Dining Out |
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You Are What You Eat
Although people may come for the Buffalo wings, loganberry, and sponge candy, they stay for the delightfully overwhelming number of dining options. No matter which area of Buffalo you end up in, you can stumble upon a variety of tastes, price ranges, and atmospheres. This year’s picks reveal a solid representation from Buffalo staples and a few new options that could shake you out of your dining habits with just one bite. Blue Monk has garnered enough attention to appear under best bar food, best French fries (can’t go wrong with a bowl of their duck frites), and best new restaurant. Trattoria Aroma has edged its way into best brunch (local ingredients, pastry and coffee station, and an upscale vibe, oh my. Try the Aroma Benedict, it’s a sure palate pleaser) and best Italian. Further proof that Grant Street is the new place to be are nominations for Sweetness 7 Café (best coffee) and Guercio’s (best deli). Speaking about the name on everyone’s lips, Lake Effect Ice Cream landed a spot under best ice cream, location be damned, by providing flavors such as Frozen Hot Chocolate and Nickel City Heat to a grocery store near you. Answering the call for more vegetarian options, Merge and The Eights Bistro have stepped onto the scene with innovative menus that both herbivores and omnivores can enjoy. As much as Buffalonians love to embrace new trends, our classic restaurants are staples for a reason.
How can you tell which places are irreplaceable? They are the first places that ex-pats go when they are visiting. Spot Coffee boasts best bagel and best coffee nominations, and Cole’s gets nods for best salad, brunch, bar food, and burger. Amy’s Place (living up to its versatile reputation) has best diner, Middle Eastern, vegetarian, and cheap eats nominations, and Mighty Taco (in such high demand, they ship burritos) has best cheap eats and best Tex-Mex mentions.
There are too many more to mention. Any culinary expedition in Buffalo can introduce your taste buds to something out of the ordinary, indulge them with some comfort food (necessary for late nights and hung-over mornings), or a little of both.
—jill greenberg
Nominees listed in no particular order. Winners will be announced at the Artvoice Best of Buffalo Party, Monday, May 9, 6-9pm, at Town Ballroom.
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Best Bagel
Wegmans Spot Coffee Bagel Jay’s Manhattan Bagel Tim Horton’s Best Bar Food Blue Monk Gabriel’s Gate Cole’s Brennan’s Allen Street Bar & Grill (The Old Pink) Best BBQ BW’s Suzy Q’s Fat Bob’s Kentucky Gregg’s Brickyard BBQ Best Salad Poppyseed Cafe Cole’s Pano’s Globe Market Kosta’s Best Sausage Spars Mineo & Sapio Scime’s Johnny’s Meats Lakeside Market Best Beef on Weck Charlie the Butcher Schwabl’s Anderson’s Bar Bill Swiston’s Best Pizza Just Pizza Bocce LaNova Mr. Pizza Zetti’s Best Brunch Left Bank Cole’s Betty’s Shango Trattoria Aroma Best Burger Cole’s Grover’s Vizzi’s Sterling Place Gabriel’s Gate Best Hot Dog Ted’s Louie’s Lucky Dogs Taffy’s Red Top Best Ice Cream Antoinette’s Lake Effect Ice Cream Sweet Tooth Anderson’s Charlap’s Best French Fries Ted’s Duff’s Blue Monk Jim’s Steakout Papa Jake’s Best Seafood Viking Lobster Kuni’s Seabar Hays Fish Market Harry’s Harbour Place Best Vegetarian Amy’s The Eights Merge Betty’s Falafel Bar Best Wings Duff’s Anchor Bar Gabriel’s Gate LaNova Bar Bill Best Coffee Spot Cafe Taza Cafe Aroma Sweetness 7 Caz Coffee Cafe Best Deli Joe’s Deli Globe Market Marco’s Italian Deli Guercio’s Omega Best Soup Brodo Globe Market Danny’s South Joe’s Deli Lexington Co-op Best Steak EB Green’s Chop House Fiamma Russell’s Tempo Best Sub Jim’s Steakout Wegmans Mike’s John & Mary’s DiBella’s Best Sushi SeaBar Wasabi Kuni’s Fuji Grill Papaya Best Dessert Chocolate Bar Delish Dessert Deli Butterwood Sweet Tooth |
Best Cheap Eats
Pano’s Louie’s ETS Amy’s Place Mighty Taco Best Diner Amy’s Place Towne Pano’s Lake Effect Bertha’s Best Fish Fry Wiechec’s Papa Jake’s Wellington Pub Hayes Fish Market Hamlin House Best Chinese Gin Gin Tokyo Shanghai Bistro Great Wall Red Pepper Taste Good Best French Tabree Left Bank Rue Franklin Shango Bistro Europa Best German Schwabl’s Ulrich’s Scharf’s Prosit Bistro Europa Best Indian Star of India Taste of India Kebab and Curry Tandoori India Gate Best Greek / Mediterranean Towne Mythos Pano’s Kosta’s Acropolis Best Italian Mulberry Frank’s Sunny Italy Trattoria Aroma Chef’s Santasiero’s Best Latino Niagara Cafe Papi’s Sole Carmen’s Kitchen Best Mexican / Tex-Mex El Palenque La Tolteca Gramma Mora’s Lone Star Mighty Taco Best Middle Eastern Amy’s Byblos Mezza Falafel Bar Natalie’s Best 2AM Eats Towne Jim’s Steakout Mighty Taco Mother’s Pano’s Best Polish Prosit Bistro Europa Polish Villa Peroson’s Polish Nook Best Soul Food Gigi’s Soul Fabulous Aunt Mattie’s Lagniappes Musician’s Big 6 Best Thai / Vietnamese Saigon Cafe Taste of Thai Papaya Pho 99 Jasmine Best Street Food Lloyd’s Taco Truck Buffalo’s many hot dog vendors La Nova Italian Festival Taste of Buffalo Best Takeout / Delivery Lagniappes La Nova Just Pizza Jim’s Steakout Gr8 Pizza Best New Restaurant The Delaware Blue Monk The Eights Bistro Mezza Lloyd’s Taco Truck Best Patio La Tee Da Cecelia’s Cozumel Pearl Street Frog Hair Restaurants Buffalo Needs Authentic/traditional Mexican Ethiopian More vegan/vegetarian options More food trucks A vegan bakery |
AV Editor's Picks
What We're MissingBuffalo is home to many dining options, yet voters provided some ideas for areas in which our fair city is lacking. To jump-start any future restaurateurs, we’ve imagined what these additions could be like:
Although many of our fine bakeries offer vegan options, Buffalo’s vegan bakery can offer a 100 percent vegan and organic guarantee. The vegan bakery offers birthday cakes in custom flavors, cupcakes in four flavors (carrot, banana chocolate chip, vanilla, and chocolate), and a wide variety of traditional Italian cookies. They also offer pupcakes for dogs made with oatmeal and peanut butter.
The authentic/traditional Mexican restaurant in Buffalo is located in a small, intimate space. There are a wide variety of salsas, and a menu that focuses on traditional Mexican ingedients and preparations. Pair a fajita or chayote with one of the many authentic Mexican beers on tap. The interior fireplaces are made for sipping Mexican hot chocolate throughout the chilly Buffalo winters and their patio is perfect for drinking margaritas during the humid Buffalo summers.
Falafel food truck. Enough said.
Buffalo’s upscale Ethiopian restaurant brings together traditional Ethiopian cuisine with fine dining. No utensils are needed as each dish starts with injera, a light fluffy sourdough flatbread, used to roll up a variety of spicy vegetable and meat stews. Vegetarian and vegan platters are available as well. This resturant creates a modern ambiance offset by cozy circular booths to encourage dining parties to share their platter and conversation.
—jill greenberg
Our City, Our People The Fine Arts Music Dining Out Shops & Services Nightlife & Drinking The 2011 Winners List |
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Reader Comments
ipetloudog 28 Apr 2011, 15:49
I work at at 2 of the nominee'd locations and we deserve to win every spot we are nominated in. lets just say we take the cake for allentown eats.
Dave 29 Apr 2011, 11:37
Duff's would like to thank everyone for the nominations this year. We look forward to seeing you at the party!!
Frank 29 Apr 2011, 14:11
I love Amy's Place, but how did it get nominated for cheap eats?
Ava 29 Apr 2011, 16:57
Because Amy's has a killer breakfast special where you can get eggs, homefries and toast for 1.99. paired with a cup of coffee it's only 3.50
Viking 01 May 2011, 18:04
Thank you, whoever mentioned us, there are a number of very excellent nominations in the FOOD Category. With that said there are some that surprise me also. The WEB has a number of BEST OF sites and some places listed aren't even still in business. THANK GOD that people have different sense of taste and preference it keeps the number of dining choices open.
Frank 03 May 2011, 13:46
I'm aware Ava, but they're not the only place in Buffalo has that same breakfast special (and the other places have that as their REGULAR price, not just an early bird special!), and other than that, their prices aren't exactly cheap. One such place is JJ's Cafe, right around the corner on Kenmore Ave (in fact, until a couple months ago, JJ's special was $1.50 vs. Amy's $1.99) I guess what I'm just annoyed that the AV Best of Buffalo is just the same people winning year after year... nobody's branching out and exploring the other great businesses in the city.
Amy
04 May 2011, 01:11
Buffalo needs to open an Ethiopian restaurant fast! I was introduced to this food last year while living away from Buffalo and fell in love. As soon as I returned back to Buffalo, I began my search to find the closest restaurant and became disappointed when I found no such place in the area. Buffalo is pretty diverse and I cannot believe we are missing out on this cuisine!!!
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