Buffalo Archives - Page 14 of 24

February 3, 2012October 3, 2021

Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom…. (Answers the first!)

So usually I wait until the second half of the month to start giving answers to “Ask Me Anything!” questions, but Roger has a couple that are time sensitive, pertaining as they do to the impending Super Bowl. So here they are:

Why do you hate Tom Brady so much?

Hoo boy. You know, I was all prepared with this answer. I was going to write about how I don’t hate Tom Brady personally, because it’s not like I know him or anything, and that more than anything else, my hatred for Brady is the “sports fan’s hatred of the other guy”. You know, it’s how sports fans feel about that one guy who always seems to have your team’s number, no matter what. It’s like how Boston sports fans likely felt for years about Bucky Dent or Mookie Wilson.

But then, St. Tommy had to go and open his mouth at a Super Bowl press thing the other day, in the context of talking about how his father has made all kinds of sacrifices to follow his son’s football career:

“He’s been there every step of the way,” Brady said of his dad. “Then I went to school a long ways from home, and he and my mom were there at every home football game that they could possibly be at and a lot of road games, too. And even when I started my pro career, he traveled to Buffalo. I don’t know if you guys have ever been to the hotels in Buffalo — they’re not the nicest places in the world — but he would travel to those.”

Wow. Thanks for that, Tom.

Now, most of the folks I follow online – few of whom blog anymore, and most of whom are on Twitter, which makes me sad – are of the “Who cares what some football player thinks” camp, or the “Hey, he’s just telling the truth, because Buffalo kind of sucks” camp, or a combination of both camps. This goes along with “Geez, Buffalo, do you gotta get so upset any time somebody says something mean about your city?” And those folks are right.

But still…yeah. I hear you, folks. I really do. But still: f*** Tom Brady.

Here’s why: There was really no reason for it. He didn’t need to say it. Buffalo wasn’t part of the conversation in any way, until he cited it as an example of awful hardships his father has had to endure in the purpose of following his son’s career. “Hey, he’s come to Buffalo. That’s a commitment!” And he said it on an enormous media stage.

Look, I am well aware that Buffalo isn’t the nicest city in the world, or even the country, or even the state. I’m well aware that this city’s warts are openly displayed for all to see. I’m well aware that this city continues to rust and crumble while we continually shoot ourselves in the foot, development-wise. But that doesn’t mean that I should be happy to hear continued use of my city, my home, as a national short-hand for “crappy cesspool of a city” to which no one in their right mind would want to go unless it’s for business and you’re only going to be there for the shortest time possible.

Here’s the bottom line: We get to say these things. Brady doesn’t. At least, not for me. The “Brady is right and it shouldn’t matter” crowd will have to bear with me if I’m not willing to say “Thank you, Mr Brady, may I have another?” on this one. Harumph!

There’s also some rhetoric going around that this kind of thing – the impression our city makes on visiting athletes who are in town for a game – is part of what keeps star players from entertaining Buffalo as a possible spot for when they are free agents. To this I say, simply, nonsense. Look, I know that the view from the Kensington Expressway into downtown from the airport isn’t terribly inspiring. But in my experience there’s not a city in the world that doesn’t have such a route, somewhere. I read things like this – “Buffalo’s hotels aren’t super nice and the town’s nightlife isn’t terribly exciting” – and I think, “Huh. Does Green Bay hear things like this?”

Probably not…and the reason why is glaringly obvious. Why don’t star players avoid Green Bay like the plague and refuse to entertain the possibility of signing there? Because Green Bay has a team that wins. Buffalo does not. I guarantee that as long as the Bills are here, it won’t matter how the city looks: if the team gets good again, players will be more willing to sign here.

So: Why do I hate Tom Brady? Because he’s great and he kicks my team’s ass constantly. Because he lives a ridiculously charmed life. Because as great as he clearly is, I still think he’s overrated; he’s never really produced a signature win and a huge moment that will live in sports lore forever, there’s nothing he’s ever done that makes me think, “Wow, I remember when Tom Brady did ____”; I tire of the man-crushes that many sports commentators have on the guy.

Here’s a true story: I’ve always thought that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth has been overly obsessive about Brady, and that he brings Brady into conversations entirely too often, whether the discussion involves the Patriots or not. I mentioned this once on Facebook, and another friend disagreed, saying that Collinsworth simply has a lot of respect for one of the game’s best players. Fine. Except that during last year’s Winter Olympics, Collinsworth at one point presented a profile piece he’d done on short-track speed skater Apollo Anton Ohno, after which he said to Bob Costas and those of us at home, “Apollo Anton Ohno really reminds me of Tom Brady.”

GAHHH!!!

So there’s why I hate Tom Brady. (Kinda sorta. I mean, I’m sure he loves his mother.)

Oh, and a prediction? I really don’t like offering predictions, but I’ll offer a hope: Giants 30, Patriots 16. Not only do I want Brady to lose, but I want him to lose fairly convincingly. I want his defeat to be large enough that no one can whitewash this game for him if he does lose. I don’t think a blow-out is likely, but if Brady loses by 10-14 points and only puts up pedestrian numbers – say, 200 yards, 1 TD, 2 picks – it’ll make me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside. But I guess it’s OK if he wins his fourth, tying him with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. After all, neither one of those guys ever lost a Super Bowl.

And hey, folks, questions aren’t exactly flying in the door yet, so Ask Me Anything!

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October 13, 2011October 3, 2021

Five years ago….

Look how tall she is!, originally uploaded by Jaquandor.

This was the scene outside Casa Jaquandor five years ago today, after the Buffalo Niagara area got walloped by a lake-effect snow storm very early in the season. The next day was actually fairly warm, and melting started quickly; had this storm happened in November, it would barely be remembered. But this storm happened early enough in the fall that there were still leaves on most of the trees, which caused snow to pile on the branches; all that extra weight caused branches to snap. Thousands of trees were destroyed around here in this storm.

This also brought down many power lines, and thousands were without power for days, some for over a week. I remember working at The Store that morning…as none of our lot attendants were able to make it in, I worked the lot for half the day, and early on, most folks shopping were buying beer, chips, crackers, Cheetos, and that kind of thing — the Sabres had a game that night. I joked that the storm had given Buffalo a massive case of the munchies.

But after a few hours, as the magnitude of this event became clear, I noticed that folks were now buying lots of bread. Milk. Bottled water. Bags of ice. Canned foods.

We never lost power at Casa Jaquandor. Our lines are underground, and we almost never lose power — not even during the 2003 blackout that shut down almost everything east of the Mississippi. So for us, it was like we were spectators in the middle of a natural disaster.

But, as always, Buffalo’s response to snow is “Shovel it, shove it over there, and let’s get on with things.” (After a bit of initial panic, that is.)

Ahhhh, life in Buffalo!

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October 3, 2011October 3, 2021

Random Stuff from the Week that Was

So, last week was my 40th birthday, as I noted at the time. Because of work schedules, we rarely celebrate birthdays on the dates on which they fall; instead we schedule some time off as near as we can, and celebrate then. It was a great week, though, it really was. Of course, it got off to the perfect start, with this happening:

And the week really did stay about that good! I worked a short work week before taking a five-day weekend (which includes today, so I’m back to work tomorrow), and I wasn’t unproductive during that work week, either. Then The Wife and I had a nice couple of days off together, during which we took a little trip, and as several people asked me on Facebook and in e-mail, there were pies.

But more on those in a bit…random thoughts and stuff first.

:: Autumnal weather has at last taken hold in Western New York…which, for me, means “time for overalls”. That’s just one of many reasons why this time of year is my favorite. Cool weather means overalls, and time off means naps!

Of course, naps are always welcome, but there’s something about naps in fall and winter that makes them so much better than naps in spring and summer. Sometimes naps in summer feel like wasted time. Of course, that’s just humans, I suppose. Cats never feel like napping is a waste of time. In fact, I wonder sometimes what the evolutionary benefit is to cats of getting all that sleep!

I also wonder where cats slept before the invention of the cardboard box.

:: Car repair places irritate me. We had to take The Wife’s van in for some work, and wouldn’t you know it, they found other stuff wrong that really needs to be fixed soon soon soon! We’ll get those things fixed, but not at that place, which is almost certainly overpriced. The only reason we went there is that we needed to get the tires rotated, which is free since that’s where we got the tires. We also had them check the oil and find out what the “Check Engine” light was all about, which is where it all started. Luckily it’s not super-pressing, so we can save up money and then get the fix done. But ye Gods, I hate the “Hey, we found some stuff on your car!” stuff.

But hey, at least we’re not this guy:

Ye Gods, indeed! This, folks, is why I maintain a state of deep suspicion of other people when I’m driving.

:: The Wife and I made our annual excursion to the Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival this weekend. We discovered this festival quite by chance in 2007, when we planned a getaway sans destination. All we knew was that we were going away, but we had no idea where. I did some Googling and found out about this Festival, and aside from 2008 (when The Wife journeyed to see her ailing mother), we’ve gone every year since. But Ithaca’s quite a long drive from Buffalo (two-point-five to three hours), so we always stay someplace in Rochester overnight and then take the remaining drive the next day. This year we stayed near the Eastview Mall, and we had dinner at PF Chang’s, where we’d never eaten before.

We loved the meal we had there. They have a nice “dinner for two” menu which made the meal more reasonable than we’d even expected, and the food we had was really quite good. No, it wasn’t as good as the best Chinese I’ve ever had — that honor goes to a dim sum place in Toronto, and the Shanghai Restaurant, also in Rochester (Henrietta, specifically) — but it was certainly better than the local takeout joints we like to frequent at Casa Jaquandor. I took some photos of our food, and I put them on Flickr, but…they’re not very good photos. Too dark, really. I was taking them with my phone, and I had the flash off as the phone flash is an LED that makes everything look slightly unnatural. Sometimes I like that effect, but not with food. Anyway, we shared an appetizer of crab-filled wontons (pretty much the same idea as any “crab rangoon” you’ll get anyplace else, although much better prepared), cups of hot-and-sour soup (again, same idea, but terrifically prepared), and then we split Kung Pao Shrimp and Orange Peel Chicken. It was a wonderful meal.

And the place was packed when we arrived, so we put our name on the list and then went to wander the mall for a bit. It’s been several years since I’ve walked a mall. I remember the Eastview Mall from when I was ten years old — the place has been there for many moons — but it has more than doubled in size since then, and now it is positively massive, with several wings added since then that are actually larger than the one wing that used to comprise the entire mall. Lots of folks think that malls are dead, but they’re not; they seem to be accreting, though, so an area with a bunch of small malls eventually becomes an area with one big mall.

Oh, and for ten bucks I got a set of Star Wars cookie cutters at Williams-Sonoma. Score!

:: The next morning we departed Rochester (OK, Victor) for Ithaca. Someday I want to have more than just a single overnight trip for this journey, because really, I just love that part of New York State. It actually starts right in my own town, with the start of Route 20A, which is my favorite drive anywhere. It’s just a gorgeous drive, through the hill country that rests about ten to twenty miles south of the flat I-90 corridor. Sure, since we were going to Rochester I could have saved at least half an hour by taking the Thruway, but why do that? The Thruway has zero personality…and to drive it, you have to pay tolls. Ugh.

After spending the night in Victor (a southeastern suburb of Rochester), we drove the next day first through Pittsford and some of Rochester’s eastern suburbs and then farther east, through towns like Phelps, Palmyra, Waterloo, and Seneca Falls. I always love driving through these towns, with their central business districts lined with brick buildings, occasional crossings of the Erie Canal, and out in the country between towns, driving past farms and properties where the houses often look like they were built before the Civil War. Undoubtedly, some of them were. There’s a real sense of driving through history, I find, in those old towns. Waterloo bills itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day. Seneca Falls played a role in the women’s suffrage movement. And Joseph Smith originally hailed from Palmyra…which means that in the space of less than fifty miles, we drove through the birthplaces of Memorial Day, womens’ rights, and the Mormon church!

And then there’s the drive south to Ithaca itself. Because of the presence of the Finger Lakes, each one running north-to-south, between Buffalo and Ithaca, there is no ‘straight line’ route available. You either drive south, and then east; or you go east, and then south. We always do the latter, so we can drive along the shores of Cayuga Lake. The Finger Lakes are just stunningly gorgeous, all year. I adore that whole region…and at last, it was into Ithaca for the Apple Harvest Festival, huzzah!

:: On our previous trips to the AppleFest, each time it’s been a gorgeous, bright, crisp, sunny Fall day. This time…not so much.

Yeah. Brrrr. Luckily I wisely dressed in layers.

Cold, rainy, and dingy.

As usual, there was a pilgrimage to Autumn Leaves Books, with their nice stock of F&SF. I could spend an hour here, easily. Autumn Leaves is not your “typical” used bookstore, with dim lights and stacks of books teetering everywhere; this store is bright, spacious, and organized. This time I wrote out a list of books that I wanted to look for — mostly space operas, of course — and I actually found one. I also bought an SF book by LE Modessit Jr — I’ve never read him before — and a fantasy trilogy by an author I’d never heard of before at all. Why not?

It wasn’t all bookstores for me, though…we looked up a knitting/crocheting store for The Wife, and she loved the place. She’s developed a real love of crocheting over the last couple of years, and she’s always on the lookout for good places to buy supplies. She liked the selection, the bright organization (some yarn stores can be dark and depressing, she says), and the pair of women who worked there were very gregarious and helpful. Of course, I know next to nothing about yarn, so while she was looking at stuff…

…I was taking photos of myself in the mirror and of cool-looking yarn.

Eventually we warmed up with some hot cider…

…and had a lunch of waffles and fried chicken. Now, I had expressed some skepticism of this food combo when I first encountered it, but I must admit…it’s a terrific match! Loved it. Next year we’re getting two of ’em. There’s this wonderful little restaurant in the middle of the Downtown Commons in Ithaca that features waffles in what must be dozens of permutations.

Finally, after touring all of the craft tents (where we bought The Daughter a bracelet and where I bought The Wife a necklace-and-earrings set), we decided that it was time to start heading home. And it was a good time for that, too, because this is what the weather turned out like an hour or so later:

On the way home we stopped for dinner at a joint in Avon, NY called Tom Wahl’s, which is a burgers-and-dogs drive in…but the burgers were really very good and their onion rings are fantastic. It’s a chain in the Rochester area, and their root beer is awesome.

:: And finally, there was my favorite part of the week: the coconut cream pies. Four of ’em, thick and gooey and creamy. Mmmmm, pie….

Then to blow out the candles…

…and, finally, splat!

Here’s the video I made of this pieing.

Yeah, I know, it’s weird. So what? It’s also fun. Life is just too short to take oneself seriously all the time. Maybe I’ll get five pies in my face when turn fifty! A pie in the face isn’t exactly a birthday tradition for me — we do it once or twice a year whenever, depending on opportunity — but maybe it will be now. Pies in the face rule.

So, to recap: the Bills beat the Patriots; I get to wear overalls again (which, I might add, are all fitting better since I’ve been losing weight!); an overnight trip with my wonderful wife through the finest parts of New York; used bookstores; yarn stores; new jewelry for the ladies in my life; dinner at PF Chang’s; Star Wars cookie-cutters; waffles and fried chicken; burgers and onion rings at Tom Wahl’s; and I get hit in the face with four coconut cream pies.

That’s a great week, folks.

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September 30, 2011October 3, 2021

Decision by committee

Actually, that’s wrong, come to think of it — in Buffalo, we don’t make decisions by committee. We have committees listen to people talk about the issue, and then the committee makes another committee to make the decision! Ye Gods.

For those not in Buffalo, there’s been controversy ’round these parts about…food trucks. Not big trucks delivering food to stores and restaurants, but literally “restaurants on wheels”. These are trucks outfitted with food prep equipment in the back, and they basically drive to a spot, hang out their shingle for a few hours, and serve food to customers. Several food trucks have taken to the streets of the City of Buffalo, much to the pleasure of folks who work downtown, and yet much to the displeasure of actual restaurants downtown, who have been lobbying the city government ferociously to “regulate” the trucks. Of course, the restaurants’ notion of “regulation” would basically make doing business downtown nigh impossible for the food trucks, who really need to have access to downtown customers if they’re going to be viable enterprises.

Alan Bedenko has been doing yeoman duty on these issues, which provide a fascinating microcosm on the various problems with Buffalo: how hard we make it for businesses to take root here, how insular we can be, how our tendency to “circle the wagons” has almost led us to a state of permanent wagon-circling. Here’s hoping this can be a step away from all of Buffalo’s past tendencies to keep its pistol firmly aimed at its own foot.

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September 29, 2011October 3, 2021

She’s all grow’d up now

In one of the least surprising developments for anyone who’s been following her, Jennifer has made it official and done got engaged. I characterize this as a ‘least surprising development’ because she’s been referring to her future husband as “He Who Makes Me Smile” since pretty much the first time she revealed on Facebook that she’d been dating the guy. And when she poured out a lot of grief after the recent passing of his mother, well…the engagement is mere formality, because from what I can see, these two are already married.

And dammit, good for them!

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August 29, 2011October 3, 2021

Dispatches from the Fair

A few weeks ago, The Family Unit and I made our annual trek to the Erie County Fair, where the usual good time was had by all. (Except for that one guy, who didn’t seem to be having a good time at all. Oh well!) Here’s some pictorial documentation of our day!

(Below the fold, of course.)

Let’s talk fair food first, get it out of the way. Our first order of business at the Fair is always lunch, which means one thing: finding the corn dog place. The corn dog place we usually like has been moved from its usual spot, so we tried another.

This one was OK, but it didn’t really hit the Corn Dog Sweet Spot, as it were, so we found another place, where the corn dogs are made with Sahlen’s dogs, and they are hand-dipped and fried to order. This is corn dog freshness!

(By the way, God knows that I will make fun of Republicans for just about any reason, but I will not make fun of their corn dog consumption methods. So go ahead, Governor Perry and Congresslunatic Bachmann, deep-throat those corn dogs to your hearts’ contents!)

At dinner, The Daughter insists on pizza.

I think she does that so she can eat her pizza, and then nag The Wife and I for bites from our Chiavetta’s chicken dinners.

I wish the Chiavetta’s people would serve the butter at least a little softened; I think they keep it frozen up until the moment they plunk it on your plate. But oh well.

I didn’t do a whole lot of Fud Photography, since a lot of what we ate was the same as what we eat every year: roasted nuts, kettle corn, a big selection of jerky, fried dough, ice cream, milk shakes, et cetera. There was something new that we tried, an arepa, which was basically a grilled-cheese sandwich made on cornbread. The cornbread was really moist and had nice, big corn kernels in it. The thing looked fantastic:

Flavor-wise, though, I was a bit disappointed — it was awfully bland as served. They used mozzarella cheese, which was really mild; a spicier cheese, or some kind of spicy meat or vegetable, would have helped a lot. I had to put a liberal amount of hot sauce on the thing to really make it taste good. I love the idea, but it needs reworking before next year if I’m to have one again. (Oh, and those things hold heat like few foods I’ve ever known. The thing was too hot to bite without searing pain for almost five minutes!)

By way of walking around seeing stuff, we love the Creative Arts exhibits, as usual — and they are in a different spot now, which is actually quite nice. There were wonderful quilts…

…and needlepoint nudes…

…and creative diaramas.

And there were animals, as always! Llamas…

…and chickens…

…and horses on parade.

There was a guy rolling around on a wacky wheel, calling himself the Wacky Wheeler.

We stopped in the Antique Mall, a smaller version of one of our favorite local retail establishments, the Orchard Park Antique Mall. Ever since the Fair, I have been kicking myself for not buying this:

No, I don’t like the Alien movies, but that little guy is just so many kinds of awesome! I’ll keep an eye out for him at the main Mall now that the Fair has ended.

Then, to the Midway for rides and whatnot, as the moon rose.

There’s a ride that apparently has a “spaceship” theme, hence the presence of Darth Vader on its side!

And this amused me greatly. One of my favorite rides to watch is “Enterprise”, which is a Star Trek themed ride that can’t call itself a Star Trek ride — it just always has Star Trek artwork. Here’s the ride in years gone by:

Note Kirk’s enormous chin! And either they’ve omitted McCoy and put Scotty up there, or they’ve put McCoy in the wrong color shirt.

Well, now that Trek has been rebooted, it’s time to reboot the “Enterprise” ride, too! Here’s how it looks now:

You’ve got Chris Pine as Kirk, and I suppose that’s Zachary Quinto as spock, way over on the left. Spock is right next to…wait a minute! That’s Padme as she looked at the end of the Battle of Geonosis in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones! And…the Alien from Alien, hanging there! And what’s with the pair of cat’s eyes hovering over the Earth? Now there’s some gonzo stuff, right there. God, I love that ride. If only I wasn’t sure that the act of riding it would make me hurl.

Our day at The Fair wasn’t totally inclusive of everything we wanted to do. When we were walking the animal barns, the sheep and the cattle were closed, because their respective judging shows were going on right then, so we missed out, unfortunately. I continue to hope each year for a cold front to come through and make the day we go to the Fair cool enough to wear overalls — if ever an event screams out for overalls, it’s the Fair — but no, it was its usual “pleasantly hot”. And The Daughter had gone in, hoping to purchase a hermit crab from a dealer who had been there in years past. No dice this time, unfortunately. No hermit crab…that day. But that’s a post for another time.

See you next year, County Fair!

(My complete Fair photo set is here.)

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August 8, 2011October 3, 2021

News, snooze….

I know, two posts about the Buffalo News in one day…but seriously, BuffNews, what in the heck is this? Political reporter/columnist Bob McCarthy spends his last two grafs venting about a local blogger.

A local blogger named Chris Smith has been downright giddy in recent days criticizing The Buffalo News for reporting that SEIU Local 1199 is paying employee Jennifer Hibit to manage Poloncarz’s campaign for county executive. Around here, something unusual and of interest to voters makes a good story.

But not over at WNY Media Network, where Smith toils. More important to the network, apparently, is the $3,750 Poloncarz paid to WNY Media Network for website design and video editing, according to state campaign finance records. In fact, the same records show WNY Media Network has handled Poloncarz’s video campaign for years.

Some local bloggers receive money from politicians. The Politics Column does not — and that says it all.

Well, that’s fascinating stuff, right there. You’ve got all the hallmarks of a newspaper reporter who still — in 2011, ferchrissakes — thinks that bloggers are just dirty little folk who pound out missives without fear of retribution, or something. If he’d had more column space, I’m sure McCarthy would have thrown something in there about Chris’s mom’s basement, his Cheeto-stained fingers, and his pasty-white complexion. (Full disclosure: I’ve been reading Christopher Smith for years. But I’m not affiliated with WNYMedia.net, I don’t get paid by anybody to blog, I have never accepted money from a candidate, et cetera, yada yada yada, sotto voce, e pluribus unum.)

What’s interesting here is that McCarthy completely ignores any of the substance of whatever it was that Chris Smith wrote and went straight for the character attack. Now, I don’t know what the substance of whatever it was that Chris Smith wrote might be, because…well, I just don’t care. What does interest me is a newspaper columnist ignoring criticism entirely and instead directly accusing Chris of receiving money from a local politician. Nothing like a little ad hominem in your Sunday reading, huh? This is not just weak tea, it’s lazy tea. Weak tea is what you get when you don’t steep the tea long enough. Bob McCarthy didn’t even take the tea bag out of the foil package before throwing it into water he didn’t bother to boil. That’s how lazy this is.

One might wonder just how crap like this made it past the editors and into print, but then you realize that the Editor at the News is only just now getting up off her fainting couch after learning that people like the paper for the coupons. That shocking revelation must have her seriously off her game.

(Oh, and as to the “They only love us for the coupons!” thing? Well, I wonder why it is that Buffalo News readers might value the paper highly for its large amount of coupons and ad circulars. I wonder just why that might be….

Notice no parallel headline trumpeting “Over 200,000 words of Pure Journalism Goodness!)

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August 7, 2011October 3, 2021

The Buffalo News has a sad….

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything more unseemly than last week’s column in the Buffalo News by editor Margaret Sullivan, in which a focus group of readers revealed that what they liked most about the paper was the selection of coupons. At least, that is, not until this week, when a bunch of other readers chime in to say “We like more than the coupons!”.

So today we have the Editor of the Buffalo News writing a column that is mostly cut-and-pasted from a series of e-mails in order to give the paper a sense of self-satisfaction. It’s almost embarrassing to read this stuff. Exactly when did modern journalism become so damned masturbatory? There’s a history to be written here, I think.

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July 19, 2011October 3, 2021

Dispatch from the Shore

Hey all,

We’re having a great time here on the Jersey Shore. It’s funny — I’m aware of the existence of a teevee show called The Jersey Shore, and that’s that, but when I was telling people that my family and I were going to the Jersey Shore, lots of folks grinned and said, “What happens at The Shore stays at The Shore”. And that sounds great and all, but it doesn’t make for good blogging. So, a couple of notes thus far:

:: It turns out that the tastiness of rum varies in direct proportion to one’s proximity to salt water. Rum’s great in Buffalo. But drinking rum when you’re so close to the ocean that even through closed doors you can hear waves breaking? Awesome.

:: I’m planning to sample some tequila later. I’ll just have it on the rocks, maybe with a lime twist. None of that licking-salt stuff; that’s just gross.

:: Yeah, it’s really hot. But late in the afternoon when the wind is coming off the shore, it’s very pleasant and can get downright chilly.

:: Kite surfing looks like more fun than anyone should be allowed to have during one activity.

:: I dislike tourist-trap pricing.

Reactions to world events:

:: The Pirates aren’t just toying with having a season over .500, but they’ve been flirting with first place. In fact, as of this writing, they hold a one-half game lead in the NL Central. This amazes me.

:: The NFL lockout sure has been “on the verge of ending” for quite a while now.

:: Thinking it over, it becomes clear to me that the Republicans have been getting a little crazier each year for something like thirty years. Every time election season starts to roll around, they’re just a little bit more insane. It terrifies me to think that as batshit crazy as Michelle Bachmann or Rick Perry are, in 2015 (assuming an Obama reelection next year) there will a whole bunch of Republicans coming to the fore who are crazier than that.

:: Rupert Murdoch apparently got a pie thrown at him today. This disappoints me. I can think of few people less deserving of a pie in the face than Rupert Murdoch. But then, I’m odd.

:: And finally, it continues to amaze me that you don’t have to venture far from Western New York to see how much nicer folks have it just about anyplace else. Cities and towns with waterfronts, that let folks build things as long as they comply with certain zoning requirements, cities and towns that…oh well.

More upon my return to society. Having great time, wishing you were!

-Me

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July 10, 2011October 3, 2021

At the Taste

This weekend sees the annual Taste of Buffalo food festival, which takes place downtown. We go every year, and I’ve blogged about it before, but here are thoughts from this year’s edition! (If you don’t care, I’ll put it below the fold and you can ignore it. Unless you read me on Google Reader, in which case, well, you’re screwed.)

First of all, the weather on the day was absolutely, gob-smackingly, you-wanna-make-sweet-sweet-love-to-it, perfect. Sunny, only an occasional cloud, a nice breeze the entire time, just one degree less than when you start sweating, and a sky so blue that, as Mr. Kinsella wrote, “it hurts your eyes just to look at it.”

But before I get too excited here, let me get my usual gripes about people-behavior at The Taste out of the way right here.

Seriously, those are the two things people do at The Taste that drive me crazy. As I always point out: there is plenty of room to get the hell out of the way and eat once your food is in your hand. Standing in the middle of the street, or worse, at the counter, is as good a way to announce your douchery to the world as holding up a giant sign reading “Hey world! I’m a douche!”

OK. That’s out of the way. What did we eat? Here’s a rundown, with thoughts on each dish, roughly in the order that we ate them. (If I remember rightly, that is.)

Just Pizza: two slices here. The Kid had a cheese-and-pepperoni slice all to herself; The Wife and I split a steak-and-sweet peppers slice. We eat here every year. We’ve always been big fans of Just Pizza; we just don’t go there often because there are about a dozen pizza places that we also like that are a lot closer to Casa Jaquandor. (And no, I’m not exaggerating with the “about a dozen” thing.)

58 Main Street Barbecue. Pulled pork nachos. This was junk-food goodness. It was really basic, and not any kind of gourmet item at all — standard nacho chips with nacho cheese sauce, but with barbecue pulled pork added to the mix. This shouldn’t win any “foodie” awards, but it hit a comfort-food sweet spot!

Alex’s Place. Here we had fried calamari. I’m a big fan of fried calamari, but a lot of times, the calamari is overdone so that with the fried breading, you might as well be eating an onion ring. Their calamari was still tender and tasted distinctly (although not strongly) of calamari. They also served it with banana peppers, which always makes me happy — I’m a banana pepper freak.

The daughter even reluctantly tried one, even though she was a tad skeptical. Her verdict? Well, we ended up going back for a second helping later on so she could have more. Awesome!

Danny’s. Chicken wing soup. Because it’s Danny’s Chicken Wing Soup. We eat at Danny’s all the time, and I make my own reasonably kick-ass chicken wing soup, but still — we got some soup at The Taste anyway. Wish they had croutons for it, though.

Saigon Cafe. Summer roll. This thing — a kind of cold spring roll — was wonderful. I really loved this dish, with its bright, clean, and cold flavor. It was served with two dipping sauces, a hoisin-style sauce (not unlike what you put on the pancakes in mu-shu pork) and a chili sauce that packed quite a punch. Here’s a photo.

Seriously, I could have a meal of four or five of these.

Dinosaur Barbecue. Pulled pork sliders. We’re big fans of pulled pork, so this was typically good. I didn’t realize until afterwards that they had a table set up with additional sauce for you to doctor it, though. Oh well.

Carribean Experience. We’ve had their Jerk Chicken every single year we’ve gone to The Taste, even back when it was held on Main St. We still love it.

Prima Pizza. Because The Daughter can’t have pizza from just one place, we always stop here, too. She had her cheese-and-pepperoni slice, and The Wife and I split half a sausage calzone. It was served with marinara sauce in a dipping cup, but it wasn’t fresh-made sauce — it had a paper lid you had to peel off, like the syrup that McDonald’s serves with pancakes. This sauce was very sweet. I enjoy a sweet marinara or pizza sauce now and then, but The Wife wasn’t thrilled. The calzone was OK. Not great, but not awful, either.

Nick Charlap’s. By this point we were getting a bit warm, so it was time for Ice Cream stop number one. Small cones of soft-serve for all — choc-and-vanilla for The Kid and I, and a raspberry-something else twist for The Wife.

Here we took a break to go into the New Era hat store for the first time. I was hoping for a water fountain where I could refill our water bottles, but no dice. I suppose it’s necessary, but I was amused by the intimidating-looking security guards all over, keeping careful watch on…a store full of hats.

Interestingly, I saw a number of folks in Pittsburgh Pirates hats. Fair weather fans, now that the team is actually playing well for the first time since 1992? Or long-time, in-the-closet fans? Hmmmmm!

Fat Bob’s. Macaroni and cheese. I would have gone for serving number three of pulled pork, but by this point, The Wife wasn’t wanting any more pulled pork, so we got a dish of their signature mac-and-cheese. Here it is:

It’s perfectly good macaroni and cheese, it really is. I don’t think it’s spectacular in any way, though. I’ve heard a lot about it, and I’d order it if I ate at Fat Bob’s, but I wouldn’t go out of my way on the basis of this mac-and-cheese. Not when I can make my own.

Chester’s Cajun Grill. Blackened shrimp over cajun rice. This was a huge disappointment, the only one on the day. We’d never had this before, so it really sounded good — we love shrimp — but it did not end well. I’m no expert, and I certainly don’t have the most refined palate in the world, but surely Cajun cooking should not leave an overwhelming sense of being comprised of nothing more than salt and heat. This dish was extremely salty, and the spiciness was that disappointing, flavorless spiciness where the heat doesn’t taste like anything. There was no flavor of shrimp, no flavor of whatever peppers provided the heat — just salt and heat.

Anderson’s Custard. We wrapped up with ice cream cones — mint chocolate chip for me, cotton candy for The Kid, and something with oreos for The Wife. After this, we bid farewell to Taste of Buffalo 2011. Three hours of walking, $55 in tickets, three water bottles and three cans of Squirt later. Can’t wait ’til next year!

And if I might editorialize about downtown Buffalo a bit here…I’ve always generally been a fan of Buffalo’s older architecture, but over the last five or six years I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the fact that the glut of old buildings around here, combined with folks who really love them some old-ass buildings, and a political culture that makes getting a single building erected more difficult than, say, mounting a major invasion by sea of Normandy, France, means that downtown Buffalo is now…well, there’s no other way to say it. I think it’s starting to look a bit ugly down there. Not old. Not run-down but with pockets-of-progress. Just plain ugly.

Looking around at the buildings of downtown, one word kept popping into my head over and over and over again: crumbling. So much of downtown Buffalo is doing just that: falling apart. Witness what has befallen the old Hotel Statler, which sits a literal stone’s-throw from City Hall:

You may have to embiggen that last one to really see it, but entire sections of terra cotta bordering have tumbled off that building. Now, the Statler is a special case: it has gone through prospective changes in ownership a number of times over the last decade, and only in the last year has it finally been taken over by someone with money, so repair work is beginning. This is a genuinely saveable building. But all over downtown are very old brick monstrosities that are crumbling, whose majorities of windows are shattered, and whose sides still sport large painted advertisements for products or businesses that haven’t existed since before the giant majority of people even living in the city were born. Sometimes these buildings are right across the street from the new buildings that have gone up in the last ten years or so.

I’m not sure what to make of this, but downtown Buffalo seemed to me today to be a modern urban Acropolis, and I don’t mean that in the “site of enormous importance to the human heritage” sense but in the “decaying ruin of a civilization long-since gone” sense. Everywhere I looked was a building that made me think, “Ye Gods, why doesn’t someone just tear that damned thing down.” And the answer will almost always be, “Because no one wants to build anything here, and even if they did, someone will claim that that horrible decaying brickpile is historical and needs to be preserved.”

Lots of folks talk about what signs we need to see before we can say that Buffalo may actually be rebounding. For me, I know what I’ll need to see before I’m ready to say that maybe this city is moving in the right direction.

Wrecking balls. And lots of ’em.