I only had the chance to go there once, the lights were never on when I was in that area of town. it was delicious and it's too bad he is closing. But I also heard that the corner is going to be a small grocer, so in the end that is how the world works. Things close, things open. I wish him the best of luck in whatever he is going to do now.
I'll miss this place and John - the Sandwich Nazi as he was known to some folks due to the rules he established. Best of luck to John and his family. Unfortunately, his prices were fantastic as compared to other sandwich makers in the area. That surely will be missed.
Thank you John and Linda for all your hard work and many, many, many happy full tummies. It's hard to think that I will no longer be able to get some of my favorite things to eat for lunch in the city: chicken mac, chili, eggplant parm sandwich (for those of you that never had x-cel's eggplant parm, you really missed out on a super delicious and unique take on eggplant parm), and Thursdays will never be the same without an x-cel hot roast beef sandwich. Though I am now at a loss for where I will get my fresh turkey for Thanksgiving or that big handful of fresh basil when every other shop in town had none, I know there are many reasons for businesses to close. Best of luck to you and your family in all your future endeavors. Thank you again for years of good eats! You will be missed.
That whole corner including the plaza is ripe for redevelopment. rip it all down and rebuild curbside for mixed use, stores, apartments, townhomes and office space would be great and lordy, we all know the parking lot is "HUGE".
hate to say it but that plaza is ripe for an Aldis. A clean cheap grocery store.
X-Cel was the premiere place to go in and grab an awesome sub, not to mentioned being on my home block. I didn't go in as often as I would have liked, my fear of the Sandwich Nazi and my Perpetual use of a phone kept me away. But just the same I'll miss him.
This is a shocker. This was a great place to get a no nonsense chicken salad sandwich on pumpernickel. Now all we have to choose from are trendy sandwiches from places with no character that are overpriced and over rated. This place was amazing and it didn't need pan seared ahi tuna or mango salsas or cuban reubens (what ever the hell that is). God bless that curmudgeonly bastard and his fantastic sandwiches. Anyone who ate there knows they were part of something special. This is a sad day for my neighborhood.
John rocked and still rocks. About a million years ago I worked at Premier Gourmet and at the time, the shop sold him whole cuts of meat for his store. He was always a pleasure to wait on and had such a great wit and personality about him. I remember passing by his store during an Allentown Art Festival. The sign on the door said "Closed. Too many people." I still remember that sign more than I remember anything I saw at the festival that year.
Maybe they should just rename the street: Elmwouldn'tstartabusinesshere. That might not fit on a street sign though.
Luckily, the street is one of the 8 best neighborhoods in the world, unfortunately literally half the store fronts are closed. I'd say it looks like Detroit but they say things look like Buffalo there.
I got an idea for a new business: a nonprofit focused on sustainable self-sustainability
Start a TASK FORCE!!! Perform a STUDY!!! That always seems to be an answer in Buffalo
People do have a right to retire, don't they. Some of you talk as though this closing was somwhow releated to poor business on Elmwood. He just does't want to do it anymore.
Yipee! Another great "parting letter" in the door! It's like Christmas in October!
I began working in Buffalo, for the first time in my career, on June 25th and "discovered: X-Celo just two-weeks ago as I am not from the Buffalo area either...
I made the mistake of ordering a large sandwich and the meaning of large takes on a whole new meaning when I was served an egg salad sandwhich big enough for two!!!
What a shame that such a great deli is closing - - Best Wishes to them!
you know what is funny. elmwood avenue is getting better. maybe it isn't "up to snuff" for all of you, but in the last 15 years elmwood has most certainly improved.
when i started attending buff state in 1992 our orientation team only took us as far as delevan on our walking tour of the "elmwood strip". they told us that there really wasn't anything worth seeing any further down the street. so, ofcourse, the first thing we did once in school was hop in a car and drive down elmwood.
at the time the block where the co-op/neighbourhood collective now stand was pretty desolate - as well as the block where spot/globe are now. prior to that time we had may jen and the village green, but in the early 90's most buildings were empty and falling apart.
the building where buffalo fleece/yoga studio is now was empty for MANY MANY years. so were the two houses that were connected to house delish and company. feel rite was on the corner of breckenridge/elmwood, but not much else was in the area.
ofcourse - we can't forget topic, cybeles, java temple and 3b's (bagels, blues & brews), but those were really allentown staples along with nietszches and the old pink. they made allentown a hip place to hang out, but didn't lend much to elmwood.
yes - elmwood has been gentrified, but that is what the yuppies wanted, right? so you got what you wanted and it still isn't enough. i just don't get it. i guess that unless every single storefront is filled on the entire block of elmwood some people will never be happy.
vgs – Although I don’t think the EV “sky is falling” (and I think hippygrrl gives good perspective), there are reasons for concern and your two points are mistaken:
Some of you talk as though this closing was somehow related to poor business on Elmwood. He just doesn't want to do it anymore.
John isn't retiring. He accepted a job running an in-house food service for a company. And he did say that declining business on Elmwood was a big factor in his decision.
QE alluded to that in the article above:
…Unfortunately, I believe that John anticipated this closing for quite some time. Upon stopping there in the past he would relay to me that the neighborhood was not supporting him as it had done so often in the past. …
And the Buffalo News included direct info from him and his wife:
An era ends on Elmwood Avenue as X-Cel Produce closes By Sharon Linstedt Updated: 10/17/07 8:55 AM
… The Darowzes had been contemplated closing their shop for the past two years as operating expenses climbed and revenues from sales failed to keep pace. Linda Darowz said she “didn’t sleep much” as she laid in bed doing the bookkeeping in her head.
“I worried about how we’d pay the bills,” she said. “As small business owners we were paying the same fees and licenses as a Wegmans or Tops.”
John Darowz said he’s lost his faith in New York state government after his long stint as a small businessman. “They make it as hard a possible. It’s ridiculous. My operational costs were up 35 to 40 percent and you can’t make up that difference with three to four hours of lunch business a day,” he said.
The decision to shutter XCel came earlier this month when John Darowz was offered a “dream job” to start up an inhouse cafeteria for James Desiderio Inc., the Buffalo area’s largest produce wholesaler. …
Full story here: http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/186015.html
Ok Atwater so I guess Elmwood is imploding, my bad. 25 years is a pretty damn good run however. He certainly deserves a new opportunity.
No problem, vgs, was just correcting those aspects. I agree and wish him the best in his new job.
I don't think Elmwood will implode soon, but it can't help being impacted by economic stagnation surrounding it in the city and metro. Also I'm guessing some of downtown residential gains recently might be drawning some good income residents who formerly would've chosen EV. At least there's no serious vacancy problem too close and many residential blocks still do great, but even a slow decline in EV's overall disposable income levels will impede business success. It'll be interesting to see Census figures on that stuff in a few years.
Hopefully at least gains of the past decade as summarized by hippiegrrl can be maintained.
Report this