The Buffalo News - Restaurants http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 14:23:50 -0400 Sun, 19 May 2013 14:23:50 -0400 <![CDATA[ Zinger packs a fresh blast at Ashker’s ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130516/GUSTO/130519331/1273
Since it opened at the former site of a Mediterranean restaurant, Ashker’s has tried to become a sort of neighborhood center, with activities – and pricing – aimed at making the place a part of customers’ weekly routines. There’s a boardroom in the store that’s available for community use, open mic nights and so on.

When it comes to the eats, “We try to do healthy, fast and affordable,” said owner Sarah Nasca, who runs the place with founder Angelo Ashker, her boyfriend. Breakfasts, like waffles and omlettes, are served all day, plus sandwiches, salads and more.

It’s $3.99 for 16-ounce cups of freshly squeezed juice blends. The proprietors aim to charge barely enough to stay in business, she said, “so you can come daily or a couple times a week instead of having it be a treat.”

Come they do, for offerings like Ashker’s flagship Zinger, which packs the flavor and nutrients of a whole peeled orange, a quarter lemon, hunk of ginger, two apples and three or four carrots. That’s pretty much hitting for the cycle on the FDA servings chart.

Another popular choice as the weather warms up is the Basil Rejuvenator, sporting fresh basil, apple, lemon and cucumber squeezings.

“We see people sometimes twice a day, if not every day, because we’ve made it so readily available that they can incorporate it into their daily diet now,” said Nasca. “People will use it as a meal substitute.”



FOODIE FIND: Food Truck Eats at Peller Estates Winery

A bonanza for food truck lovers, more than 20 food trucks will gather for ambitious mobile cuisine in a verdant setting Saturday and Sunday in Peller Estates (290 John St. East, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.). The $15 admission includes a glass of wine; food is extra. Limited tickets sold out last year, so buy tickets through peller.com before you make border-crossing plans. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 07:05:52 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Hot fries and more at Cala’s Kitchen in Derby ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130516/GUSTO/130519341/1273
Like its exterior, there’s nothing too fancy about the main dining room of Cala’s Kitchen. The walls are painted a flawless soft sage green, and it is free of the usual decor items – no photos, no shelves, no knickknacks, no nothing. We learned later that the walls were freshly painted, but the effect is so clean and soothing that the owner is considering leaving them that way.

The perimeter of the room is lined with comfortable booths with tables in the middle and a counter set up with padded stools. A TV over the counter was showing a car race on the Sunday just after noon when we visited, but the sound was low and it was not intrusive. The second room, into which we peeked, held larger tables and would be perfect for a meeting or party.

Because the place does just breakfast and lunch, except for Fridays, the menu offers salads, soups, appetizers, wraps and quesadillas, sandwiches, subs and burgers, along with many kinds of breakfast foods. The Derby Morning, two eggs and toast, is a steal at just $3.29, and most breakfast prices hover between $6 and $7. If you want to splurge, there is the 10-ounce strip steak served with two eggs, toast and home fries ($13.99).

The lunch prices are similarly reasonable, with the high end occupied by the $9.99 charbroiled steak Cala’s salad, with mixed greens, three cheeses, egg, tomato, onion, chick peas, olives and croutons.

When I visited with John, Pat and John, two of us went for breakfast and two for lunch. But as we ordered, an item on the menu kept nagging me – “Vinnie’s Original Hot Fries,” a specialty of the owner, Vinnie Cala. Our server told us that they were french fries in chicken wing sauce and “really good.” She said, “People love them.” For $2.99, how could we not try them? She said she’d bring them out as an appetizer.

How good was that plateful of fries? Their preparation was perfect. They were taken out of the fryer, shaken in wing sauce and speedily delivered to our table. The thin, gloriously crispy fries were still steaming inside when broken open, and the wing sauce coated them without puddling beneath them or soaking in. The balance of heat and buttery richness in the sauce was superb and the overall effect was masterful. It’s funny to be so effusive about this simple dish, but both the price and the execution were excellent. Bravo, Cala’s!

The corned beef hash breakfast ($6.99) was served with two eggs, toast and home fries. The eggs were cooked exactly as requested, over medium. The pile of crisp-edged potato chunks were good and hot, and the corned beef hash was formed into a patty that was then browned on the grill, giving it some crunch and extra flavor.

The omelette called a Jambot ($6.99) draws its name from the Italian word “giambotta,” which can refer to a vegetable stew but is also given to an omelette made with sliced Italian sausage, green bell peppers, sliced jalapeños and potatoes. This was served with a side of toast. The jalapeños gave it zip, and the mixture was very good, although I would have added more of the tasty sausage. The thick-cut rye toast was a good complement, if a slight bit darker than well-done.

The chicken and cheese quesadilla ($6.99) was made with charbroiled chicken breast, an extra step that heightened its flavor, topped with melted jalapeño-jack cheese and served with salsa and sour cream. The flour tortilla was toasted and slightly crisp.

The sandwich selections are served with a pickle and a choice of chips, french fries, home fries, mashed potatoes with gravy, applesauce or soup. That’s a great range of choices!

Our final dish, the club melt ($6.99), was the star of the table. The thin-sliced ham and turkey that shared top billing with the bacon had both been grilled before the sandwich was made, topped with American and provolone cheese and a touch of barbecue sauce that added extra flavor without being overwhelming.



Cala’s Kitchen and Catering

Where: 6888 Erie Road, Derby (947-5211)

3.5 pennies

Hours: Opens daily at 6:30 a.m.; closes at 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, at 8 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Wheelchair-accessible: Yes.

email: aneville@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 06:28:50 -0400 Anne Neville
]]> <![CDATA[ The Phoenix adds to Black Rock’s luster – 8 plates ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130515/GUSTO/130519357/1273
Instead of a bread basket, a relish tray arrived, setting the ambitious tone with addictively crunchy spicy pecans, crispy fried tortilla strips, red pepper hummus, California olives, pepperoncini and bread-and-butter pickles.

We looked through the brief menu and asked for black bean soup ($5), polenta fries ($4), roasted root vegetables au gratin ($7), sugar snap pea and barley salad ($7), and a half order of pierogies and kielbasa ($7).

For entrées, Cat pounced on the shrimp and grits ($18) and I asked for the strip steak frites ($17.50). Blackboard specials included liver and onions ($14.50). Besides sides and salads, vegetarians can try penne pomodoro ($12) or the root vegetable au gratin, entrée-sized ($14).

The soup arrived highlighted with a spiral of sour cream and a dollop of salsa, whose fresh-cut crunch and acid highlighted the deeply earthy bean flavor. The beans were only partly pureed, leaving some welcome texture.

The root vegetables au gratin was rustic but restrained, with cubes of tender-but-not-mushy sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots and rutabaga atop a shallow bath of seasoned cream. It was crowned with an unartful tangle of cheddar cheese and red onions, but didn’t need those to win my respect; well-cooked vegetables accented with cream, not drowning in it, did that. We returned to the dish several times before Cat said, “Get this away from me.”

Polenta fries usually disappoint me with mushiness and sauce dependency, but these crispy strips of deep-fried corn mush would have disappeared quickly even without the aid of the spiced lemon mayonnaise. These grown-up Fritos tasted like toasty corn, and packed an audible crunch.

The salad of sugar snap peas and barley brought a warm jumble of julienned pea pods, carrots and diced bell peppers, stir-fried with barley, atop spinach. Arriving with grilled bread, it offered pleasant contrasts of warm chewy grain and cool, crunchy salad, its Asian flavors accented with sesame oil.

The pierogis and kielbasa were decent, though the pierogi pasta was stiffer, chewier than the best versions. Our attentive server swiftly brought sour cream and yellow mustard at our request. The juicy kielbasa disappeared quickly along with caramelized onions.

Cat’s shrimp and grits was a welter of tender medium-sized shrimp, with discs of spicy sausage and sautéed vegetables – spinach, bell peppers, onions – atop a foundation of mild polenta. The grits weren’t overly enriched with cream and cheese, and still tasted like corn. Making sure we got a little corn with every bite, we finished it.

My steak, cooked accurately, was topped with blue cheese, and there was more blue cheese dressing on a small chopped romaine salad. The most striking feature, though, was a great cloud of fried onions atop the steak – perfectly fried, almost greaseless, delicious by themselves but contributing to every bite of beef. The plate was completed with french fries, from a bag, not hand-cut, but another first-class frying job.

My lone complaint about the plate was oversalting – between the onions’ seasoning, the steak’s hearty coat of salt and pepper, and the blue cheese, I got Dead Sea parched. But after our plates were cleared and I spied a stray fried onion straw on the table, did I eat it? Yes I did.

Desserts ($6) included a strawberry shortcake built on a real biscuit, rich and crumbly if slightly underbaked. The apple cobbler offered a granolalike oat topping on thickly sauced apple slices and caramel syrup.

With precise cooking, a comfortable room and no entrées above $18, The Phoenix offers another good reason to come back to Black Rock.Transformed neighborhood bar’s menu is another bright spot in Black Rock

WHERE: 269 Amherst St. (447-1100)

HOURS: 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, sides $5-$12; sandwiches, salads $6-$16; entrees, $12-$18.

PARKING: Lot next to building.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes, through rear.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 06:24:44 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Shiny new Savoy on Elmwood offers nibbles with your sips - 6 ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130509/GUSTO/130509254/1273
The food is where the famous name starts to lose traction, and even become incongruous. The Savoy was where Auguste Escoffier, the celebrity chef and ur-foodie, cooked his way to stardom in the 1890s.

Buffalo’s Savoy is, according to its website, “Home of the deviled egg.”

Its name aside, Savoy’s menu is going to disappoint some first-time customers who don’t do their research: There are no entrees here. The rangeless, fryerless basement kitchen does turn out salads, hearty baguettes on decent bread, and plates of crostini, cheese and charcuterie. A soup or two, and that’s about it.

Which will be plenty to eat for lots of nibble-and-sip types. They’re looking for light plates with their drinks, and it doesn’t have to be Escoffier. (Jellied chicken breast is overrated anyway.)

The tuna nicoise salad ($14) featured well-executed sesame crusted tuna, nutty outside and rare inside, over field mix and a layer of snow peas, with lots of hoopla: grape tomatoes, hardboiled egg, kalamata olives and cashews in sesame-soy vinaigrette. It was fresh, delicious and offered engaging layers of crunch.

The roasted beet salad ($10) sported little cubes of sweet, earthy beets over a forest of baby arugula. Salty dabs of goat cheese and crunchy candied walnuts added moments of interest, but I thought the beets were under-represented. It was a well-tossed salad, however, with excellent dispersal of premium ingredients throughout the foliage.

The brie en croute pear salad ($12) offered oozy cheese inside browned puff pastry atop more field mix, livened with cheerfully zippy spiced pecans and bacon in a maple vinaigrette. It was the most praised plate of the night.

The panzanella ($10) was unlike the tomato-and-bread-centric versions I’ve enjoyed elsewhere. It was more arugula, augmented with caramelized mushrooms, red onions, shaved manchego cheese and 2-inch croutons that were so crunchy I didn’t want a second. No tomatoes.

We tried the soup of the day ($6), a creamy puree of asparagus, and more arugula. Now, it’s partly our fault for ordering all those salads, but I felt obliged to go on an arugula fast after we left.

The basil-garlic deviled egg du jour ($5 for four) was a home-style snack that left a garlicky bite. I do love a good deviled egg, but not a place that takes a half hour to make them appear. With few other tables occupied in the 36-seat room, we were left to sip cocktails for about 45 minutes without a nibble. With a menu that simple, it felt slow.

The baguette sandwiches arrived about a hour and a half after we did. They were well-received. The steak in the special ($14) was rare as ordered, bolstered with apples, caramelized onions and brie. Our vegetarian guest enjoyed her portobello number ($10), centered on hearty rosemary-scented mushrooms and husky with piquillo peppers and goat cheese.

Cat’s prosciutto baguette ($12) was sweet with fig jam and funky with gorgonzola, and she was happy. My meatloaf version ($12) was jazzed up with a tomato spread, with a homey slab of ground beef on more caramelized onions.

Dessert was a chocolate cupcake topped with raspberry white chocolate ice cream ($7), satisfying most of the table with rich brownielike cake and sweet cream. I said I thought it was grainy, and was met with eye-rolling from my companions.

If you’re looking for a stylish space with cocktails and a bite to eat, Savoy’s menu can probably meet your needs, if you have the time.Stylish new Elmwood nightspot offers cocktails, salads, sandwiches and lighter plates.

WHERE: 149 Elmwood Ave. (768-3100, savoybuffalo.com)

HOURS: 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

PRICE RANGE: Salads, $10-$14, sandwiches, $10-$12, small plates and platters, $5-$17.

PARKING: Street.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 9 May 2013 07:57:16 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Out to Eat: Tilapia stack at Left Bank ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130509/GUSTO/130509250/1273
Part of its attraction is the menu drawn from a broad range of cuisines, including Asian flavors, especially celebrated on Wednesday nights, when Left Bank offers a menu with an emphasis on Thai and Vietnamese dishes.

One of the restaurant’s longest-running dishes made its way over to the regular menu from Asian night roughly 15 years ago. The Tilapia Stack ($11) is a vertical playground of textures and flavors that makes a napoleon of crispy fried wonton wrappers, sautéed Asian vegetables like baby bok choy and bean sprouts, and baked tilapia filets. The whole structure is dressed with a warm Asian vinaigrette that brings garlic, ginger and sesame oil to the party.

Then-chef Mark Weatherbee created the dish, originally designed for sea bass, said manager Mailien Chichester. It was originally created with sea bass, she said, but when that species was put on a protected species list, the chef switched it for tilapia, a fish that’s considered sustainable.

Diners who are looking for the same can still get their yen met, at the hands of current chef Zack Gehring. “When we wanted to change our menu, we put the big seller on Asian evenings onto our regular menu,” Chichester said. “It was the summertime, and we were looking for something light and fresh.” Some things never change.

For info, call 882-3509 or visit leftbankrestaurant.com.



FOODIE FIND: Wine Trail Blossoms Tasters can try vintages from 17 Niagara Wine Trail wineries, and collect wine charms from each starting Friday through Sunday. Cost is $40 single, $70 couple. For info: niagarawinetrail.org. ]]> Thu, 9 May 2013 07:40:50 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Delicious food steps out of coffee’s shadow at Spot Coffee ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130509/GUSTO/130509253/1273
We like the original Spot at Delaware and Chippewa as a place to see and be seen, and Elmwood and Cleveland for its outdoor seating in fine weather. But we also enjoy the Spot on Main at Union in Amherst, with two levels of seating and a fireplace for atmosphere. It was this Spot that Paula, Tom, John, Pat and I visited on a recent weekend around noon.

There are no printed menus, but the wall menu is easy to read while waiting in line if you can narrow down what type of thing you’re in the mood to eat. In our haste to get our order in and not impede the line, I missed the chalkboard description of the daily special sandwich, which had at least seven savory vegetable ingredients and sounded scrumptious. My loss!

We placed our order, paid, picked up our drinks and retired to our table amid the ebb and flow of customers of every age, including people dressed for church or for long bike rides, some grabbing a bite and leaving, some camped behind laptops with a single long-empty coffee cup in front of them. Like the other Spots with metal industrial pipes snaking across the ceiling, the noise level can get a bit high at times, but the chatter is invigorating.

Our food – two breakfasts, three sandwiches and two crocks of soup – arrived at the counter at the same time, with the hot food steaming.

We started with the soup ($4.45 for a crock), which on this day was loaded potato. I’ve had some watery, starchy, bland potato soup in my time, so I generally avoid it, but one taste of this flavorful, hearty creation made me regret that decision. This was rich with bacon and sizable, soft chunks of potato. It was offered with crackers or a nicely toasted, homemade breadstick.

The Mike breakfast sandwich is an interesting creation, two pan-fried eggs topped with melted provolone and a smear of cream cheese ($4.95). Choose your bread – white, wheat, bagel, English muffin or foccacia – with the option of adding meat. But this satisfying sandwich didn’t need it. Good creation, Mike!

The three-egg omelet with cheese ($4.95, another excellent price) can have ham, sausage or bacon for $1.50 and a long list of vegetables for 50 cents each. We added onions and peppers and made the cheese Swiss. The omelet was perfectly cooked, solid rather than airy, and nicely accented by the mushrooms and soft red onions, although if we’d been making it at home, we’d have put in more of both. Two thick slices of buttered foccacia bread on the side were delectable, with a wonderful texture, slightly chewy and perfectly fresh. We discussed what this bread is like, and settled on the edge of pizza crust. Now imagine that toasted and buttered – yum!

The roast beef on foccacia ($8.95) was made with melted provolone, lettuce and tomato, and an ever-so-slightly horseradish-accented mayonnaise. The flavorful beef was accented by the subtle kick of horseradish. Our only quibble with this sandwich was that the meat was a bit thin for the price. The turkey foccacia ($8.95) was more generously made, although not overwhelmingly so. The turkey sandwich’s cheese was cheddar and the mayo was plain. Each of these sandwiches was grilled, melting the cheese appealingly. The sandwiches came with a side of chips or salad; the salad was a pile of tender baby greens and red field greens with a light vinaigrette dressing.

The chicken feta wrap ($8.55), on a soft wheat wrap, was stuffed with marinated chunks of chicken breast, feta cheese, dijon vinaigrette, field greens and peppers. It was served without onions, as requested. It was a delicious mix and nicely made.

The coffee, as usual, was beyond compare, and the iced tea was high-quality, too.



email: aneville@buffnews.comWhere: 5330 Main St., Williamsville (565-0200)

3 pennies

Hours: 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

Wheelchair-accessible: Yes.

Note: There are five Spot locations in Western New York, as well as ones in Rochester, Saratoga, Toronto and Delray Beach, Fla. Addresses and hours for each location can be found at spotcoffee.com ]]> Thu, 9 May 2013 07:39:42 -0400 Anne Neville
]]> <![CDATA[ Buffet is a hit at Toni Pepperoni ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130502/GUSTO/130509906/1273
The proprietors certainly have a large influence – they determine the quality and selection of ingredients, the presentation and maintenance of the food stations, and the price. Then they throw open the doors and do their best to keep up.

Therefore, when I tell you that we really liked the white pizza at Toni Pepperoni, which was hot, fresh and delicious, be aware that you may prefer another pizza that was just brought out of the kitchen. Even the number of people in the place at the time you are there can affect your experience.

The good side of a buffet is that if something doesn’t look good, you can skip it and choose something else.

Having said all that, Ruth, Dan, John and I enjoyed Toni Pepperoni when we stopped in for an early dinner on a Sunday. There were several hits and just a few misses, and we certainly got our money’s worth.

We’d been to Toni Pepperoni about five years ago, when it was located on Delaware Avenue in Kenmore. This location, in the Maple Ridge Plaza at Maple and Sweet Home roads, seems brighter and less like a bar than the previous spot. The entryway is walled off from the dining room, with a cashier’s station on one side. The prices are extremely reasonable: $6.25 for each adult, $2.99 for children ages 3 to 7, free for kids under 3. Soda is $2.29, a little on the high side, but you get a large plastic cup and the choices include root beer, loganberry and other exotic options.

The place was well-staffed while we were there, with the kitchen help keeping a close eye on the offerings and quickly replenishing anything that got low. Other staffers roamed the dining room, picking up used plates and wiping away spills.

The buffet is far larger than you might expect. In addition to the 10 pizzas displayed under warming lights, there were two kinds of plain pasta with a cheese sauce, red sauce and red sauce with meatballs in it.

There are also chicken fingers, French fries, a medium-sized salad bar that included potato and pasta salad, and a crock of soup, which on this day was chicken rice. So even if you don’t like pizza – and who doesn’t like pizza? – you could fill your plate happily.

But of course, the reputation of a place like this is staked on its pizza. So how is it?

For the most part, it’s good. The crust is a bit thinner than medium and slightly sweet. There was a thin layer of red sauce, even on the plain cheese or cheese and pepperoni pizzas, and the eater who prefers non-saucy pizza was delighted.

Some of the toppings were exceptional. The pepperoni was the quality kind that bakes into a cup shape with charred edges, and was very good and a bit spicy. Both the Buffalo chicken pizza and the barbecued chicken finger pizza were flavorful and topped with plenty of chicken. The sweet pepper and sausage pizza was an interesting and tasty combination. We were fans of the white pizza, which was nicely spiced and topped with thin slices of fresh tomato.

Not so good was the steak pizza, which, sprinkled with a paltry amount of thin-shaved steak, seemed not to move as fast as other selections and looked dried out. The garlic and cheese pizza needed more garlic.

The mac and cheese sauce for pasta was bright orange but a bit bland. The red sauce was better and the meatballs were surprisingly tender and flavorful.

The chicken fingers were a real hit; tender strips of juicy white meat offered in mild and medium spiciness, as well as with a slightly sticky, but very delicious barbecue sauce.

The salad bar was exceptional, offering three types of crisp lettuce and many fresh toppings, including thin-sliced onions, chopped peppers, croutons and chickpeas.

There were a couple of dessert options, including a cinnamon dessert pizza that was brushed with a buttery topping, and some small dough nuggets with a dusting of sugar. The salad bar also had two crocks of pudding, vanilla and chocolate, both smooth, cool and sweet.

At least one birthday party was going on while we were there, and a back room filled with arcade games attracted some younger patrons. Flat-screen TVs on each wall were tuned to sports.Where: 4224 Maple Road, Amherst (876-8664)

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday through Saturday,

noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Wheelchair-accessible: Yes.





email: aneville@buffnews.com ]]> Mon, 6 May 2013 11:43:05 -0400 Anne Neville
]]> <![CDATA[ Pizza Amore: Gas station eats that are worth a detour ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130502/GUSTO/130509907/1273
On Thursday nights, karaoke night, the fast-food lobby setting is saturated with the amplified voices of tween girls wrestling with Justin Bieber lyrics.

That’s when it might really start chapping your hide that you cannot walk into the next room, the Sunoco convenience store, buy one or more of the beers it sells, and start drinking. Because Pizza Amore is not a restaurant with a liquor license.

Why do I persist in telling you about it? Especially when there are other places that offer the distinctively scorched-to-the-point-of-scrumptious wood-fired flavor, resulting not from wood smoke as much as the browning action in the ferocious 750-degrees-and-up temperatures.

Most of those are fine dining restaurants, though, with exquisitely calibrated toppings applied with authentic restraint. What Pizza Amore is doing is offering the crunchy, flavorful satisfaction of wood-fired pizza crust with a Buffalo-style attitude toward toppings. The average Pizza Amore pie bears so much meat, cheese and more that it tends toward swampy in the middle.

Just the way so many Buffalonians like it.

Consider Pizza Amore’s chicken wing pizza. It’s $14 for a 16-inch large, $12 for a 12-inch medium, $7 for a 10-inch personal size. (All the other pizzas are similarly priced, $1 more maybe.) It’s a tangy, appropriately gooey blend of Frank’s hot sauce, blue cheese, shredded chicken, mozzarella and optional celery – a Buffalo blue-collar classic executed with gusto, at a fair price, on a far better-than-usual crust, a crust I’d eat by itself.

My favorite was the prosciutto and arugula ($15, $13, $8), with plentiful cured Italian pork and arugula applied after the hot pizza emerged from the oven.

The calzone pizza, with tomato sauce, ricotta, fresh spinach, mozzarella and pepperoni, got squishy in the middle with all that moisture, but surprisingly the crust held up. I couldn’t fault the taste, either.

The meatball number ($14, $12, $7), studded with chunks of meatballs made by Perri’s wife and partner Diana, milky with more ricotta, was terrific as well.

For my own health, I put the chicken bacon ranch version and its Italian cousin, chicken alfredo with broccoli (both $14, $12, $7), on my “next year maybe” list.

The brief menu includes baked sandwiches like steak or meatball ($5.95) and boneless oven-baked wings. Yes, there are three salads, all served in plastic clamshells. The “Pizza Amore” version ($5.95) was a fresh pile of spring mix amply populated with feta cheese, dried cranberries and slivered almonds.

The pizza’s the thing here, but when it comes to dessert, Perri’s crew has come up with a good one. Thin strips of dough are coiled around chocolate and marshmallow and subjected to the wood-fired furnace heat, which blisters the marshmallow, melts the chocolate and crisps the dough into crunchiness while cooking it all the way through. Drizzled with caramel sauce, the S’mores Pizza Log ($3.50) serves as a guilty pleasure for two. I have no hesitation in saying it is the best dessert I have ever eaten in a gas station.

Getting the goods for family pizza night? If you’re within a 15-minute drive, you might consider takeout as a break from the same-old corner pie. You might go to get everybody out of the house. If you go on Thursday night, I suggest you bring a carload of tweens, or earplugs, or both.

In Grand Island gas station, a bridge

between wood-fired and Buffalo pizzas

WHERE: 2024 Grand Island Blvd., Grand Island,

775-5975, pizzaamorewoodfire.com

HOURS: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.,

10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri., Sat.

PRICE RANGE: Salads $5.95, sandwiches $3.95-$5.95,

pizzas $7-$15

PARKING: Lot.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes.



email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 2 May 2013 16:38:44 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Gnocchi Romano at Linguine’s ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130502/GUSTO/130509904/1273
Desiderio’s takes on red-sauce Italian classics and other Italian dishes including Gnocchi Romano ($16.95), a dish of house-made potato or ricotta gnocchi served in a tomatoey Romano cream sauce with housemade Italian sausage. (It’s not to be confused with gnocchi romana, a baked gnocchi “in the style of Rome.”)

To make it, he sautés garlic and onion and crushed plum tomatoes, adds a pinch of black pepper, and lets it reduce. Then he adds a couple ounces of heavy cream, and two or three ounces of grated Romano cheese, and lets it thicken up over the fire. “While you’re doing that, your gnocchi are cooking,” he said. “When the gnocchi are done, they go into the bowl, with the sauce, and our Italian sausage cut into pinwheels.”

The chef said his inspiration for the dish came from the years he spent cooking with his father, who owned Desiderio’s on William Street before it was demolished to make way for a highway on-ramp. “My father’s restaurant through the ’70s and ’80s, that’s where I got my start.”

His Gnocchi Romano has been so popular that even though it’s a blackboard special, it never gets erased. “It’s been on our menu probably 13 of the 14 years we’ve been here,” Desiderio said. As far as customer favorites go, “It’s right up there at the top.”

...

FOODIE FIND: Beer for Cats 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday. Mr. Goodbar, 1110 Elmwood Ave. Pay $10 for two 10-ounce Belgian-style drafts, and the money goes to the Ten Lives Club cat adoption and rescue organization. 882-4000. ]]> Wed, 1 May 2013 22:57:46 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Jewel of India brings Indian favorites to Hertel ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130425/GUSTO/130429514/1273
We ordered a plethora of fried appetizers: gobi pakora ($2.95), cauliflower in chickpea batter; samosas ($2.95), pastries stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas; samosa chaat ($5.95), more of those pastries smothered in yogurt, mint chutney and tamarind sauce; and gobi manchoorian ($8.95), battered cauliflower tossed with onions, bell peppers, herbs and tangy chile sauce.

I asked for three kinds of bread, puri ($1.25), puffy fried wheat bread; naan ($1.95), standard flatbread; and alu paratha ($2.95), whole wheat bread stuffed with spiced potatoes.

For entrees, we got chicken tandoori ($10.95), yogurt-marinated roast chicken; and seekh kabab ($10.95), spiced ground beef baked on a skewer. We ordered three curries, coconut-based chicken malai ($12.95), yogurt-based beef josh ($12.95) and lamb mushroom ($12.95), plus the chicken biryani ($12.95), an enriched rice pilaf.

The samosas and gobi pakora, served on the same plate, were lukewarm and soft, lacking the crispness of freshly fried food. The samosa chaat was a tasty mess, but was short on tamarind sauce, letting the yogurt sourness and chutney heat take over.

The gobi manchoorian was a zingy pleasure, with its sparingly applied sweet-spicy sauce serving as able foil to the fried cauliflower’s richness. The sauce meant all the pepper and onions got gobbled up, too.

The naan bread was lovely, supple and slightly charred in the tandoor. Instead of being puffed up like a warm balloon, our puri was flat and room temperature. The alu paratha was chewy, though the potato filling was well-seasoned.

With two servers working that I could see, service was leisurely. Our sizzling platter of tandoori chicken was delivered, but we had no plates. By the time our server returned, three or four minutes later, the sizzle was gone. Everybody enjoyed the chicken anyway, with its charred edges from the tandoor.

The seekh kabab was enjoyable, with tender cylinders of meat in a sweet ketchupy sauce with chunks of onions and peppers.

The chicken malai was a crowd-pleaser with mild, faintly coconut-scented gravy. The beef josh, tangy with tomato and yogurt, had a delicious sauce as well. But the meat in both the chicken and beef dishes was chewy, tending toward dryness, not having been cooked long enough to relax the meat into tenderness. Chicken biryani was moist and subtly scented with cloves and cinnamon, but lacked the rich overtones of the best examples, and the nuggets of chicken were also chewy.

To be sure, getting chewy meat in your curry isn’t unheard-of in Indian restaurants. But the better ones – including Taste of India – usually manage to avoid it. The lamb and mushroom version at Jewel of India did have tender meat that came apart easily with a fork, and plump mushrooms.

Desserts ($3.50) included kheer, milky rice pudding with fat raisins; gulab jamun, a pair of grainy cheese balls fried and soaked in syrup; and mango kulfee, or ice cream, which was a fruity treat despite plentiful ice crystals.

In the end, Jewel of India’s cooking was decent enough for a neighborhood place. Until the kitchen gets more detail-oriented, though, I wouldn’t make a special trip to dine there.Crowd-pleasing favorites fill Hertel Avenue Indian outpost.

WHERE: 1264 Hertel Ave. (877-1264, jewelofindiabuffalo.com)

HOURS: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (buffet $8.95), dinner 4:30 to 10 p.m.

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers and breads, $1.25-$9.95; entrees, $9.95-$19.95. Lunch buffet, $8.95.

PARKING: Street.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:36:50 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Cheap Eats: Frank’s Grille has affordable hometown diner food ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130425/GUSTO/130429513/1273
It was a Saturday dinner date with the Significant Other’s parents and a special guest diner – SigO’s nephew Nate. Since the young lad had plans at 7:30 p.m., we arrived at Frank’s around 5:15 p.m., thinking we’d have the pick of tables. Wrong. The place was packed. Our name went on the list. It bodes well when a place is busy early.

Frank’s is cozy with brick walls and a golf motif. Waitresses hustle and it wasn’t long before we were seated.

Nate, SigO and I jokingly ordered a beer (birch beer) while we discussed our meal strategy.

Frank’s is the perfect family place with loads of choices, many on the Cheap Eats budget. There’s also pizza.

Interesting daily and weekly specials are posted online. Pasta/meatballs with rapini? Ahi tuna sandwich with wasabi mayo? Flounder stuffed with crab? We love an ambitious tavern menu!

In the interest of research, I ordered an Eggplant Stack with Balsamic Glaze ($9.99) appetizer while SigO and Nate decided on a Frank’s Mac & Cheese ($6.99, served Friday and Saturday only). It must be noted our waitress mesmerized us. She took our entire order by memory and never missed a beat.

My huge stack arrived slightly askew on a plate of greens. Crispy breaded eggplant was layered with sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves, finished with a deep tangy balsamic glaze. This scrumptious “appetizer” would work as a dinner.

The behemoth bowl of mac and cheese was just as heavenly. Ultra creamy, it arrived smoking hot with a nice brown crust. SigO and Nate dug in, passing around samples on plates the thoughtful waitress supplied. It would be plenty as a side dish for a table, or as a meal for a very hungry person. A two-thumbs up from Nate (meaning your kids will eat it, too).

Despite the packed house, our main meals arrived right on time.

SigO’s Mexican Burger ($8.29) came loaded with jalapeños, lettuce and tomato. He omitted the sour cream, but lamented that he should have added a cheese. Nonetheless it was cooked perfectly medium, served with a side of piping hot fries.

Nate ordered the special Kobe-Style Beef Burger ($9.99). Topped with American cheese, it was a juicy delight and nicely medium. Both came on excellent rolls, too, not the junky kind.

SigO Pappa went traditional with the Beef on Weck/Wing Combo ($12.99). Frank’s touts its roast beef, which didn’t disappoint. It was a humongous pile of tender meat. There was so much he used a fork, leaving no room to eat any of his five giant wings.

SigO Mom’s Patty Melt ($6.79) was divine. A big beef patty topped with grilled onions, ranch dressing and provolone, grilled on her choice of rye.

My Kyle’s Special Chicken Sandwich was a tender and juicy grilled chicken breast topped with pesto, tomato, hot pepper stuffing and mozzarella. Just enough heat (no burning lips), it was served on ciabatta bread that had a nice, crisp crust but soft interior. Our sandwiches didn’t come with fries, but there were more than enough from the fellas.

Frank’s runs the gamut of Cheap Eats choices from a BLT ($4.99), Fried Bologna ($5.89) and Cube Steak Sandwich ($5.99) to a California Burger with Avocado and Chipotle Mayo ($8.79) and a Citrus Walnut Gorgonzola Salad ($9.99). A single Pork Chop Dinner ($12.99) comes with potato, vegetable and salad. A half Fish Fry ($9.49) is served Friday and Saturday. We are dying to try the Hangover Burger ($8.99) with a Fried Egg, Bacon and Cheese (minus the headache, of course).

And we will soon, as Frank’s is going to be part of our regular rotation from now on.

Frank’s Grille

Where: 5820 Broadway, Lancaster (681-3440, www.franksgrille.com)

Four pennies

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday. Closed Sundays.

Wheelchair Access: Yes

Extras: Go online to see weekly/daily specials. Frank’s After Dark Menu special Monday-Tuesdays after 9 p.m., buy one appetizer get one free. Heated patio dining. ]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:32:46 -0400 By emeri krawczyk

special to the news

]]> <![CDATA[ Try banh mi, Vietnamese sub, at Niagara Seafood ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130425/GUSTO/130429511/1273
Its fillings are Asian-flavored grilled meats, cold cuts, tofu or other choices, accented with crunchy pickled vegetables and cilantro sprigs, just like so many Vietnamese dishes.

Except the goodies are served inside a submarine roll, pillowy inside but with the delicate crunch of a baguette. That is the hard part: getting the bread right. Lately, Buffalo banh mi lovers have been sating their hunger at Niagara Seafood (837 Niagara St., 240-9680), where Michael Nguyen has come up with a source for rolls that are close to the real deal.

There are lots of interesting and reasonably priced Vietnamese dishes on the menu at his grocery-restaurant, like deep-fried marinated quail and grilled pork noodle bowls.

But for only $4.50, you can get an exotic tour of post-colonial Southeast Asia that Nguyen’s place offers in six main flavors.

My favorite is the grilled pork, but there are also Vietnamese cold cuts, grilled chicken, sardine, sunny-side up or scrambled egg, and tofu.

The classic banh mi goes like this: split rolls are toasted, then brushed with pâté and mayonnaise, then lined with protein of choice, pickled daikon radish, carrot and cucumber slices, plus sprigs of cilantro, and sliced jalapeño for heat.

They’re custom-built to satisfy even vegetarians or vegans, though gluten-avoiders are out of luck.

“Any of these items may be omitted, since banh mi are made fresh to order,” Nguyen said. “You can get it the way you like.”

FOODIE FIND: Sweet Indulgence

Wine tasting from three local wineries plus chocolate and other desserts, an art exhibit and live music, to benefit Western New York Artists Group, 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday at 1 Linwood Ave. Cost is $25. Call 885-2251. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:00:57 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ In restaurant industry, high turnover and intense competition ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130420/BUSINESS/130429839/1273 Turnover is always high in the restaurant industry, but the Grim Restaurant Reaper seemed particularly busy here in the past year or so.

O’Connell’s American Bistro. City Grill. Cozumel Grill. Romanello’s South. Tantalus. DiGiulio’s & Co. Solé. Sal’s Famous Pizzeria.

Old and new, cheap and expensive, exotic fare and mainstream grub, they – and a score of other local restaurants – recently closed their doors.

“There’s not a whole lot of room for error in the restaurant business,” said Cindi Thomason, a senior business adviser for SUNY Buffalo State’s Small Business Development Center and coordinator of the center’s Restaurant Institute.

Veteran restaurateurs say there’s a low barrier to getting into the business, with many people deciding they want to open a restaurant because they like to cook, but it’s difficult to succeed in the industry.

Restaurant owners face intense competition, and rising costs for food and labor, and the lingering recession took a toll as more people ate at home or chose to dine out at lower-cost restaurants instead of the mid-tier establishments where entrées cost around $20.

“It’s a perfect storm of things, I believe.,” said Maura Crawford, a veteran of the business who was a partner in Left Bank, Le Metro, Solé and Muse.

However, for every restaurant that closed, another opened – often in the same space, often under the same management.

Experienced restaurateurs say they remain bullish on the industry, but they recognize that even the most successful restaurants can grow stale if they don’t update their menu or their physical space.

“You have to reinvent yourself at least once every 10 years,” said Steve Calvaneso, whose restaurant holdings over the years have included Hooligan’s, City Grill, Bacchus Wine Bar & Restaurant and Libation Station.

Restaurants are a major industry. There are 980,000 restaurants and bars in this country, with 42,610 of them in New York as of 2011, the National Restaurant Association reports.

They employ 13.1 million people nationally – 750,900 in this state, or 8 percent of the work force. Across the country, they generated sales of $660.5 billion, with $33.6 billion coming from New York.

It’s tough for a fledgling small business to gain a foothold in the marketplace, and many restaurants fail to make it past their first, second or third years in operation.

For example, of the 47,292 restaurants that opened across the country in the 12 months ending in March 2005, just 68 percent remained open in March 2008 and only 48 percent were open in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the restaurants that opened in the year ending in March 1995, just 26 percent remained open in March 2012. “There’s a huge failure rate for small businesses,” said Thomason.

Still, the business remains attractive to a lot of people who enjoy cooking for friends and family, or who got a taste for the industry while working as a server or dishwasher.There’s a relatively low bar to enter the restaurant business, and most people who want to open a restaurant have a better sense of what they want to do with the menu than how they plan to operate the business.

Successful restaurant owners have a detailed business plan, are good at delegating and have set up a system for training their employees, said Thomason, who owned a bar and restaurant in North Carolina.

“Anybody who eats thinks they can open a restaurant. Being successful at it is another long row to hoe,” said Donald Will, owner of Will Poultry Co., which supplies hundreds of restaurants in the region.

For one, restaurants face fierce competition from other restaurants that serve the same type of food, from national chains with huge advertising budgets and undercutting prices and even from food trucks and supermarkets that offer dine-in meals.

“It’s a constant effort to make sure you’re financially stable,” said Bob Syracuse, co-owner of the two Pizza Plant Italian Pub restaurants and former president of the Western New York Restaurant Association.

Applebee’s, Olive Garden and other chains offer consistent quality at low prices, including “2 for $20” specials, that independently owned restaurants can find hard to match, Will said. “They can afford to advertise, and they can afford to give away,” he said.

Restaurants offer those types of specials, sacrificing their profit margins in the process, because they need to get people in the door to help pay their bills, Thomason said.

“Fish fries in Buffalo, that’s a total loss leader,” she said, adding the hope is just one person will order the fish fry and everyone else will order something more expensive, along with alcohol, appetizers or dessert.

Restaurants face pressure to keep their prices down even as their costs are rising: for food; for wages, payroll taxes and workman’s compensation; and for rent and property taxes.

Locally, part of the fight to survive includes “Local Restaurant Week,” which runs from Monday to Sunday. For the 2013 spring edition, more than 200 establishments are offering meals for $20.13 and other specials to attract new patrons.Many restaurants saw their business decline during the recession and its aftermath, when people opted to eat at home more often to save money.

The high-end restaurants seemed to make it through the downturn OK, experts said, because the people willing to pay $40 for a steak weren’t worried about losing their jobs.

And the low-priced places did pretty well, too. “They’re cheap, and they get you in and out. The mid-range is where the trouble is,” Will said.

Mid-, upper- and lower-range restaurants can’t stand still, said Syracuse, who opened his first restaurant in 1980 and now has two in Amherst.

It’s not clear whether 2012 and early 2013 have seen an unusual level of turnover, or whether this is the normal churn of the industry, restaurant veterans said.

But an incomplete list published in The News in January recounted 24 restaurants that closed the previous year, while at least 26 opened in 2012.

Some restaurants closed only to make way for another venture in the same space, such as Madonna’s taking the place of Fiddleheads in Allentown.

In other cases, an owner closed one establishment and opened another restaurant with a different format.

Last month, for example, the owners of Tantalus in East Aurora closed that restaurant before renovating their space and reopening as Medici House.

Last year was a year of transition for Crawford, who saw two of her restaurants – Solé and Le Metro in the Walker Center in Williamsville – close while she opened her latest eatery, Coco Bar & Bistro, in downtown Buffalo.

Crawford, who got into the business while working in the late 1970s in restaurants on Cape Cod, Mass., during summer break, later helped to start the Left Bank, several Le Metro locations, Muse at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and Solé.

“I knew the restaurant business was horrible,” Crawford said, but that didn’t stop her.

She pushed herself to exhaustion. In one three day stretch in 2006, she opened the “nouveau Latino” Solé in the Walker Center on a Wednesday, she opened Muse two days later – and on the Thursday in between, she was so stressed out she threw up in the parking lot of the art gallery.

“What the hell was I thinking?” Crawford said.

Over time, she ended up selling out her share or closing all of her other restaurants, whether because of a disagreement with a landlord, differences with a partner or, in the case of Solé, because it struggled following its move to Elmwood.

Now she is focusing on Coco, which she opened at 888 Main St., previously the home to The Eights and, before that, to Campieri’s pizzeria.

Coco is a modern, French-inspired bistro, but it recently hosted a “Game of Thrones” themed dinner. “You have to stand out as something different,” Crawford said.Calvaneso, too, can’t completely give up the restaurant business, which he’s been in since he was 21 and, with a partner, opened a tavern in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood where he grew up.

Calvaneso later opened Hooligan’s, envisioning a series of restaurants under this banner, but said he later grew bored with the concept and converted his first Hooligan’s to Calvaneso’s Cosmopolitan Grille and the second to City Grill in Buffalo.

Calvaneso added Bacchus on West Chippewa Street and Ya Ya Bayou Brewhouse in the Market Arcade complex on Main Street in Buffalo. The struggles of Ya Ya almost dragged down the rest of his dining empire. Calvaneso said the restaurant did well, but not well enough for the massive space.

“It was my biggest gamble and my biggest loss,” he said.

He closed Ya Ya, sold Calvaneso’s and City Grill – the latter was closed by its current owners last year – and has agreed to sell his 80 percent share of Bacchus to his chef.

The space that housed Ya Ya was vacant from 2005 until this year, when Jay Haynes, the former owner of Jay’s Hilltop Bistro in Angola, opened Perfetto.

This is the fourth restaurant to open there since the ’90s, following Breckenridge Brew Pub, Empire Brewing Co. and Ya Ya. A confident Haynes said, “They were just the opening act for me,” in an interview last summer, but Calvaneso isn’t so sure.

“I wish him well,” Calvaneso added.

Calvaneso still has his Exquisite Catering – the exclusive caterer at Babeville, the former Asbury Methodist Church on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo – and he owns Libation Station in Amherst.

He plans to open two other pubs in the town: Bogie’s, in the former Bogart’s on Bailey Avenue, and Blue Bull, on Sweet Home Road across from the University at Buffalo.

“I just think people are staying closer to home these days. And the smaller, low-overhead places are more practical and more manageable,” he said.



Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Fiamma Steak had closed. The restaurant did close for renovations last August but reopened April 5.



email: swatson@buffnews.com ]]> Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:42:04 -0400 Stephen Watson
]]> <![CDATA[ Local Restaurant Week starts today ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130418/GUSTO/130419173/1273
More than 200 Western New York restaurants are offering $20.13 meals and more specials as a way to tempt first-timers. For example: $20.13 will get you lunch for two at Scotch and Sirloin (3999 Maple Road, Amherst, 837-4900), with a pair of 8-ounce steaks and accompaniments, or dinner for two at North Star Tavern (7340 Seneca St., East Aurora, 652-1831).

Whether you use it as a chance to dine on a budget or as an excuse to peek inside a new place while limiting the damage to your wallet, check out the offers at www.localrestaurantweek.com.

Restaurants participating for the first time include Prosit, Boomerangs, the reopened Canvas @ 1206, Epic Restaurant & Lounge and Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar.

At Duke’s (253 Allen St., 240-9359), owner Gabrielle Alfieri said three years of work inside the former corner bar has created a venue that combines live music with full dinner service. It will be three years in July since she and her husband, Patrick “Doogie” Duquin, took over.

Duquin, the former Hutch’s manager and co-owner, built a kitchen into the place, and it’s time for the big reveal, she said. They’ll have a seafood or steak special, plus smoked chicken wings and a “something for everyone” pub menu.

“We’ve evolved so much,” Alfieri said. “It’s been three years of building and renovating, and we finally feel like what we have to offer is up to par.

“We wanted to invite some new potential clients and friends in here and see what we’re doing.”



email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:21:31 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Old Falls Street Deli has room to improve ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130418/GUSTO/130419175/1273
Therefore, I can tell you that we (along with the millions of tourists who visit the falls every year) would have loved a place like the Old Falls Street Deli, run by the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute in a gorgeously renovated section of the until recently vacant and deteriorating Rainbow Centre Mall.

We were especially excited to eat in a place operated by culinary students. Our experiences at such restaurants have always been very positive, with the only drawback being a bit too much attention and detail. We knew that the prices at Old Falls Street Deli were not low – $9 for panini and sandwiches, $7 and $8 for the four salads – but on the weekend at lunchtime when Paula, Tom, John and I visited, we were interested to enjoy some good food and learn more about the program.

Although we had some good food, our overall impression was that they should make some big changes before the tourist season starts. We were served a lunch best described as wildly uneven in quality.

The door to the culinary institute restaurants is on Old Falls Street, steps from Rainbow Boulevard. It needs better signage to attract passers-by. The door opens into a beautiful, arching atrium space, bright and airy, accented with long, sleek pendant lighting and a modern fountain. From this area, which includes about a dozen tables, you enter the deli, the upscale restaurant, Savor (see review on Page 14), and La Patisserie. There’s also a bookstore with cooking gadgets, T-shirts and a limited supply of books and a wine shop.

The deli was staffed by a half-dozen young people, including at least one manager and several students. The large glass display cases show off plates of panini, wraps, sandwiches and salads, and there’s an option to build your own.

The preparations were interesting and unusual. The chicken panini was made with grilled chicken breast, fig jam, boursin cheese and arugula on a baguette; the vegetable wrap included hummus, feta, tzatziki, olives, cilantro, oven-roasted tomatoes and shaved red onions in a tomato basil wrap. There’s also a dessert panini made with Nutella, banana and marshmallows ($8.50).

The make-your-own sandwiches can be on various kinds of bread, rolls and wraps, and the meats are corned beef, roast beef, turkey, ham and salami. We wanted one make-your-own sandwich with half ham and half turkey, not more meat but two different kinds of meat. The person taking the order offered to add a second meat for $2 and in our haste we said yes. More on that later.

After ordering, picking up soft drinks (local favorite Johnnie Ryan included) and paying, we picked a comfortable table in the atrium next to some bright green fake foliage.

The ingredients of the Cobb salad ($8), listed as iceberg, tomatoes, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocado and turkey, were chopped into small, uniform pieces and arranged in the traditional strips. Everything was cold and good, and the composed salad was very easy to eat. The bacon was absent and bits of another meat, probably pancetta, had been substituted. We chose a balsamic dressing rather than the blue cheese, and it was complexly flavored.

Our self-designed deli sandwich, made on foccacia with turkey, ham, horseradish cheddar, lettuce, tomato and caramelized onions ($11) was a winner. This was a towering sandwich on a sturdy but undersized foccacia. Oddly, there was at least twice as much ham as turkey and both lapped over on all sides of the bread. The meats were fresh and delicious, and the horseradish cheddar added a burst of unexpected flavor.

The pulled pork wrap ($9) was made with slow-braised barbecue pork, horseradish cream, fresh cilantro, coleslaw and thin-sliced red onion on a jalapeno cheddar wrap. This was also very good, with an unusual flavor far beyond the bottled barbecue sauce notes of tomato and smoke. It was very tasty, if a bit small for $9.

Also small was the Reuben panini ($9). The first bite tasted like roast beef, the second like corned beef. Pulling the sandwich apart revealed slices of meat that were half-cured and half not. The cured part was the expected bright red color, but when the non-cured part had been heated, it browned like roast beef. It was not good at all.

Worse, when a student came out to ask us how things were, we showed her the two-toned meat slices and gave her our theory that would explain two flavors. Her response was that she hadn’t sliced that meat and wasn’t sure what was going on. Then she left. I know she was a student, but the first day of Restaurant 101 should include the lesson that customer concerns should be addressed.

A small plastic cup of pasta salad and a half-pickle were served with each sandwich. The pasta salad was dried out, tasting as though it had been plastic-wrapped several days before.

We wandered across the atrium into La Patisserie and picked out three pastries to share at the marble-topped tables outside. The almond croissant ($2.50) was fantastic, not too sweet, but rich and buttery. The chocolate eclair ($3) was cool and satisfying, and the salted caramel tart ($3) was out of this world. La Patisserie also serves gelato, and we anticipate that this will draw hordes of tourists this summer.



email: aneville@buffnews.com



Old Falls Street Deli

Where: 28 Old Falls St., Niagara Falls, N.Y. (210-2585)

2.5 pennies

Room to improve

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Wheelchair Access: Yes ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:00:45 -0400 Anne Neville
]]> <![CDATA[ Savor: A touch of class in downtown Niagara Falls, N.Y. ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130418/GUSTO/130419177/1273
The dinner menu is ambitious and playful, packed with premium ingredients handled with skill, and presented with painstaking care. There’s a five-course tasting menu for $75, but I only learned of it with the check. The staff is a mix of pros and students; our server for Saturday dinner said no students were on duty.

From the appetizers, we chose confit duck dumplings ($9) with fried leeks, sun-dried cherry jam and orange crème fraîche, and the soup of the day, carrot ginger ($5).

We asked for the farro salad ($8) with wild mushrooms, fennel, spinach, carrot purée and goat cheese chip; a stone oven steak and cheese pizza with peppers, fresh mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese ($15); and from the pastas, gnocchi with bolognese and fresh burrata cheese ($15).

From the mains, I chose the diver scallops with polenta, fennel salad, pearl onions and basil “caviar” in a beurre blanc ($30). Cat asked for the Maple Leaf duck with kimchi fried rice, fried egg and sesame soy sauce ($22).

When Cat got a glass of wine from the high-flying list ($9 and up) the sommelier offered her a taste and waited for her nod before the pour. Service was mostly tight, with one server disappearance, but her assistant was within hailing distance.

An amuse-bouche came, a morsel of poached shrimp with preserved lemon and celery leaf, shrimp cocktail writ small. Two kinds of fresh, warm bread – classic Italian and an earthy olive-studded loaf – plus buttery extra virgin olive oil, dressed three ways, made for a dipping frenzy.

The duck dumplings were a treat – rich, dark meat filling in surprisingly tender wrappers. Its deeply fruity cherry sauce supported the duck flavor. I could have done without the second sauce, salty duck reduction.

The pizza was handsomely charred from the oven, with a puffy but crunchy crust. Its steak – Meyer Ranch tenderloin – was tender indeed, and a warming jolt from spicy cherry peppers kept us from getting complacent with all the mozzarella and Gorgonzola. We beseeched our server to box it up for us.

We found the ginger flavor in our soup, but lost sight of the carrot. Despite its welcome accents of fresh mint and orange segments, the silky purée needed more character.

The farro salad looked better than it tasted, with the al dente grain asking for a more assertive dressing. It came encircled by a dehydrated raspberry strip that the server likened to a fruit roll-up, except it was chewier, more like raspberry jerky. Dabs of carrot added color but little flavor and the goat cheese chip was limp.

The gnocchi were light, almost airy, and served as a fitting context for the soft, warm hug of long-simmered bolognese, tender meat accented with tomato. The milky-tasting burrata on top had been fired to melt it over the dumplings.

Cat’s duck was tender and cooked accurately, and the kimchi fried rice was perked up with pickled vegetables. But it verged on oversalty, even before applying the thick, sweet soy that comes on the side.

The scallops plate was a thing of beauty. I was relieved to find the taste backed it up, for the most part. The little green pearls of basil caviar perched on the perfectly seared scallops actually tasted like fresh basil. The beurre blanc was light yet hinted at luxuriousness.

The fennel salad atop griddled polenta cake at the plate’s center needed something more acidic to perk it up. A scallop was sandy. Otherwise, it was an accomplishment.

For dessert ($8 each), we had a lemon cake overwhelmed by too much white chocolate, but accompanied by a terrific grapefruit sorbet, and cherry bombe, with vibrant cherry sorbet and chocolate mousse on a chocolate cake base, enlivened with crunchy cocoa nibs.

It was the best meal I’ve ever had that allowed a stroll past the mighty cataracts as a digestif.Culinary institute’s fine dining place stands out in downtown Niagara Falls.

WHERE: 28 Old Falls St., Niagara Falls, N.Y. (nfculinary.org, 210-2580)

HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

PRICE RANGE: Dinner starters, $5-$15; pizzas and pastas, $10-$16; entrees, $22-$34.

PARKING: On Old Falls Street, or at the southernmost end of the parking garage.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:56:59 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ Second Helpings ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130418/GUSTO/130419174/1273 Perfetto (April 11) 617 Main St. (768-3728, www.perfettoonmain.com). Fine dining Italian newcomer to Theater District could use more rehearsals. 6 plates

Manakeesh and More (April 4) 1150 Hertel Ave. (348-7184). Outstanding values in Middle Eastern favorites from Palestinian family’s small bakery. 7 plates

Rizotto Ristorante (March 28) 930 Maple Road, Amherst (204-4455, www.rizottoristorante.com). Surprises and satisfaction abound at Rizzo family’s upscale establishment. 8 plates

Longhorn Steakhouse (March 21) 3494 Amelia Drive, Orchard Park (825-1378, www.longhornsteakhouse.com). Western-themed chain restaurant offers generous servings, value-priced meals. 6 plates

The Hollow Bistro and Brew (March 14) 10641 Main St., Clarence (759-7351, www.thehollowclarence.com). International flavors spice up menu of familiar dishes at former sweets shop. 8 plates

Polish Villa II (March 7) 1085 Harlem Road, Cheektowaga (822-4908, www.thevilla.biz). Family restaurant hits grand slam of appealing food, decor, service and value. 9 plates

Desperados (March 1) 29 Commerical St., Angola (549-5413, www.desperadosbarbecue.com). Tender pork and hearty side dishes headline at Angola’s barbecue outpost. 7 plates

Wok & Roll (Feb. 22) 5467 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (631-8880, www.thewokandroll.com). Explore the Cantonese delights at plaza Chinese place. 7 plates

Yolo (Feb. 15) 5841 Transit Road, East Amherst (688-4479, www.yolobuffalony.com). Bistro draws crowd with promising, diverse menu. 7 plates

Serene Gardens (Feb. 8) 2800 Grand Island Blvd., Grand Island (773-5323, www.serene-gardens.com). Japanese cuisine has taken root with broad menu in garden center. 7 plates

The Lenox Grill (Feb. 1) 140 North St. (884-1700, www.lenoxgrill.com). Revamped hotel restaurant offers pub food and more until the wee hours. 6 plates

Madonna’s (Jan. 25) 62 Allen St. (768-1401). New Italian restaurant offers hearty dishes, many sized for two. 7 plates

Gertie’s (Jan. 18) 6010 Goodrich Road, Clarence Center (741-1311, www.gertiesrestaurant.com). Clarence Center lunch spot offers three nights of satisfying, comforting dinner options. 8 plates

Break’n Eggs Creperie (Jan. 11) 5235 Main St., Williamsville (634-3447). Focus is on quality, not quantity at detail-oriented breakfast specialist. 7 plates

Taisho Bistro (Jan. 4, 2013) 3332 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (835-8088). Expand your Japanese vocabulary with fun-sized dishes at snazzy eatery. 8 plates

– Ratings based on 10 plates. Reviews by Andrew Z. Galarneau ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:50:11 -0400 <![CDATA[ Chefs show their chops at Taste of Culinary ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130418/GUSTO/130419176/1273
Not Taste of Culinary. Powered by the cooking chops of professional chefs looking to outdo each other and the energy of local culinary students, in its seventh year it has earned a reputation as one of the premier fundraiser menus of the year. It’s raising cash for the American Culinary Federation’s Greater Buffalo chapter, which provides programs and mentorship for culinary students in Western New York programs.

Richard Semonian, chef-owner of Amaretto Bistro, will be serving his Amaretto scallops with lemon-dressed arugula. “I think it’s a great event,” he said. “Plus I think our scallops will be a big hit.”

For $30, you can take the royal tour. House-cured mackerel and smoked oysters from Seneca Allegany Casino. Authentic tonkotsu ramen from the Park Country Club. Elvis ice cream (peanut butter, bacon, banana) from the Saturn Club. Plus at least 20 more palate pitches from seasoned chefs and students.

It’s from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in the Hotel @ the Lafayette (391 Washington St.). Tickets are through tasteofculinary.com.

•••

FOODIE FIND:

Desserts and Wine in the Stacks

Wine for the adults, gummy candy for the kids and desserts for all from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in the Youngstown Free Library (240 Lockport St., Youngstown). Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 door. Visit www.youngstownfreelibrary.org or call 745-3555. ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:49:15 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
]]> <![CDATA[ In Focus: Jerry Scharf, Local Restaurant Week ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130417/CITYANDREGION/130419297/1273
As the industry prepares to launch Local Restaurant Week on Monday, the owner of one participating business thanks a supportive community for convincing him to call off plans to close.

Jerry Scharf operates Scharf’s Schiller Park restaurant on South Crossman Street, one of the area’s last remaining authentic German taverns.

He talks with The Buffalo News’ Brian Meyer about a volatile industry and the importance of Local Restaurant Week. Here is a summary of some of the issues that is part of the weekly “In Focus” series.

Meyer: You almost closed last summer. What prevented you from going dark?

Scharf: The overwhelming response of Western New York. The people just came through in masses. We’ve never seen that kind of volume before.

Meyer: Did they stay, though?

Scharf: I’ve had people that said: “We used to come like once a year, now we’re coming maybe every couple months just to make sure that we can keep you going.”

Meyer: You are one of about 200 local restaurants that are participating in Restaurant Week, April 22-28. How important is this type of an event as it relates to generating long-term customers?

Scharf: I find a large number of new customers that come through that do come back. You win them over with your specials and your cuisine. If you can save people [money] and they feel they’re getting a good value for their dollar, they will come back again.

Meyer: A lot of restaurants are doing the $20.13 [specials].

Scharf: Exactly, For lunches we do two meals for [$20.13]. For dinner, we do almost a full-course dinner for [$20.13].

Meyer: You mentioned the chains. Deep-pocketed corporations in almost all instances. Many times, if not most times, with locations near the malls ... Is it a losing battle for the small, family-owned independent?

Scharf: I think it’s what caused us ... to be close to going under. Because our neighborhood really doesn’t have all the shops, the mom-and-pop stores that used to draw people to the neighborhood. At one time, you used to be able to get everything on Genesee Street. Now, there are other businesses there which people [who] are our customers wouldn’t frequent.

Meyer: You said [before the interview] that “the restaurant business isn’t nearly as fun as when my mom was running it.”

Scharf: That’s the truth ... there’s more regulation. You are being scrutinized a lot tighter by government and by the health department. It’s really gotten a lot tougher. It used to be a lot easier for her in her days. And she put in long hours. She was open until four in the morning and back down here at eight o’clock in the morning cooking. But she had more fun doing that than us with the shortened hours ...

Meyer: There’s a lot of talk, at least in some circles, about the momentum that we see in some pockets of Buffalo. Canalside. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The Elmwood [Village], etc. Do you see any momentum [in Schiller Park]?

Scharf: I see stability here. It has not gotten that bad yet. There are still businesses on Genesee Street. They just cater to a different clientele than we do. They refurbished the park about 12 years ago and it has brought life back to the park. It has brought families back to the park, instead of the teenagers and the riffraff that were around prior to the refurbishing.

Meyer: ...But it’s a perception issue, isn’t it?

Scharf: Absolutely. So many people are just plain afraid. I’ve gotten letters from people saying “we can’t come down there anymore because we’re just afraid, and we wish you would move to the suburbs.” The funny thing is, no customers have ever been harmed, knock on wood. ]]> Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:14:51 -0400 <![CDATA[ Perfetto could use more rehearsal time ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130411/GUSTO/130419846/1273
Our foursome ordered a cup of beef vegetable soup ($5), braised pork belly with white bean puree, wilted escarole and tomato confit ($10), warm calamari salad with artichokes and olives ($9) and shrimp and polenta with smoked tomato chutney ($11) for starters.

We asked for a box salad ($8) with toasted pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and apple cider vinaigrette, and a classic Caesar ($9). Two pastas followed, the shrimp diablo ($28) and carbonara bucatini ($16) with pancetta and peas.

For entrees, I asked for the crispy skin red snapper ($17) with puttanesca sauce, and Cat asked for the acorn squash risotto ($16) with spinach and gorgonzola cheese. Our guests chose the 10-ounce filet mignon ($39) with risotto, and the seafood cioppino ($30).

Our server brought two kinds of warm rolls, herbed white and wheat, and a dollop of tasty red pepper pesto. The beef soup was agreeably peppery.

The box salad was an intriguing package, field mix wrapped in cucumber slices so that when you cut, it expands into a plate of salad. The cider vinaigrette, nutty pignolis and pomegranate seeds kept it interesting. The Caesar arrived with too much dressing, the thickness of straight mayonnaise, and uncut romaine leaves.

Our guests enjoyed the calamari salad’s poached squid rings, artichoke hearts and plentiful black and green olives. I thought the squid was fine but the amount of briny olives overpowered the seafood.

The pork belly arrived on a long plate, atop bean puree and bookended by dabs of wilted greens, which seemed surprisingly plain. The bigger surprise was the pork belly, which was chewy and required vigorous sawing, instead of yielding reluctantly to the fork like well-braised meat.

The shrimp diablo, served with nuggetlike radiatore pasta, was crowned with five colossal, vigorously seasoned shrimp. They were cooked accurately and were supported well by the sweet-spicy tomato sauce. Our other pasta also won praise, the carbonara’s creamy richness teetering on too much with pancetta nuggets and Parmesan cheese.

Our server realized our polenta appetizer never made it to the table, and apologized. He seemed new by the way he almost burned himself lighting our table lamp, but he was polite, and trying.

My snapper entrée arrived short of promised crispiness, with skin that had been browned but was soft when it arrived. Its briny-sweet topping of tomato-olive puttanesca sauce was a satisfying counter to the fish’s moist mildness.

Cat’s acorn squash risotto was a halved unpeeled squash that had been roasted into saggy softness, then topped with risotto and tomato cream sauce. The risotto was gummy. It was difficult to get a forkful of risotto and sweet squash together without getting squash skin – edible, but inelegant – in the bargain.

The seafood cioppino bowl was crowded with excellent quality seafood in a delicious broth that seemed enriched with wine or liqueur. We got two massive shrimp, four or five medium scallops, a piece of whitefish, 10 mussels and a small split lobster tail. Each type of seafood was cooked well, a rarity.

The filet was terrific – tender interior perfectly rare as requested, enough char on the outside. Unfortunately, its bed of risotto had been cooked until it was more like mashed potatoes than rice.

Three desserts were $8 each. The crème brûlée had excellent custard but a crust so thin it didn’t crunch. The chocolate terrine featured two dense slabs of smooth, creamy fudge. The deconstructed cannoli was a big scoop of cannoli filling in a martini glass with pieces of chocolate-dipped cannoli shell, with blueberries and strawberries.

In a town with no lack of fine dining Italian, Perfetto’s kitchen comes off as an understudy.Fine dining Italian newcomer to Theater District could use more rehearsals.

WHERE: 617 Main St. (768-3728, perfettoonmain.com)

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10:30 p.m. Friday; 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, $9-$16; soups and salads, $5-$9; pastas, $16-$28; entrees, $16-$39.

PARKING: On the street.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:55:24 -0400 Andrew Galarneau
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