January 2009 Archives

City January 31, 2009 5:13 PM
A Corny Container @ Tastings
We finally made it into Tastings a couple hours ago to check out the newly-opened diggs. During my last visit (before the gourmet market opened), owner Maria Kahn, mentioned that she was going to be introducing eco-friendly packaging to her customers. Today, when we ordered her mind-blowing Aji-Ah-Hot Peruvian hot sauce (for our vegetarian Rusty Chain Sloppy Joe sliders), it was handed to us in a plastic-looking container. Without missing a beat, Maria said, "Don't worry, it's made from corn. If you hold it under a running water faucet it will eventually dissolve. Or it's compost-able in 90 days." Now I've seen styrofoam-looking packaging peanuts made from corn that melt when you touch them to your tongue, but this was a new one for me. Why aren't more businesses experimenting with this sort of eco-friendly packaging?

I am constantly amazed when I walk down the aisles of larger food markets. Packaging
City January 31, 2009 3:24 PM
You Go Wegmans!
While making the culinary circuit earlier today (Sweet_ness 7, Guercio's, Wegmans, Tastings, Wintermarket, Lex Co-op, Village
City January 31, 2009 9:26 AM
DL&W Closer to Development

As stated in a letter by Congressman Brian Higgins yesterday, $11.8 million in federal

City January 30, 2009 11:50 PM
Print Media Decline Continues, Buffalo News Penetration Rate Remains High
We've talked about the dying print business before.  While some papers have simply stopped printing, others are considering printing less than 7 days a week and others are running front-page ads for the first time ever.  Heck, even Buffalo Rising is now entirely online
With that as backdrop, Scarborough Research just released it's survey of newspaper penetration.  Scarborough measures the reach of major newspapers
City January 30, 2009 4:01 PM
What Doc Wants: What the Schools Need
Superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools Dr. James Williams has 22 appointed, non-union employees.  Those employees have each given back to the district in the past three years by giving up 2 sick days ($56,100 in savings), 3 personal days ($84,150 in savings) and by paying 20 percent of their health insurance costs ($123,000 in savings).  The final savings of $263,250 was realized over the three-year period, since Williams took the superintendent's position in July of 2005.

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Recent Photos[ BR Flickr ]
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City January 30, 2009 2:34 PM
100 Years of Nichols Hockey

By Suzanne Taylor


Nichols School of Buffalo was founded the year Lord Stanley bought a certain silver cup, and has pioneered high school hockey ever since.  When the plural of "Leaf" (see Maple) was still "leaves" and Nichols was on Norwood Avenue, the school already had a team.  After moving to Amherst and Colvin in 1910, Nichols even boasted

City January 30, 2009 2:15 PM
Buffalo ReUse Salvages the Day

BR was alerted yesterday concerning houses at the Willert Park Projects that were being demolished with no plans to salvage any reusable material.  Thanks to Michael Grainer of Buffalo ReUse, however, this story ended up being about how awareness within a community can change a city for the better. 

Yesterday, Buffalo ReUse informed members of the local community that

City January 30, 2009 2:02 PM
Butt-Free @ Pearl Street Brew Pub
The Pearl Street Brew Pub continues to impress me every time I visit - and no, this time it's not the beer tubes, the Indie Market, or Lake Effect Man. It's smaller. Much smaller. A feature that might be overlooked by non-smokers. I'm talking about the black lion ashtrays positioned
Regional January 30, 2009 1:31 PM
Your Turn: Shake the Tile Bag

We already know you're a pretty smart cookie if you're reading BRO, but now we're not the only ones.

The Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo and /2009/01/index.html

City January 30, 2009 12:48 PM
Fowler’s First Family Show Begins

Meet the First Family, as artist Peter Fowler envisions them, at KEPA3 Gallery.

As told in this earlier BR post, Fowler was inspired to paint the first family the day after Obama won the presidential election. 

"I wouldn't normally paint politics, but this event was inspiring," Fowler said.

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City January 30, 2009 6:44 AM
Action/Abstraction at the AKAG

Albright-Knox Art Gallery owned works of art by Jackson Pollack and

Real Estate January 29, 2009 7:45 PM
Hans Mobius Sells Elmwood/Forest Properties

The southeast corner of Elmwood and Forest avenues has a new owner.  Affinity Elmwood Gateway Properties, a subsidiary of Amherst-based Chason Affinity Cos., purchased the properties in a series of transactions today:

• 1109-1121 Elmwood and 607 Forest: $1.1 million from Hans Mobius
• 1101 Elmwood: $200,000 from Patrick Coleman
• 1095 Elmwood:  $300,000 from Horizon Buffalo Portfolio
•  605 Forest: $260,000 from Georgeiadis Pano

In November, Affinity Elmwood purchased 1105 Elmwood for $200,000.

Chason Affinity has not publicly

City January 29, 2009 4:00 PM
Coffee Culture: How You Bean?
Starbucks is closing 300 US stores and putting nearly 7000 employees out of work, and whether or not that will have an effect on the local stores is yet to be seen.
We are, however, getting a new coffee chain along with corporate offices.  Coffee Culture's headquarters will be moving into the nearly new, Uniland-built office building at 285 Dealware, just up the street from a Starbucks and a SPoT Coffee shop.  They will not open a shop so close to the corner we like to refer to as
City January 29, 2009 3:52 PM
Encore Lights Up
While we were on our way to Bikes and Beers night at McCarthy's (Old First Ward) last evening, we chose a route that swung us past Encore (see original post). I had not stepped foot into the establishment since they had opened, so we decided to stop in for a beer and poke around. The interior of the former Hemmingway's is really top notch. The owners have really taken the time to polish the old establishment - the place has been reworked from top to bottom. Heck, any restaurant that offers five working fireplaces
City January 29, 2009 12:28 PM
Community Activists Rally Around A Café
I still chuckle when I think back to all the people who told Prish Moran that she was crazy to invest on Grant Street. Since the opening Sweet_ness 7, the café has turned into an essential think tank. Each morning, community activists can be seen occupying table after table - members of PUSH, ReUse, Great Lakes United, Grant/Ferry Association... the list goes on and on. Then, as evening draws near, the activists regroup and convene with different parties.

The networking potential has been inspiring
lifestyle January 29, 2009 11:39 AM
Passion is the Key Ingredient in “Souvenir”

"Some may say that I couldn't sing, but no one can say I didn't sing"

This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Souvenir at the Alleyway Theatre, based on the true life story of Florence Foster Jenkins.="mso-spacerun:

City January 29, 2009 11:20 AM
Roswell Park’s Paint Box Launches Valentine’s Gift Sale

Go ahead and hand out two valentines for the price of one this year by supporting the Paint Box at Roswell Park/2009/01/index.html

City January 29, 2009 9:51 AM
Quote of the Day: “What would your parents think?”
"What planet are you from?  Have you no decency?  Would your parents approve?  Would they be proud of you?"  These are questions local developer Carl Paladino asked of Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore in a letter that went out to all local media.
"The part about his parents really got to him," Carl said.  "But I wasn't saying anything bad about his parents.  Quite the opposite, I was saying something bad about him."
The flack stems from Paladino's outrage over Rumore's court action to have multiple-carrier insurance reinstated to
food January 29, 2009 9:41 AM
WNY woman wins feast from national women’s magazine, local chef chosen to prepare

When Chef Bill Metzgar was put out by a long-time employer, he needed to pick up the pieces promptly and jump to his feet. Metzgar decided to launch his own personal chef service, ACME, and hasn't looked back since.

/2009/01/index.html

Real Estate January 29, 2009 12:15 AM
Ramp Design- Münster, Germany

Art Deco-inspired parking not your thing?  How about something a little more transparent?  The Parkhaus Engelenschanze in Münster, Germany, designed by Petry - Wittfoht Freier Architects, has 480 spaces on six levels.  The ramp sits on a prominent corner in the center of the city.

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