Local Restaurant Week in Buffalo is my favorite time of the year.
Buffalo is such a great place for foodies and Local Restaurant Week is an awesome way to celebrate our local produce and restaurants that support local farms and wineries. Next week, we will be celebrating again. This time around, there are 42 new participants.
Next week, from March 8th to the 14th, 170 participating restaurants will be offering specials for $20.10 that celebrate the theme: Our Restaurants. Our Culture.
According to Peter Longo, the WNY Chapter Past-President of the New York State Restaurant Association, "WNY Local Restaurant Week, in its second year, already features one of the highest participation rates of local, independent restaurants of any Restaurant Week in the country, underscoring our area's unusually high percentage of locally-owned food service operations." (See the Edible Buffalo Field & Fork video with Nelson Starr, below.)
Longo adds, "We firmly believe that our local, independent restaurants are the cornerstone of our way of life here. Local Restaurant Week turns the spotlight on them and lets them shine."
For a list of the participating restaurants and specials, see the Western New York Local Restaurant Week web site.
Check back here next week for an account of my food adventures. In the meanwhile, enjoy this Ben Price video of "Louie the Bar Guy" from Oliver's, telling a joke.
Looking out my window I'm having trouble believing this is a great time of year to celebrate our local produce or farms. And since I'm in a lousy mood I'll keep complaining, I'm so sick of Buffalo restaurants charging NYC prices for food. Of course there are some very very good restaurants here... but not that good. Thank goodness for a few places like Hardware.
There are a fare amount quality of restaurants that carry a hefty cost, but most of the prices are fair for what you get. There certainly are some that are over hyped, over priced and the food and/or service blows. Chop House - good service, but that place is all hype, the food is decent but certainly not close to worth the cost. Club 31 - My only visit, and will be my only visit, $40 for a Wild Boar chop special, it was a couple tiny 1/2" thick chops cooked to sh!t, ordered med-rare came out well, it was crap and the biggest waste of money. The service sucked that night was well and it wasn't just our table either. The Duck fries were good, but not that good. Of course you will always get your moneys worth at a place like Rue, Hutch's, Oliver's. As far as the best value, the best bang for you buck with awesome food you wont see at a lot of other places in Buffalo and an EXTREMELY reasonable price, Bistro Europa, and the Frites cooked in Duck fat there blow Club 31 out of the water, not even close.