One of the reasons why July is one of my favorite months is because its sunny days and breezy evenings inspire me to create great food for the grill and simple, tasty desserts. Guercio’s is one of the best places to pick up produce in the city, and that’s where you’ll want to head for today’s main ingredient—the watermelon. For the past 3 years, I’ve been hosting 4th of July celebrations in my backyard. I go crazy preparing salads, marinating meats and vegetables for the grill, baking beer bread, and of course, making my favorite 4th of July dessert: Watermelon-Tequila…
Author: Brian Horvath
They may want to make Hertel our Little Italy but wise diners will also find each other on Bryant and Ashland at Trattoria Aroma. Dave Cosentino and Keith Dulak have brought, hands down, the best Italian food and wine to the Elmwood Village. This is authentic Italian, and I’ll just cut to the chase – you won’t be disappointed. The daily specials list is always interesting and typically includes a soup, antipasti, pasta, fish, and meat entree as well as a calzone. One pasta special should not be missed if it’s on the menu. The spaghetti with prosciutto, peas, cracked…
Celebrate National Library Week, April 15 through 21, and help support the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system by purchasing a chocolate library card. Net proceeds of the candy sale benefit library programs throughout the county. Choco-Logo Confectionery Design has paired with the library to produce 1 oz. bars in three fantastic flavors: milk chocolate, milk chocolate with almonds and 70% bittersweet, the heart-healthy stuff. The milk chocolate almond is a favorite because it’s salty and sweet. Each chocolate library card is $2.50, and can be purchased at Novel Ideas/Encore Editions, the Central Library’s shop on the main concourse.…
You wonder if Rhode Island Street will ever actually become a restaurant destination neighborhood. Left Bank has reigned over the block just off Richmond and Prime 490 is a quality addition to an area which has yet to reach critical mass. Prime 490 offers a more modern comfort food/steakhouse menu with an extensive daily specials list. It also offers one of the best wine lists in the city. Jen Moogensen and Christian DiFiglia opened 490 about a year ago and have recently added Jim Hanson (formerly of Nektar) as chef. The space is welcoming as you enter the bar area…
Rocco Termini does not give up. He will do whatever it takes to see through one of his development projects downtown – last week, he nearly got arrested. This happened around work on the Webb Building, downtown’s last great Richardsonian Romanesque building. The Webb has stood for over 130 years, but just one year ago it was in great danger of collapse. Left to rot by the previous owner, the roof had long since caved in, and the floors had pancaked. The walls were the only things holding each other up. Rocco purchased the building, and in the last 30…
Buffalo’s renaissance is happening, and its old buildings are playing a critical role. The Chippewa crowd on weekend nights is drawn by bars and restaurants located in – oil buildings. Former department stores, a warehouse, a school building are converted into loft apartments, and fully leased before the project is completed. A warehouse of the Larkin Soap Company is renovated into class A office space, and enjoys near 100% occupancy. Restoration and reuse are now part of the development mantra. But how do they do it? This Saturday, Rocco Termini will talk about the ins and outs of converting an…
Buffalo is fortunate to have fine examples of every architectural style popular in the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. Two styles that dominated the country between 1820 and 1860 were the Greek Revival and Gothic Revival. Part of the broader Romantic Movement in literature, painting, and music, both revival styles left Buffalo with such landmarks as the Wilcox Mansion and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Saturday morning, I was lucky enough to attend Romantic Buffalo: The Greek and Gothic Revivals at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center. About 50 people were treated to an illustrated lecture…
It was a friend’s gift of The Book of Tea that introduced Ellis Avery to the world of the Japanese tea ceremony. She studied tea ceremony for five years, including five weeks in Kyoto, when, as Ellis remembers, “It was basically tea 24/7.” Early on, she heard the story of an extraordinary Japanese woman named Shin Yukako. The daughter of Kyoto’s most important tea master in the late nineteenth century, Yukako transformed Japan’s tea world. Ellis decided she had to write a novel about her. The result is Ellis Avery’s first novel, The Teahouse Fire. About forty people gathered in…
When the Guaranty Building opened in 1896, it was a showcase of new building technology. A steel structural frame and safety passenger elevator made the building possible, and large plate glass windows and a string of lights at the second floor cornice showed it off. However, Louis Sullivan’s sensuous, intricate ornamentation was the building’s crowning glory, quite literally in the curved cornice which seemed to reach out from the building like a tree’s sheltering branches. This ornamentation would not have been possible had they tried to render it in stone. The Guaranty Building was a commercial structure, and such fine…
Wine enthusiasts won’t be disappointed with the choices they are offered when gazing over the wine list at Shango. This spot has managed to put together a selection of wines by the glass and bottle that will undoubtedly stimulate a long conversation at the table. Varietals and regions abound making it easy to try something that you may have never had before – sylvaner, muscadet, gruner veltliner, vermentino among the whites; chinon, minervois, vaqueryas among the reds along with all of the more common grapes and regions of the world. Upon a recent visit I discovered 9 whites and 10…