Buffalo Rising Online

Lent is here and fish is on the family menu at least once a week in many Buffalo households. Restaurants are packed with folks looking for their Friday fish fry fix, but where is a person to go in Buffalo to get fresh fish to cook at home?

Broadway Seafood located in the Broadway Market is one of the city's best kept seafood secrets. On a recent visit I was amazed at the prices for some of the freshest fish on display. Whole red snapper was only $4.99lb., whole tilapia and porgies, a mere $2.99lb. Whole flounder, black sea bass, croaker, bluefish, yellow pike and shrimp were also reasonably priced. Seeing the haddock fillets, fresh clams and oysters, jumbo prawns and fresh scallops made it difficult to decide what to buy.

Owner, Steve Lee, moved to Buffalo eight years ago from South Korea. When he lived in South Korea he…

Wigilia (pronounced vee-GEE-lya) is the name of the traditional Polish celebration of Christmas Eve and the feast that accompanies it. There are many customs associated with Wigilia, and though few families adhere to all, most incorporate a few into their holiday celebrations.

The house is festively decorated and includes a Christmas tree and a crèche. The dinner table itself is important as well, with a bit of straw placed on or underneath the table to symbolize the manger. Additionally, an extra place is set in case an unexpected guest arrives; a tradition connected with the belief that the unexpected guest could be Jesus in disguise.

The Wigilia dinner begins when the first star becomes visible. The host takes an oplatek(see inset photo) and break…

Savor the Flavor, at the Broadway Market, intends to bring visitors and Buffalonians an assortment of WNY-centric foods for their next event. Sandy Stark, Taste of Home Magazine's Field Editor, will be there to kick off the ongoing event on July 7 at 11am.

This edition of Savor the Flavor will provide samplings of Chiavetta's, Rooties, LaNova, Bubbles Q Barbeque, Weber's mustard, Loganberry, beef on weck and of course chicken Wings. Along with the samples of each dish, guests will receive recipe cards and coupons. Former Wester New Yorkers often crave these native foods, so this is a great opportunity to indulge all at once and also take a bit of Buffalo with them when they leave.

This year, Savor the Flavor is working in conjunction with Buffalo Old Home Week beginning July 1, at the Central Terminal, going until July 8. BOHW is a week long celebration of Buffalo. The…

In May we were fortunate enough to be invited to the Broadway Market's Savor the Flavor demonstration. The monthly demonstrations, hosted by Sandy Starks and a guest, lead the audience through simple and interesting recipes, touching on an assortment of cooking techniques and featuring produce and meats from a variety of market vendors.

This visit took place the day before Mother's Day, and guest hostesses mother and daughter team Julie and Noelle Panepento, demonstrated a recipe that is a family favorite. Their recipe for NY Maple Syrup Glazed Chicken is shown in the accompanying video as well as being detailed below.

June 16th marks the date of the next installment of Savor the Flavor. Sandy Starks will present recipes along with guest host Alicia Meyers, caterer and former owner of Williamsville's "Cooking for All Seasons” cooking school. The class focuses on picnic fo…

Following the successful Easter 2004 publication of the Broadway Market’s first cookbook, a second volume has been recently released.

As compared with the first volume, Recipes & Memories: Broadway Market Cookbook Volume #2 takes a slightly different approach. The focus of the first publication was to collect an assortment of traditional recipes from vendors and customers. The second volume adds to that collection, but also includes a variety of resources for those interested in the history and culture of the Broadway-Fillmore district.

The community that emerged in the early-to-mid 20th century in the area surrounding the Broadway Market was unique and fascinating. Much of the culture was transplanted from Europe and adapted to a new area- and the food was no exception.

Some of the most delicious recipes from this time are now available to everyone. The cookboo…

While planning our Christmas dinner my daughter Devon asked if we could have a family dinner celebrating our family’s heritage. After a semester of school cafeteria food she had a yearning for some of Babci’s (Polish for Grandmother) home-cooked specialties such as pierogi, Golabki, creamy mashed potatoes and of course, Grandma Laurie’s famous cheesecake.

Gone were the chestnuts, roast turkey, green bean casserole and other traditional holiday fare. But, what transpired that Christmas Day was a trip down memory lane where we celebrated our family’s roots through food favorites and past celebrations and traditions.

Grandma Laurie made the cheesecakes for the Turgeon family restaurants using a recipe developed by the famous Turgeon brothers. The Turgeons are part of our extended family so I started making the cheesecakes whenever we all got together. Later, Devon and I…

My grandparents were not straight-off-the-boat Polish immigrants. Therefore, I’m not even second generation Polish-American. I have more of an Italian look to me, dark hair, dark eyes, rather than the stereotypical Pole: light eyes, light skin and blonde hair. But my family has done everything they can to keep our traditions alive and passed down within our clan. We might not have all the exact terms correct—the actual Polish names for things may have gotten lost along the way—but we know the drill, and we know what is unique to our holiday culture. The biggest example of that culture emerges during the Easter season.

Every Spring, like thousands of other Western New Yorkers, I head toward the East Side, venturing to the Broadway Market, one of the area’s oldest (since 1888) and most unique shopping experiences. The streets surrounding the Market have generated t…

A cream tea is one of the finest things on earth. At least that’s my opinion. High tea is equally beautiful, but if you’re looking for something less extravagant, a cream tea is the way to go. Cream tea and afternoon tea is the same thing to the best of my knowledge. It is traditionally a light snack (though that term is debatable) that takes place in the afternoon around 4pm. Freshly brewed tea is served with of items like biscuits (on this side of the ocean we call them cookies), small cakes, finger sandwiches and scones with cream.

Ahh… cream. Any of you that have already read my spread on butter in March’s issue will not be surprised to hear that I have an abiding love for dairy products. The dairy component in this meal is clotted cream or Devon cream.

Clotted cream is tastier than its name might infer. Clotted cream is made by heating unpasteurized milk t…