the road | the food | a new direction
On a busy Friday night at around 7 p.m. an assailant entered the kitchen of the iconic Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY, and, in what the police are calling a targeted shooting, killed an employee of the restaurant and incidentally wounded another employee. The shooter escaped. Police have inspected surveillance tapes and are still searching for the shooter. The Anchor Bar, which is often named as the inventor of the Buffalo wing, was closed yesterday. They plan to reopen today (Sunday).
Hot dogs generally run about six inches in length (though plenty of good ones — such as those in and around Troy, NY and Rhode Island — come in abbreviated two-bite sizes). But there’s something special about foot-longs. Yes, they’re basically two hot dogs long but, somehow, they’re much more than twice the fun (unless you are one of those party-poopers who recoil at the sight of culinary overstatement). Perhaps nowhere in America does the foot-long reign more supreme than in WNY (which is how residents of Western New York, in and around Buffalo, identify their home region). Continue reading
The show aired for one season, 22 episodes in 2010. The Travel Channel’s Food Wars would pit a city’s two big players in a local signature food item against each other, and, amazingly enough, name a winner. Perhaps that’s why the show lasted only one season: it’s hard to see how any iconic restaurant would allow itself to be named a loser on national TV. The inaugural episode took place in Buffalo, NY, where Anchor Bar faced Duff’s in a Buffalo wing competition. Anchor is generally thought to have invented the hot wing, while Duff’s is Anchor’s most famous competition in the region. Continue reading
It took a victory by the Buffalo Bills Sunday against the New York Jets to enable the Pittsburgh Steelers to qualify for the AFC playoffs. Don’t think that Pittsburghers aren’t grateful. To express their appreciation, the original, Strip District location of Primanti’s (as in, fries and slaw in the sandwich) shipped a thank you package to the Bills’ front office yesterday, complete with a couple of Terrible Towels. Maybe one day Anchor Bar will have the chance to return the favor.
Larry Olmsted’s been writing a wonderful series of stories for USA TODAY called Great American Bites, where he showcases the best, most interesting regional foods and restaurants America has to offer (much like we do here at LAF!). As 2015 comes to a close, Mr. Olmsted takes a look at the best of the best: ten eateries receiving his highest, OMG!, rating. Continue reading
The inventor of the Buffalo wing, Anchor Bar, opened a branch on The Strip in Las Vegas, in the Venetian. So how do these wings stack up against the original? Writing for Las Vegas Weekly, Brock Radke says “stick to mild, medium or hot sauces, and you’ll find simple wing happiness. They’re plenty meaty and wonderfully crispy, and not at all dried out like what might happen at your neighborhood bar.” You can also go Full Buffalo and get yourself a beef-on-weck while you’re at it (that’s roast beef on a salt-and-caraway spangled roll), which must be a rare sight west of the Rockies.
A couple of decades ago it seemed as if every American chef with a name and a reputation to promote set up shop in Las Vegas, NV. A more recent trend has taken that idea to the country’s regional food specialists. As difficult as it once would have been to imagine, you can now find branches of Buffalo’s Anchor Bar and New York’s Di Fara pizzeria in Sin City! Do a little digging and you’ll also find Michigan pasties, Detroit-style pizza, and even the towering pastrami on rye sandwiches of Manhattan’s famed Carnegie Deli. Read more about this new twist on the Vegas food scene in Larry Olmsted’s piece in Forbes.
Anchor Bar, Buffalo, NY’s self-proclaimed inventor of the Buffalo wing, will open an outpost next month in Las Vegas, at The Venetian in the Grand Canal Shoppes. They’ll be offering counter service, and they’re replacing a Nathan’s, so it sounds like they are aiming for more of a fast-food operation than the tavern setting of the Buffalo original. And, no, despite what the writer of this story says, they do not dust the wings with cayenne.
When Buffalo’s famed Anchor Bar opened their second location, in the village of Williamsville, last year, they aimed for a modern, classy, sleek environment, i.e., not much at all like the original Buffalo bar. Of course, the famous wings are available, but bar patrons will also be greeted by a fireplace, a dozen beers on tap, and plenty of fancy-ass cocktails on the menu. Read more about the new Anchor Bar as a bar in this story in The Buffalo News.
Parkside Candy was founded in Buffalo by George Kaiser in 1927. In the 1980s current owner Philip Buffamonte purchased the historic candy store and ice cream parlor from Mr. Kaiser’s estate. He is now sole owner, and a hands-on owner at that – you might see him molding Easter bunnies or making lollipops. The Buffalo News spoke with Mr. Buffamonte about Parkside, and what it’s like to run one of Western New York’s classic candy stores. Read the interview here.
When Shake Shack enters a new market they always select some quality local ingredients for their menu. We noted previously how, in Chicago, they are offering concretes made with Chicago’s Bang Bang Pie and Glazed & Infused doughnuts, and they are also offering Vienna Beef hot dogs. There are two other local twists on the menu. Another concrete incorporates a chocolate bar made with Hawaiian black sea salt, burnt sugar caramel, and 70% cacao dark chocolate, from Chicago’s high-end chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat. And there’s a Publican Pork Sausage, made by Chicago’s Publican Quality Meats, a high-quality butcher and lunch spot. The sausage is topped with Shack’s cheese sauce and crispy-fried, ale-marinated shallots. The Chicago Shack opened yesterday. Continue reading
Carla Hall is working towards opening her first Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen in New York, and to help her with the project she’s enlisted culinary students from Drexel in Philadelphia. They’ll be testing out menu items by taking over a food truck in front of Drexel and handing out free hot chicken, macaroni and cheese, braised greens and fresh lemonade. The date is November 5th, the time is 5:30 p.m., just before a 6 p.m. Drexel basketball event. If you’re in the area head over and grab a sample! Continue reading
John Burnett, writing for NPR’s Foodways blog, presents his thesis that the variety and authenticity of Texas’ small town eats is getting swamped by barbecue, Tex-Mex cuisine, convenience store fast food, and Sysco. We don’t know that we’d restrict the phenomenon to Texas. Hasn’t this been happening across the country for decades? Continue reading
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