Anyone who watches The Travel Channel knows that if it’s a Monday night at 10PM, it’s time for Anthony Bourdain’s Emmy-nominated series, No Reservations, which returned for its fifth season last night. Bourdain kicked the season off with a visit to Chile and will travel to Australia this upcoming Monday night. The following week, however, a place much closer to home takes the spotlight — our very own Buffalo, NY.
Along with Baltimore and Detroit, Buffalo will bask in the limelight as a stop on Bourdain’s “Rust Belt” episode of the series. Earlier this year, Bourdain visited Ulrich’s Tavern on Ellicott Street to film part of the episode, news of which resulted in a tightly packed restaurant full of people eager to catch a glimpse of Bourdain and see a piece of his experience that would re-introduce the Queen City to Bourdain’s television audience.
It’s now your chance to catch the episode when it premieres on July 27th, so Nelson Starr wants to celebrate the occasion in style with a party at the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, located at 76 Pearl Street. Starr is a local musician and host of All Access Pass with Nelson Starr for TrueBlueBuffalo.com. He also appeared on No Reservations and even convinced Bourdain to feature Buffalo on the show by submitting a video to the network for a contest, so you could say we owe this all to him.
The party will kick off at 7:30 PM with pizza, wings and hors d’oeuvres – all served completely free! Until No Reservations airs at 10PM, episodes of Starr’s food series will screen for the crowd, including the premiere of the fourth episode, which highlights the Broadway Market, Dyngus Day and Spar’s European Sausage Shop. The initial contest video submitted to get Bourdain to Buffalo will also be screened. At 10PM, the main event will air.
Here’s the Travel Channel’s complete description of the episode that features our city: In the bleak, cold winter, Tony meets up with his good friend Zamir, and the two travel to the heart of America’s Rust Belt with stops in Baltimore, Detroit and Buffalo. After visiting this misunderstood region, Tony realizes that it’s not just home to auto factories and cold weather, but it’s also full of kind people and delicious food.
See you at the screening party!