Buffalo Rising Online

May 10th 2007, 6:14pm By queenseyes

Meet Bruce Deachman. Bruce is a writer for the Ottawa Citizen paper. He's in town today to see what there is to do in Buffalo. After a certain Ottawa hockey goalie claimed that there was nothing to do in Buffalo he figured he would come in to see if the statement was accurate.

After getting in late last night he made it over to City Hall this morning to witness the friendly bet wagered between the Mayors of Buffalo and Ottawa. Bruce clued me in that he would be spending the rest of the day touring Buffalo in order to report (back in Ottawa) on what our city was really like. This was not the first time that he had paid a visit to the city, and he was very upfront about his not-so-fond memories (mostly passing through without looking around). That meant that an insiders' tour was in order. David Granville (City Hall) and I decided that the best thing to do was to load Bruce into a car and show him around.

Before getting on our way, the three of us sat out by the circle of Niagara Square taste testing Charlie the Butcher’s beef on weck sandwiches. We then tasted a Flying Bison beer and discussed some of the similarities and differences between Buffalo and Ottawa. Bruce approved of the Mayor’s food and beverage choices (both were part of the wager), and then we set off for the Inner Harbor. We showed him that Buffalo did indeed have a waterfront that was not just comprised of rusting factories (as he envisioned). As we drove, the reporter asked us about the more ‘colorful’ parts of Buffalo, and though many would not consider the grain elevators very colorful, he liked the fact that there were many signs of life popping up in and around the Buffalo River.

After checking out the HSBC Arena, we headed down Michigan Avenue while pointing out the Pierce-Arrow Car Museum, the future home of the ECC students, the Medical Campus… and then into Allentown, and up Franklin to Linwood, through the S-curves and around Delaware Park to the Martin House, back over to the Albright-Knox/Burchfield, over to Hoyt Lake and onto Elmwood… over to Symphony Circle down Pennsylvania, and it was there that we stopped at a wonderful eatery at the corner of Hudson and West.

We could not have planned the food stop any better. The name of the place was Vargas (David’s suggestion), and the food and the people were exactly what Bruce was looking for. Instead of treating him as 'the enemy', the diners treated him like a super hero. One customer, Moses Davila (see movie), demanded that he buy Bruce his lunch. Bruce declined the offer, but Moses insisted that he was a guest, and lunch was on him. Moses ended up sitting with us at the neighborhood eatery and telling Bruce all about how hockey was uniting our city. Moses happened to be donning a New Era Sabres’ cap, so of course the discussion led to the company being headquartered here. Moses was so excited to share his thoughts about Buffalo that he then asked whether he could finish the tour for us. David and I thought it was a great idea, and the next thing we knew Moses and Bruce were driving off to New Era headquarters. Moses was also talking about making sure that our Ottawa visitor sample La Nova’s wings... needless to say, Bruce was in good hands.

I had originally thought that we would wrap up the tour somewhere near the arena, but as chance would have it, Moses took care of that for us. Before Bruce was whisked away he did have a chance to tell us that Buffalo was one of the friendliest places he had been to – friendlier than Ottawa. He was impressed with the architecture, the parks, and the fact that it only took a couple of hours to change his tune about the city. Hopefully we will have an update once his article is published. Cross your fingers – we did have the ability to convert a reporter… it would be nice if he could paint an accurate picture of his experience for the citizens of Ottawa.