Buffalo Rising Online

Aug 24th 2007, 9:38am By Christa Glennie Seychew

We're winding down to the top three chefs in BR's Chef's Challenge: White Cow's Yogurt. The third place winner is Chef Kevin O'Connell of O'Connell's on Kenmore Avenue.

He loved our product of choice, White Cow Dairy's Plain Yogurt, and recognized the quality of it from the moment he twisted the lid off of one of the little glass jars. What he wasn't happy about was how many tries it took for him to end up with a dish he was content with. He had initially planned to use it in gnocchi, but the texture was too loose and the gnocchi dough didn't quite achieve the structure necessary to survive the shaping and cooking process.

Chef ultimately decided to prepare a protein and side dish for us, using the yogurt in three distinct fashions. The dish consisted of perfectly (and I mean perfectly) prepared domestic lamb chops encrusted with yogurt and served with a sauce of yogurt, honey, saffron, smoked paprika, cardamom and dijon mustard. As I mentioned, the lamb chops were delicious; my fellow taster, not a lamb fan, was immediately converted. The sauce was one of the best components of the dish, but was unfortunately masked by the very salty yogurt crust that had been baked onto the chops.

As a side dish, chef prepared a pastry using yogurt in place of butter or cream as the fat. The pastry was phenomenal- light, flaky and perfectly executed. O'Connell filled the pastry with cold heirloom tomatoes, a charred tomato sauce, caramelized onions and a “patty”, of sorts, made of panko crumbs, goat cheese, yogurt and basil. The fresh tomatoes and caramelized onions offered a sweet and smoky flavor profile that nicely highlighted the bright and desirable tang of the yogurt in the pastry. The pastry was so good in fact, that O'Connell made a number of them and offered them as a special on the menu.

O'Connell's classical background is evident in this dish, as in his own menu. A combination of French training, a respect for modern, fresh ingredients and a sense of what is happening in the culinary world outside of Buffalo are factors in why his many regulars love his establishment.

O'Connell's will be breaking out with a fresh new look and a menu to match September 13th--reopening its doors after remaining shuttered for a week while all of the changes to the interior and the menu are made.

“We're going to be like no other restaurant in Buffalo,” O'Connell said. “We intend to continue to set ourselves apart with our food and wine, and we're doing the same with our interior now, too.” The restaurant will get a pretty serious overhaul, losing much of its classic 50s/Rat Pack look and adopting a new feel described by O'Connell as “Parisian bistro”. “We just decided that the food needs to match the ambiance and visa versa,” O'Connell said. With a separate tasting room and a menu that feels a little more casual, but no less urban, O'Connell is hoping to put to bed the image that the former Hourglass conjured in the minds of young Buffalo. “We're still great food and good wine, but we're not old and stuffy. That's something I don't think a lot of people understand about us.”

If they didn't get it before, they surely will now. Buffalo Rising will keep you apprised of what's happening up at O'Connell's, with the menu and the building. Better yet, stop in after the 13th and check it out for yourself.

Thank you Chef O'Connell, for participating in BR's Chef's Challenge: White Cow's Yogurt.

O'Connell's
981 Kenmore Avenue, Buffalo, 14207
716.877.8788