Buffalo Rising Online

Christa Glennie Seychew

So many restaurants fall when it comes to the dessert menu. If they don't have a qualified in-house pastry person, and have not wisely brokered a deal with a top-quality local bakery, the dessert menu can often be the low point of the meal, trumped only by the offering of thin, poor quality coffee.

It seems to me that a large number of Buffalo restaurants have settled for offering dense, overly sweet, tasteless, mass-produced desserts. Certainly the shelf life of a fresh dessert is limited and restaurants have found that thawing out a piece of carrot cake or cheesecake manufactured four states away is an easier and more affordable option than made-from-scratch sweets. Perhaps we should expect an entire course to be sidelined in the lesser restaurants for whom thawing is an actual technique, but I am shocked by the number of pricey restaurants that serve such dreck.

Earlier t…

Christa Glennie Seychew

It's been awhile since I've posted a “Kitchen Sink” story, but now is most certainly the time. The onset of spring in Buffalo always brings not only the green, green burst of new leaves to our many tree-lined streets, but also the arrival of a slew of new restaurants--or at least it seems that way.

Over on the City Channel, queenseyes has told you of restaurants developing all over town, including Tabree (see here and here), chow chocolate (here and here) and The Wine Thief

BlueDevil

When you ask people to name the world's biggest problem, the answer is universal - picking what to eat for lunch every day. It's a painful, time-wasting, productivity-killing conversation that seems to only surface the same 5 options. Indeed, by the time you finally agree on a location, your hunger has been replaced by a stomach full of bitterness.

Well, the world changes today.

A new site - www.buffalolunchrandomizer.com - has just launched. The site, which is still in beta, contains 108 WNY lunch options, which are ranked by the site creators based on overall dining experience. The site includes all kinds of restaurants, from the Malamute to Mythos, from Wasabi to Chuck E. Cheese.

As a result of the quality ranking, some restaurants appear more than others, as the smart lunch algorithm feeds you higher quality lunch…

Christa Glennie Seychew

Sweet Tooth has made quite a home for itself in its newish digs on the corner of Allen and Elmwood. It's brought a light-hearted and family-friendly vibe to an area most recognize as being popular for its bar scene. Seated on the edge of its second summer in the lively Allentown district, Sweet Tooth owner, Renee Newton, has decided to integrate a new concept into her already successful business model.

Sweet Tooth will now feature themed nights, four nights per week, Wednesday through Saturday. Wednesdays will bring 'Classic Dessert Night', during which Newton and her staff will offer up a sweet based on favorite desserts of days gone by. Each Wednesday, customers will have the opportunity to purchase desserts that our grandmother's loved—strawberry rhubarb pie, Boston Cream cake, Baked Alaska—f…

Courtney Bajdas

Earlier this month Christa Glennie Seychew and I attended Buffalo First’s Local Food Sourcing event. Over 70 attendees from local farms, retail shops, restaurants, and a handful of concerned citizens gathered to discuss the hurdles of the farm-to-table process in Western New York.

The disconnect between producers (farms, growers, etc.) and distributors (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) surfaced as a pressing concern. Various ideas were tossed around with a majority of folks agreeing that an online resource was a good solution. The concept of an online food directory is not new, but it seems that most people involved in the “WNY food chain” do not utilize a central online resource. …

Christa Glennie Seychew

By now, Allentown residents and Buffalo Rising readers have heard about 888 Main (a.k.a. Campieri's, Campieri's 888 Main and simply, 888). Opening this past winter after 2 1/2 years of construction, this Buffalo-style pizza joint has quickly gathered a group of loyal followers. Though the restaurant's interior still gives the perception of not yet being entirely done (it's rather dark, and the richly colored walls are free of art), the pizza is downright delicious.

What makes it better than the rest? The answer is owner Dan Campieri's secret dough recipe. It's my guess, that in this pizza-obsessed town, there aren't a lot of pizza restaurants that still make their dough from scratch. Many years ago it became a lot less expensive (when you consider labor and ingredients) to buy pre-made frozen dough balls from local wholesalers, and so that is what most local pizza joints do…

Corinne Eberwine

As a self-proclaimed wine lover—yet by no means a connoisseur—I can unabashedly say that I was delighted to take my husband's name… if for no other reason than because it includes “wine” in it. Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoy what the many varieties of grapes can do. If you're even the slightest bit like me, you welcome the opportunity to sample our area’s food and wine, and do so with a healthy mix of hometown pride and an adventurous palette. This is what we felt on Thursday night at the “Whine in the City” event at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

Not knowing quite what to expect, we took the chance of not eating dinner even though we were getting pretty hungry. Luckily, we were very pleasantly surprised to find not only various hors d'oeuvres, but also a good amount of generously portioned dinner samples. The dispersion of local restaurant and winery ta…

Christa Glennie Seychew

We're here today with SAMPLE for an inside peek at the recipe and the process used to make another of their delicious and unique cocktails. Today's featured beverage is the Fire Roasted Pineapple Mojito, a tasty and refreshing drink that graces SAMPLE's warm weather menu. It is, hands down, my favorite cocktail at SAMPLE, and I welcome its return with open arms and an eye on my watch in anticipation of happy hour. The simple recipe follows below.

Also keep in mind that SAMPLE's special monthly Sunday Supper is coming up on April 27th. If you haven't yet had the fortune of experiencing one of these fantastic evenings of food, drink and good company, I suggest that you consider attending this month's. The menu--whose theme is “Think Spring”--is about as tempting as it gets. You can check out the deta…