A few months ago, a couple of meat pie connoisseurs and I walked into Pitch Bar on South Park Avenue and liked what we found, so I was more than happy to recently accept an invitation to check out the British soccer bar’s newest menu add: “glamour burgers.” Based on the name alone, I was expecting something bedazzled. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. What WAS the case was a flavorful burger well worth my trip across the Buffalo River. Pitch Bar’s glamour burgers are fashioned from a coarsely ground British butcher’s cut of Black Angus beef. Co-owner Damian Parker credits…
Author: Caitlin Hartney
The A’ole Pilikia, a Hawaiian-style bloody mary concocted by the adult beverage masterminds at cocktail and sausage den Ballyhoo, dominated the awards ceremony at Step Out Buffalo’s inaugural Buffalo Bloody Mary Fest, held yesterday at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. It took home the titles Buffalo’s Best Bloody and Fan Favorite, beating out the original bloody mary creations served by the nine other participating Western New York restaurants: Aroma on Bryant, Bar Bill, Buffalo Proper, Coles, Craving, Hydraulic Hearth, Oshun, Providence Social, and The Lodge. Featuring flavors of Korean BBQ along with pineapple juice, cream of coconut, mango hot sauce, habanero,…
You won’t find a margarita on the list of signature cocktails at Lloyd Taco Factory. But what might seem like a glaring oversight was actually a purposeful decision, according to co-owner Peter Cimino. “Why waste a menu slot on a drink people will order anyway?” And people do. In fact, margaritas—made at Lloyd sans simple syrup or sour mix—are the restaurant’s second-highest seller. But in time that may change—that is, if Cimino and bar manager Yuri Polyachenko succeed in their efforts to locally champion Mexico’s other agave-derived liquor: mezcal. Mezcal is a perfect fit for the first brick-and-mortar operation in…
This is Pitch Bar, a new-ish watering hole in South Buffalo, across from the burgeoning Solar City campus. Pitch Bar is decidedly British in look, feel, and lineage. That’s because it is the latest addition to the Parker’s family of businesses, owned by UK expats Vicky and Damian Parker. Ergo, Pitch Bar televises soccer and rugby matches; pours beer and cider from England, Ireland, and Scotland (as well as domestics, including locally brewed options); and serves up classic British fare like fish and chips, battered sausage, and meat pies—i.e., pastry-enclosed seasoned beef, chicken, or pork, sometimes mixed with vegetables, and…
No doubt, you’ve heard that much-anticipated new restaurant Lloyd Taco Factory officially opened December 21. It’s not exactly breaking news at this point. You’ve probably also heard that the Lloyd folks are making fresh tortillas, both corn and flour varieties, as well as the masa for the former. The extra effort makes a difference; both are noticeably more delicious than standard. You may not have heard that, at least for a little while, you should be prepared to wait to place your order and then be prepared to wait longer for your food, especially at peak dinner rush. On Tuesday…
The description of the Quebec pizza on Marble + Rye’s new lunch menu reads simply: Old Quebec cheddar, potatoes, raw honey, sea salt. It’s a terse, unassuming description for an outrageously good pie that, in its remarkableness, speaks to the truism that simple ingredients combined expertly and without superfluous flourish make for excellent food. The potatoes are sliced to translucency—mere suggestions of tubers, really—so as not to vie for starch supremacy with the ultra-thin, cornmeal-coated crust. The heat of the Marble + Rye’s wood-fired oven indiscriminately (but desirably) scorches and caramelizes the cheese and honey, and melds them to the…
Before last weekend, I hadn’t been inside the restaurant at the corner of Hertel and Starin since 2008, when it was still Fiamma Steak, and I was still young and idealistic enough to get excited about men who sprung for expensive first dates.* Fast forward soon-to-be eight years, and both the restaurant and I have undergone some changes. It is now called BOSS Buffalo’s Original Steak and Seafood, and I have grown wiser and practical enough (or haggard and cynical enough, some might say) to know a price tag isn’t necessarily an indication of quality or promise. So when I read…
Amherst mainstay Natalie’s Mediterranean Eatery’s second, newly opened location inside the Genesee Gateway Building in Buffalo is in full swing, serving breakfast and lunch to a steady stream of downtown office workers. The lunchtime menu offers the usual suspects—chicken and beef souvlaki, falafel, shawarma, gyro—along with an impressive range of vegetarian options. Among them are seven varieties of meatless pita wraps and stuffed pita pockets, including fried cauliflower-tahini and spinach, leek, and cracked wheat options. Guests hungry for a trove of food should go for one of the combo plates, which come with a choice of entrée and one, two,…
If you have holiday shopping left to do and a penchant for supporting local businesses, and you recognize the importance of supporting educational opportunities for girls worldwide, consider checking out the fundraising shopping event Shop. Sip. Support. at Global Villages on Grant Street. On Friday, December 11, Global Villages owner Louise Sano (who was recently featured in the NPR story “Resettled Refugees Help To ‘Bring Buffalo Back’”) is hosting the event to benefit Girls Education Collaborative (GEC). Guests who stop in between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. will be invited to enjoy complimentary wine and light snacks while they peruse the…
Frankie Primo’s +39, a new restaurant from the owner of Soho Burger Bar, opened Thursday at West Chippewa at Franklin Street for lunch and dinner. The handsomely renovated space, with its pressed tin ceilings, warm wood detail, and stately bar, offers a more upscale vibe than its previous incarnation, City Tavern, which was more party bar than dining destination. A visit on Friday night revealed the transformation was, indeed, attracting a new crowd: predominately, professional thirty-somethings, who gravitated toward the bar, and baby boomer city-dwellers in pursuit of a nice meal. Food at Frankie Primo’s (or are we calling it…