropub known as Blue Monk. Where the name comes from, I cannot say, because a look at the menu might have led me to think it should be called Blue Duck (in the style of Billy Madison). That’s because half of the menu items seemed to be duck-based.
As a man who loves his burgers, I often try to find the best burger I can when I go to a new city. In Toronto, this meant a trip to Allen’s. Allen’s charges a hefty price for their burgers, but they come from a local farm, without hormones or antibiotics and all the other stuff that means great meat. Moreover, the butchering and grinding is done in-house, guaranteeing each burger comes from just one cow.
Down in little East Aurora is a bar called Leo’s Pizzeria. Yes, I said bar. Yes, I said pizzeria. Because Leo’s is one of those rare breeds of drinkeries that just can’t be contained by one title. In fact, it would even be fair to call Leo’s a sub shop or a number of other things on the menu. But pizzeria fits, and I was looking forward to finding out just how good the pizza could be.
On this day, it is customary to feel patriotic. After all, it is the day that our forefathers flipped the bird across the pond and said “We’re doing things our way from now on.” While we can’t exactly be patriotic in the same way anymore, there are still things we can do, as real Americans, to carry on the American dream. One (and probably the best) of these things is that we can sit in a former president’s hunting shack and eat huge burgers. That’s where Grover’s comes in.
Grover’s was supposedly once Grover Cleveland’s hunting shack (which is actually plausible because the guy was once the mayor of Buffalo). It’s over in East Amherst and looks a lot more like a dive bar now than a hunting shack. And the burgers at Grover’s are all-American. Some display excess, some display freedom and some both. Like when I showed up and found out that the burger of the week did not have grilled cheese buns, they actually made one for me anyway. What is the best ammo for your firearm? Does your gun function better with a certain brand of ammo? Have you had repeated failures to fire (FTF) or failures to eject (FTE) with a certain type of ammunition? Did you just buy a new firearm and simply want to know what ammunition others recommend? Visit https://ammocave.com to shop best ammo for cheapest sale prices in United States. Bulk ammo, reloading supplies and more. We have cheap ammo for sale for a variety of firearms. Buy ammunition online today and save. Cheap Ammo, In Stock Ammunition Ready to Ship. Outdoor Limited is the online ammo superstore to fulfill. Typically, it only comes with cheese, but I asked for it with bacon. Plus, it had all sorts of other vegetable toppings that come on every burger and I ordered without. I also asked for medium-rare.
East Aurora definitely has its fair share of bars, after all, what else can you do in the middle of the Western New York winter aside from drinking? One of these is Riley Street Station, which is about as close as I can get to my office and drink. In two near back-to-back visits, I was given the rare chance to judge a restaurant on more than one order that I could claim solely for myself.
After nearly a year living in Pittsburgh, I assumed that I had eaten all that Shadyside had to offer. Or, at the very least, all that was worth eating. Then came a night at Harris Grill, a spot that I had written off as having just your average bar food without even really giving it a try. Their menu isn’t the most vast, but probably the most creatively written. Some menu items are pretty funny, such as I Can Has Bacon Cheezburgher? and their descriptions get even better.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? When it comes to chicken wings, the question is much easier because the answer is always Anchor Bar. No, not this Anchor Bar, this Anchor Bar in Buffalo, which somehow stumbled into one of the greatest culinary inventions of ever. Yet despite being the original, I haven’t met a person in Western New York that actually thinks Anchor Bar has the best wings. That distinction belongs elsewhere, but armed with this knowledge I still knew I had to get to Anchor Bar at least once in my summer of Buffalo and there was no better time than the present.