‘New York’
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.
In the land of Western New York, a great battle is being waged over Americanized Mexican fast food. In one corner there is Taco Bell, perennial favorite around the country. In the other is Mighty Taco, a local favorite with just about as much connection to Mexico as general stability (read: none). Yet, I knew I had to try it out to see what kind of competition it is to the first love of my life.
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.
Buffalo might have a few specialty foods, but BBQ is not one of them. In fact, one of their supposed best spots isn’t even home grown, coming in from world famous BBQ hotspot Rochester. It’s called Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and despite having absolutely no actual dinosaur on the menu (what the hell?!), the little paleontologist inside of me was still eager to find out how good it was.
Throughout the Buffalo area is a place called Jim’s SteakOut, which is known for its subs and tacos, but mostly for servicing drunks in need of something greasy to fill their bellies. Fortunately, there is one in East Aurora that was just waiting for the right moment to get in touch with me. The moment came recently enough, and with a few drinks in me I felt it was time to get steaked out.
The Original Pancake House may not be a Western New York native, but it sure is a local favorite. We had it in Michigan and I always liked it, but I never exactly found it groundbreaking, aside from the smiley face pancakes they used to make. Yet, I figured it was time to revisit the old place (which, by the way, has a fish fry on Fridays) and see what it was like.
Western New York appears to be obsessed with fish fries on Fridays. This, of course, is when places fry up some fish and serve it, and presumably is related to a historically Catholic population and some holiday called Lent. As for me, I usually don’t like fish that hasn’t been fried, so this works out nicely for me. As a newbie to the area, I reached out to Buffalo Eats for recommendations and they pointed me to Swannie House in South Buffalo. Before I even entered, I was a happy man, because the the combination of smells from the Cheerios factory across the way and the frying going on inside made it smell like elephant ears. But let’s move on to the fish fry.
As you may or may not know, buffalo wings originated in Buffalo, New York. And living right down the road from Buffalo, I’m now qualified to know a few things about the area. One of those things is that there is no such thing as Buffalo wings up here. Here they’re just called chicken wings because otherwise it would be redundant. You know, like calling French fries just fries in France. And one place famous for chicken wings is Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora.
Sweet, sweet Western New York, my home for the summer. Where weck is a thing and you better not say you’re in Upstate New York because they might kill you. They also have some sort of professional football team. It’s really a beautiful thing and I plan to eat as much of it as I can while here. Fortunately some friends have told me all the best places to go and I decided to begin with that thing called weck. To do so, I found my way to Anderson’s in Depew. Despite the obvious nod to soft serve in their sign, they also have weck.
We all know I’m a sucker for an egg on a burger. So when we headed to Cookshop in Chelsea for a very special birthday brunch, I had but one option for my meal. It was called the Finger Lakes Grass Fed Beef Burger. While the place didn’t get any points for creative naming, the ingredients sure looked good.