I spent the past week with my boyfriend, Kevin, in his hometown of Buffalo so I don’t have any new recipes for you.
However, I do have some fantastic restaurants to tell you about!
While Buffalo is well known as the land of endless winter snow and sub-par professional sports teams (sorry Bills and Sabres fans…) they also have some really delicious food.
First, there are Buffalo chicken wings. I’ve been told by several Buffalonians that it is impossible to find good wings outside of Buffalo, and while I don’t agree, I must admit that Duff’s are some of the best wings I’ve ever had. Now, you may be familiar with the famous Duff’s vs. Anchor Bar feud. I’ve never had wings from Anchor Bar because Kevin is an adamant Duff’s supporter, but they would have to be pretty phenomenal to beat Duff’s.
On a side note, Buffalo has this drink they serve in pretty much every restaurant called Loganberry. It’s a juice beverage that I had never heard of prior to my first visit, but after my first sip I fell in love. It’s pretty, and sweet, and delicious. You should all try some. Immediately.
In the same vein as the chicken wing is the chicken finger sub. This is exactly as it sounds, chicken fingers, placed on a sub roll. It’s surprisingly delicious for something so simple. We got ours from Jim’s Steak Out (which is a chain in Buffalo), but they’re available all over the city.
For breakfast one morning Kevin’s mom took us to the Original Pancake House, which isn’t a Buffalo original, but is still good (and serves ridiculously large portions). I got the apple pancake, which is a huge pancake covered in baked cinnamon apples, and Kevin got the Dutch baby, which they fill with butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, fresh strawberries, and strawberry compote.
In contrast to their freezing winters, Buffalo’s summers are very hot. To beat the heat we decided to some ice cream at Sweet Jenny’s. They had some really interesting flavors, and it was a really cute place! We opted for birthday cake and chocolate orange.
They even had sprinkle shakers on the tables!
Last, but certainly not least, is the Chocolate Bar. While I realize this is not a uniquely Buffalo restaurant, it was absolutely delicious and I feel the need to share it with you. We started with Georgia peach, and chocolate dipped strawberry martinis. They were both super sweet and super yummy! (These pictures aren’t the greatest, the lighting wasn’t exactly ideal for pictures.)
For our appetizer we got the chocolate bar baguette, which was a baguette sandwich with delicious melted chocolate and an olive oil/chocolate dipping sauce.
We split the chocolate bar pasta entree, which was fresh pasta tossed with a white chocolate cream sauce, white pepper, and other seasoning. It was served with an amazing roasted corn and red pepper relish. While the pasta was a little bland, it was delicious mixed with the corn and peppers.
The crown jewel of the meal was, of course, dessert. We ordered the chocolate explosion. This monstrosity of a dessert consisted of brownies, dark chocolate ice cream, house hot fudge, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. It was absolutely AMAZING and the hot fudge was the best I’ve ever had!
We also went to a great restaurant called the Irishman, but I was dumb and forgot my camera…
Anyway, if you’re going to be in Buffalo anytime soon, I highly recommend you check out these restaurants (and Ted’s Hot Dogs, and Mighty Taco, and Tim Horton’s, and Just Pizza… the list is never ending).