Good news for The Cobblestone District keeps coming. This time it's in the form of a European deli, bierstube, bistro, gastro pub called Lagerhaus 95 (German for warehouse and the street number - double entendre beer reference). Located at the corner of Perry and Mississippi, the establishment is aiming to add another culinary dimension to the district by serving a variety of pub delicacies in a heated indoor/outdoor German beer garden setting. General Manager Mark Slagle is touting the cuisine as fresh, house-made, European style cooking. Executive Chef Jamie Zynda plans on featuring menu items such as potatoes rosti (bacon and onion soaked potato pancakes with gruyere melted on top), schnitzel fingers with assorted dipping sauces, turducken panini with cranberry and burnt orange peel compote, 8oz. burger with a fried egg, beer battered olives, roasted cipollinis on a pretzel roll, 'Home and Away' wings (Buffalo vs _____), scallop po' boy with arugula and lemon caper aioli, German Reuben with bacon and beer braised sauerkraut and finally a cheeseboard and a charcuterie board (offering Spars) rotating daily. Happy hour specials will include '2-bite brews' (German tapas pairings served with select tap offerings).
I met up with two of Lagerhaus 95's business partners, developer Sam Savarino and Ed Plata who told me that the gastro pub would be in the business of serving up prepared European sandwiches for an express lunch service in order to accommodate the office workers, before moving onto traditional dinner service nights when there is not an arena event (open Mon-Sat and on Sundays for arena events). "I'm a season Sabres' ticket holder," Ed told me. "My original business partner and I wanted to create the type of place that we would want to go to before a Sabres' game. A place to grab a fine wine or beer, a bite to eat, in a festive setting. When we approached Sam he agreed that it was a great idea and opted in. We like the corner appeal and feel that the space lends itself perfectly to the concept." It turned out to be a no-brainer for Sam to join the team - after all he lives upstairs and is also in the process of moving his offices into the building.
This is the type of place where the wine list will be hand selected and the beers will be served in glass chillers. The food will constantly rotate depending on the season and produce availability. The seasonal beers will be flowing, and the cheers will be loud and merry. What's not to like about Lagerhaus 95? Other than it's not open yet. Look for the corner beer garden to open in early November.
I may have just drooled on myself.
Take a look at the image from Google Maps StreetView:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=perry+and+mississippi,+buffalo+ny&ll=42.875139,-78.873583&spn=0.001677,0.001894&hnear=Perry+St+%26+Mississippi+St,+Buffalo,+Erie,+New+York&gl=us&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=42.87535,-78.873717&panoid=wobLNSc8S7HvzJANvZTZUw&cbp=12,279.77,,0,-10.45
WOW.
That image is probably 4 years old.
Yes, that's the point of looking at the old image: see what beauty can be made out of a decrepit looking building.