11 Foods That Every Buffalonian Craves When They Leave Buffalo
One of the biggest complaints from Buffalonians who roam away from home is that they can’t get their favorite foods anymore. It’s such an issue, in fact, that several companies have dedicated themselves to offer national shipping for Buffalo-centric items! What is it about Buffalo food that makes it so easily missed? We’re not entirely sure, but we do know that these 11 items of Queen City cuisine are craved by every Buffalonian when they leave Buffalo.
1. Wings
2. Perry's ice cream
3. Pizza
4. Speaking of pizza...Pizza logs are a Western New York staple that are surely missed by roaming Buffalonians.
5. Bison Dip
6. Chiavetta's chicken BBQ
7. Sponge candy
8. Chicken finger subs
9. Mighty Taco
10. Paula's Donuts
11. Beef on weck
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Yes, I've had some of each. Not a huge fan of Chiavetta's Chicken BBQ, and Pizza? I'm from Eastern New York, north of New York City, originally, and the large flat pizza slices that you have to roll to eat? Yum......and the Chicken Finger Subs? There is a sub here called a 'Stinger' that is a spicy mix of Italian Sausage and chicken fingers. Yeah. We're all fat.
So, is there food unique to your area? Care to list it?
UGH!
I'm from upstate NY, Syracuse to be specific, 1/2 of Syracuse is Italian and mostly Sicilian, oh boy do I miss some foods!
Also a place called Heid's of Liverpool, since I was a kid everyone would drive out there and in the summer would be a line around the building. They served hotdogs, not just hotdogs but Hoffman brand German Franks, the kind you saw in the cartoons as a kid that were all strung together and are in a natural casing.
Now, to my advantage, we have a large grocer here called Publix. I learned years ago that if you talk with them they will try to get your request. I have a good relationship with them as the three things I have asked them to do have turned out popular for them.
One was the aforementioned Frankfurters that took off so well, now Publix has copied them and done a good job.
Second was Haddock, if you're from eastern NY then you know that probably any fish fry place served haddock as their fish. I went to Publix and asked them, they backed up a bit saying they had to buy 30 lbs. at a time. I proposed that I would by the first 15 lbs. and if they didn't sell the rest by Monday I would buy it. They agreed. The first time I ended up buying 10 lbs., the second time 5 lbs. the third time I pitched a fit because they sold all including my 15 lbs. reserved. Now it's a seasonal item fresh and they keep it frozen off season. Getting Haddock elsewhere in Florida is difficult at best. And buying it is like buying caviar. I've paid as much as $19 lb.
Third was Half Moon Cookies, I showed them how, and the baker tinkered with it and they suck.
I am adapt around a kitchen so many things I miss, I learned to make. This is how I got the name "Poppa Joe" because I make big batches of Half Moon Cookies, Home style and Yeast Doughnuts, etc. and teach the neighborhood kids how to make them. The kids run out of the house "I'm going down to Poppa Joe's" Now the parents call me that too.
The doughnut thing came from a place downtown called the "Downy Flake Restaurant" kids shopping downtown with mom were always pegged in the front window watching the automatic doughnut maker churn out doughnuts...and every kid dreaming of having a machine in their kitchen. Including this fat little kid wearing a parka and pack boots.
Most of all though I miss the convenience of ethnic food, Syracuse was a very ethnic city with neighborhoods carved out of familiarity than force. Like most older cities up there you can tell what part of the city you're in by the smell of dinner cooking in the air. If it was Italian, I knew I was on the north side, German..the lower east side...etc.
OH! And I forgot.....really good Italian bread!
My favorite Syracuse area restaurant was (and is!!!!!) Danzers. German American Cuisine....re-opened recently!
Heidi's is still there-we used to have conferences at the Holiday Inn Liverpool and went there for lunch often.
Out here, Sahlen's franks and various other tubular meats are their thing.
At my family's lake house, down the road in the town of Caroga, there's a store that makes their own fresh donuts.....I picked up half a dozen Apple Cider donuts for my mom....and they were still warm when I got them back to the house.
I loved Danzer's! I remember Old Man Danzer and his single store where the sandwiches were made with bread cut long way instead of slices.
Yeah, I read where one of the waitresses bought the place from the second owner and re-opened. I like that she wanted to recreate the German atmosphere that it once was.
I worked there early in my career, learned how to make saurbraten and roladen. The owner and his sister were jerks.
Are you also familiar with Columbus Bakery? Nothing but bread!
Oh! Fresh doughnuts with hot cider....mmmmmm.
Funny, I used to tell people here I was from NYS and immediately they think skyscrapers and I would reply "Noooo, I came from cows, apples, grapes, and corn!"
My first taste of Fried Noodles with Gravy. And the sandwiches were simply outrageous....I'm looking for to going back. Haven't heard of the bakery. There's another place called Julie's that makes monster sandwiches on Marble Bread.....
I have a riding buddy that live sin Chittenango, though he's moving to Cleveland (new York that is) and building a chalet on Oneida Lake.
I do miss the Finger Lakes, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The 1000's Islands was a great getaway.
When in my youth I lived in Hamilton Ontario (which is at the south-western end of Lake Ontario, about half way between Toronto and Buffalo), we would drive to Buffalo in an hour for Buffalo Wings - as spicy as you wanted, all the way from "Wimpy" to "Suicide". I usually ate somewhere in the middle of the range. During the summers, a lot of Canadians and Buffalo people had cottages or went on day trips to Crystal Beach which was on the north shore of Lake Erie not far from Buffalo. There was a great amusement park with a then-famous roller coaster there, and across from the park we teenagers (Canadians and Americans made friends there) used to hang out at Cronfeldt's Loganberry stand - an unforgettable fruit juice drink. I recall being friends with Dickie Fisher, whose father owned a sports goods store in Buffalo, and I used to date Lois Mesnecoff whose father had a funeral parlour there, once I recall we went to the Town Casino in Buffalo for a dinner show.
I've spent other times in Buffalo, to go to the Albright Art Gallery, to meet friends on the University of Buffalo campus, or to see a minor league baseball game at the Buffalo ball park, or just to spend some time with Lois.
BTW, Loganberry Soda is still available here........
Was that the start of Dick's Sporting Goods?
Does Dick's Sporting Goods indicate a date when they first opened?
How about Sichuan Hot Pot. I don't enjoy it, it's like eating a fondue. Everyone sits around a table with a boiling pot of soup in the middle, and you put all kinds of meats, sometimes fish, sometimes duck, and veggies into the hot soup and pick it out with a ladle or chopsticks. The soup is usually ultra-spicy, so when I go there (and that's rarely) they have to put a divider in the soup pot with spicy on one side and for only me on the other.
Never tried it, though there is a place called the Melting Pot in the Galleria Mall that you do Fondue.....
Beef on weck is the only food that I have to get when I drive I-90 in NY state.
I've never heard of Chiavettas BBQ chicken?
It's a company, they have their own proprietary BBQ recipe (you can actually buy the stuff in stores around here). I'm not a huge fan, but they do huge fundraisers, you have them come in and cook, you provide servers, they provide you meals at X dollars per and sell them at Y dollars per.
Their sauce looks like what is common in NE Ohio for BBQ chicken fundraisers. Its a butter, peanut oil, cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce mixture.
Mmmmmm.....
Nothing starts the day off any better than food talk!
What minnesotan dishes do I miss when away from home?
1. Tater Tot hot-dish.
2. Pickled Herring with onions (found in nearly every grocery store).
3. Rhombus Guys Pizza.
4. Panakuken
5. Saturday night American Legion fresh walleye (OMG; nothin' better!).
6. Caesars (Yummy, spicy alcoholic drink only found in the northern reaches of the US; of Canadian origin).
7. My coffee outta my coffee pot.
:~)
There's a local place here that makes a tater-tot casserole......lot of cheese and bacon included with a spicy ranch dressing.......last time in Minnesota, I was in the Duluth area and we went to Grannies Saloon and had a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich......was delicious!
I love pickled herring with onions. We have it in NY!!
Ewwwww! Could never wrap my head around that, nor Limburger Cheese.
Either your favourite of pickled herring in wine sauce with onions, or pickled herring in cream sauce - you just made my mouth water. I've looked everywhere, stores that sell imported foods, and can't find herring anywhere here. Now I wonder if they sell it at IKEA.
I haven't had a drip maker in 20 years. Percolated baby!! I think I'm the only one in my little city that perks coffee.
Oh my, near and dear to my heart (taste buds) having moved from outside Chicago to rural Tennessee four year ago. I yearn for...
1. Pizza (thin crust & pan)
2. Breaded steak sandwiches - thin sliced steak, breaded, covered in good red sauce, mozzarella cheese on six-inches of crusty Italian garlic bread, available with double meat.
Truly miss the variety of ethnic foods, from produce, cheeses, breads. Trying to put together a Greek tapas evening is challenging...drove 45 minutes to find proper Saganaki cheese and baklava.
I've yet to find al'dente pasta in any restaurant! German restaurant, forget about it!
Alas we love our retirement area ~ get to Illinois at least 4 times a year. First stop is always pizza, continue eating our favorite ethnic foods, pack up a cooler before returning home.
I've had Chicago Style Pizza Pie. Actually was very tasty. Dennis McCann and I used to argue about which city's pizza was best (honestly they are all good. Well, except for San Antonio-theirs sucks)
That steak sandwich seems to be creeping itself onto my bucket list!
Chicago
1. Italian Beef Sandwich - ultra thin sliced seasoned beef served on a crusty rectangular roll , usually with either giardiniera and sport peppers or "red sauce" and sport peppers. In the version without the red sauce the sandwich can be "dipped" ,or soaked in au jus 'gravy', before eating.
2. Maxwell St Polish sausage. Grilled Polish sausage on poppy seed hot dog bun topped with mustard, grilled onions and hot peppers. Best when greasy. Addictive.
3. Chicago style hot dog. All beef dog (usually steamed) on poppy seed bun topped with pickle slice , tomato, raw onions, relish, mustard , sport pepper and celery salt. True Chicagoans never put ketchup on a hot dog.
4. Deep dish pizza, although I prefer thin myself.
JR, forgot about Portillo's beef ~ have been fixated on Ricobene's breaded steak!
Sounds like I need to make a visit to Chi-town for some food therapy.....
Where I live, it's Chinatown EVERYWHERE. LOL
yeah, going to see you and ordering Chinese Food would be, well, everything.
I appreciate that. Thanks.
I miss my Grandmother's Chicken and Dumplings and Biscuits and Gravy.
everything from scratch...
Sometimes I long for winter weather just so I could have those hearty comfort foods....
My mother was a super good southern cook and when she married my father, his mother who was a super good farm cook taught her how to cook that food too. So I was lucky enough to grow up eating the best of both those worlds. Her fried chicken was to die for and so were he pecan pies. He chicken and noodle soup was so it it still makes my mouth water thinking about it. Even her roast and potato dishes were just fantastic. Everything she made was from scratch. Man I really miss that. I can't cook for crap. I'm afraid to cook for anyone else for fear I would poison them...
Sad that those people walk on.........I love to cook, though I'm always looking for something to amp up the taste another notch.
I could go for some home made jam right now....
a nice spicy salsa! never new real Mexican food till I traveled in Mexico.
My mother snagged a salsa recipe from somewhere. Everything in it was grown in my parent's garden. Even the peppers. Mom had a canning cauldron she used that was about 1/2 the size of a bathtub. When she made the salsa she would put in 5 of these peppers they grew. I was the only one in the family that didn't find that almost too hot. I suspect the reason for that was a joke my father played on me when I was about 10 where he tricked me into eating one of those peppers. It felt like I would imagine lava felt. I took to chews and spit it out. My friend took a couple of chews and swallowed his. We both spent the next hour doing everything we could to get the burning to stop. Hot stuff never bothered me after that. I think I burned out some of the receptors that give you that hot feeling.
I think my fried welded himself to the toilet seat the next morning...
I loved her salsa though. It was funny because that was as close to Mexican that she cooked - ever. Damn, that's another thing I miss...
Oh, man, you and me both. Home made grape jam, chokecherry jam, dewberry jam, raspberry jam...
On the other hand, I discovered the absolute ecstasy of Cuban food! And that I love Chinese food....All in Florida.
There was a place when I used to go to Tampa (once or twice a year for conferences) right next door to the Marriott Channel Island (not sure if it's still a Marriott). Cuban refugee making Cuban sandwiches from his little lunch stand. As good as they get, for sure!
BTW, some of the most memorable Chinese I ever had was at an upscale Chinese place in Chinatown, Washington D.C. The other really memorable place was at a place called the Purple Lotus on the bay outside of Izmir, Turkey.
The best Cuban sandwich I ever had came from a food truck at a wine festival.
I've been there!
Makes me remember another tale...Ya know all the rumors about Chinese restaurants an American hears?They aren't just American rumors. I was in Istanbul with my Iranian Girlfriend, she asked what we were going to do for dinner? I said "I'm craving Chinese" this was the first time outside of the USA that I was to eat Chinese, well anyway, it was dead silence...I looked at her screwed up face and said "What?!?" She whispered.."They eat cats"
Chinese in Europe is sure a heck of a difference than in the states! "No! We don't serve NY style, we from Shanghai!" It was the actual fish head in the soup...she was done!
Did you know Cuban sandwiches are actually a Tampa creation? They were originally made for the Cuban cigar rollers so they could eat and roll without transferring their lunch flavor to the tobacco.
I'm a fool for Cuban Roast pork or "Arroz Amarillo con Pollo" Chicken and yellow rice served with black beans and crusty bread....I could live the rest of my life on Cuban food!
I'm making that today as a matter of fact.
There was a place in Richmond, Virginia, in the old Tobacco Warehouse District, when it became Trendy called Havana 59. They had the big roll up garage doors and the food was great, though I didn't much care for the black bean soup.
What I've learned here in China is that the Chinese eat anything they can chew, including insects like Cicadas. However, I've only seen restaurants that serve rabbits (which actually taste BETTER than chicken) and dog (which I won't eat), but never a restaurant that serves cat meat, unless....
I don't like Black Bean soup by itself anyway, don't like that. Love black beans on yellow rice though.
I moved away from my hometown of Toledo, Ohio eleven years ago, and I honestly can say that the only food I miss is the original Gino's Pizza. It's funny, that town seems like it has more restaurants than people, but no food is truly unique to it.
Jamie Farr is from Toledo, and he used to rave about a Hungarian restaurant called Tony Paco's when he was on MASH decades ago, but hardly anyone I knew there ever ate there because it just wasn't that great. There is a lot of good food there, but nothing that I can't find here in Maryland or Virginia.
I'm headed to the Canton/Akron area this afternoon. I wonder if Gino's Pizza has any satellite franchises there?
I don't think so. They only had two locations in Toledo, and then some other restaurant there somehow also had the same name and served pizza, but it wasn't nearly as good. That's why I had to specify the original Gino's.
I just checked and Akron does have a Gino's, but it's not the same chain. Their pizza doesn't even look the same. The original Gino's puts the cheese on last (and lots of it), so that it covers all the ingredients and gets perfectly browned. It's making my mouth water just thinking of it.
I did discover Swenson's out there recently.....as far as drive in's go, the food is better than Sonic.......
I live close to Akron. Gino's pizza is OK. 1347 Copley Road. 330-864-4600
If you want a taste of Akron pizza, try Luigis on the north side of downtown Akron.
Barberton Chicken is good if you don't have a heart condition. Hopokan Gardens is the best chicken joint.
I'll swap you for a case of Packos spicy pickles. I love them!!
Swenson's has a great fish sandwich and killer shakes in 50 flavors. I like the Fairlawn location.
I was in Hartville this past weekend. We went out to Wasabi for dinner on Saturday. Was as enjoyable as always!
OK gotta tell ya that I miss real fish and chips. It's the first food I eat when I go back to London. And Kippers!! I love those Kippers.
Which brings me to this song. I am only going to quote part of it to see if you can figure out the song.
Could we have kippers for breakfast
Mummy dear, mummy dear
They got to have 'em in Texas
'Cause everyone's a millionaire
Thanks! Now the earworm has started!
I do love good fish & chips. I suspect my idea of good fish & chips aren't the same as you get in England. First off, I prefer the fish to be Halibut and of course fries instead of actual English chips. I'm not at all saying I wouldn't like English F&C but that's not what I'm used to.
Holy Crap has that gotten expensive! Last time I dared look at was almost $30 lb.
Supertramp lives on in the 21st century.....
Sahlen Hot dogs.
And the entire selection at Redlinski's (except the head cheese......shiver
)
I get Redlinski's smoked Kielbasa here......it is so good....better than any other Kielbasa's I've ever had before.....they are great on a roll with spicy mustard....Sahlens made some for a while and they were delicious, but suddenly you couldn't find them anymore. Wegman's carries Redlinskis.
Love going to Wegmans when we visit my mother-in-law. Our grocery stores look like crap compared to that place.
I just can't choose when I go there. Everything looks so good. LOL !
They started selling Sehlan hotdogs here last year. My son went nutz !!!
Nothing like Sahlens on the grill....love that 'snap'.
They even snap if you cut 'em with a knife.
Here in the mid-west we love our pork steaks. I don't see them in most other parts of the country. I don't know why. They're great.
When I lived in Utah every place that sold french fries also had a special fry sauce. (Basically ketchup and mayo and sometimes a little relish.) Even McDonald's has that sauce in their stores. You do see that in many other places either although some people think it's just french dressing or "Raising Cane's" sauce which it really isn't either of those. They even sell it in the stores there. I have seen some of the manufacturers come put with similar products in other places now, it not like it is there where EVERYONE uses it.
A friend of mine likes to buy pork steaks and throw them on the grill, though you are right, they are fairly uncommon here in the east.
I prefer to grill pork steaks instead of pork chops, unless the chops are boneless and about 1" thick.
Love Country Fired Steak!
Burgoo, made with hickory smoked barbecue, beef, pork, and chicken. To die for!
Sweet cornbread
Grits 'n honey
Fried okra
Fried green tomatoes
Bourbon balls from Rebecca Ruth Candies
Fresh catfish fillets & hush puppies with onions
Country ham with red-eye gravy...
Sorghum