hear no gossip, see no gossip, speak no gossip - Rumor's Mill #3

Well.

It's the end of November. We've all glutted ourselves with a fantastic Thanksgiving feast, enjoyed the company of friends and family, and are looking forward to doing it all again with more fanfare in hopefully cozier and even cheerier Yuletide season that is headed our way.

Or, if you're like me, you miss the sun, dread the grey days full of snow, and wish you could hibernate until the next equinox.

either way, Season's Greetings.

i'm sure my absence has been a bit conspicuous, and to tell the truth i feel a bit guilty about that. this blog started with a pop of promotion by local food bloggers, buffalospree.com, and even a mention by the buffalo news, only to have me leave you in the dark in these darkening days of oncoming winter. my apologies.

that said, its been all i can do to wake up with enough time to watch the sun peter out, or find much worthwhile for which to leave the house, which sadly means the gossip is flowing like molasses. Or at least my part in promoting it, anyway. that isn't to say a few things haven't crossed my radar.

TRUFFLE DINNERS - what i heard - Awhile back i wrote a blurb about the dueling truffle dinners, one led by Bistro Europa's Steven Gedra, with the help of Mike Andrejewski held at SeaBar, and the other, a Dinner With Danger Event at Torches. The politics of the dueling dinners was the focus of the write-up, and while dates have long passed, the drama still resounds. the Gedra/Andrejewski truffle dinner went off with more than a few hitches, as i understand it, but to great success nonetheless. with the aid of Chefs James Roberts (Park Country Club) and Bruce Wieszala (Carmelo's) the Europa/SeaBar crew, et. al. turned out what i hear to be a masterpiece of a dining event.

the Dinner With Danger Truffle Dinner Event at Torches, scheduled within a day of the Europa/SeaBar offering, in fact did not go off as planned. while i don't have specific details, sources seem to suggest that the event was pulled by Chef J.J. Richert himself, so as to avoid the appearance that the Torches truffle dinner was a direct and personal challenge leveled at Gedra and associates. Sources indicate, however, that a private truffle feast was held quietly at Torches with around a dozen or so guests and was neither advertised nor open to the public.

BRAINSTORMING CHEF - what was seen - Chef Tutu Inthalasy of Hucklebuckets seems to hope to be opening a new restaurant at some point in the future. if you're in the industry and you don't know his cooking, you know his name; and if you don't know his name, you're sure to know his face. Whether the restaurant is closer to concept or reality at this stage in the game, i truly couldn't say, but he was recently sighted at Vera by an industry contact of mine collecting "distinctive looking bottles for glassware." you're guess is as good as mine. Hucklebottles, perhaps? all joking aside, i'd be interested to see what comes of Tutu's endeavors...

ANYBODY GOT A COUPLE MILLION? - what they say - i've heard it from several sources, but i don't think a "for sale" sign's been hung, yet. Nick Kotrides (Toro, Faherty's, Empire Grill) seems to be looking to get out of the restaurant business. at least as far as Elmwood avenue is concerned. Apparently Nick has been toying with the idea of selling both Faherty's and Toro (no word on whether or not he'd like to keep Empire, on Hertel). the catch is that they both come as a package -- splitting up the ownership is impossible, especially considering that the two locations seem to share a basement. the figure Mr. Kotrides seems to have in his head is a cool $2 million, so if any of you investors out there are looking for an easy cash cow, the Toro/Faherty's duo might just be up your alley. Just do me a favor and don't clean house, they've got some of my favorite people working there.

that's all for now.

stay tuned, i hope not to be out of touch so long during this dreadfully delightful season. I'm hoping to have a "whatever happened to...?" article up down the road, not to mention some cool buffalo culture and dining projects in the works as well.

till next time.

the Rumor's Mill

being in the service industry, i come by all sorts of information, but it isn't always viable. it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between something that's really happening, and what a business owner wants you to think is happening. for all the uncertainty in the restaurant business, you don't often catch restaurant owners using words like "maybe," "hopefully," or "if." when i hear news and it doesn't pan out, i think of that line that Samuel L. Jackson has in Pulp Fiction when explaining how TV pilots work: "some of 'em get picked up, and become shows. some of 'em become nothin."

apply that sentiment to the following rumors -- some of them will pan out. some of them become nothing.

The Eights -- Over the last couple months, the owner was in talks with Kevin O'Connell, Jr., chef at O'Connell's restaurant and son of the local TV personality, to sell him the establishment. The impression of a former co-worker of mine after a visit was that if the Eights had been for sale, the Nussbaumer faction had no idea, and it appears the deal was intended to be a behind-the-scenes transaction. Since then, the bottom has apparently dropped out of the deal -- but whether the Eights is "for sale" is unclear.

NoNoo Ramen -- Just announced this week on their Facebook page that they'll be opening the last week of October, although their full liquor license is not expected to kick in for a couple months yet. In the meantime Van Every's apparently keeping busy in the kitchen at Vera...speaking of....

Vera -- "pre-prohibition era" cocktails? that's nothing. word on the street is that they're about to lay down their own barrel aged cocktails -- a manhattan, and a negroni. this is the sort of thing they do in real cities -- thanks for bringing a bit of cutting edge to buffalo, gentlemen.


The Whole Hog -- Is the City of Buffalo too hard on foodtruckers? I don't think anyone would agree more than Kathleed Haggerty, especially after having gotten the boot from the Bidwell Farmer's Market on Saturday. Could that be why she's been thinking of selling The Whole Hog to Merge's Kate Elliot? who knows. but rumor has it that Kate is looking to put a food truck on the road come spring, and she's been in talks with Chef Haggerty herself.

Michael "Danger" Bernhardt -- "Danger's" got a new project in the works. all the evidence suggests a possible foodie website or a...Buffalo Food Blog? we're all waiting with baited breath...

location, location, location -- absurd visions; foot traffic; Vera; BRK&B

i have a vision of Buffalo...where every empty storefront gets filled with a bar, or a restaurant, or a coffee shop, or a deli that slings the best sandwich you ever had.  And every construction project includes some new restaurant venture, and every expansion is to widen kitchen space, lengthen the pine, or add seats to a dining room.  i have this vision of Buffalo, connected by the foot traffic of the hungry, the thirsty, the curious, the stumbling drunk, who are not satisfied to simply camp out at the corner watering hole, but move in a constant scavenger hunt for the best food, the most interesting ambiance, the weirdest drink, the most dramatic company.

what i want, really, is to be in a city full of bars and restaurants.  i want them to replace everything.  i want them instead of salons, instead of pet shops, instead of storefront churches, instead of places for people to live.  i know, that sounds a little weird.  While Buffalo is a city already full of bars and restaurants and coffee shops and taco houses and wing huts, having been an out of work service industry guy on numerous occasions, it seems as though the options for a quality working experience are farther and fewer than the options for a quality dining experience.  I had great souvlaki at Mythos. they've won awards. never would i ever work there.

i guess its that if every storefront were filled with purveyors of food and beverage, the percentage of really quality establishments would naturally increase.  don't confuse my use of the word quality to necessarily correspond with words descriptors like  'upscale' or 'fine dining' or 'formal' or 'expensive.'

as an elmwood villager, proximity is important in choosing a workplace as well.  who wants to mess with driving?  with cabs? with (gasp) public transportation?  lately, this has become more of a concern regarding where to spend my non-working time and my hard earned money.  i know a bartender whose thoughts on the subject are clear:  "i don't go anywhere i can't walk out of."  this has been my motto for years, although i never thought to put it as succinctly as he did.

while i know people don't mind driving and destination spots, it is a bit of an inconvenience to factor in transit time, parking, gas, not to mention limiting beverage intake on account of your transportation.

i guess what i am getting at is that it seems that business, particularly of the food and beverage sort, break out in clusters.  and that the reason for that also seems to be that foot traffic tends to retain (or contain) spenders.

which brings me to some of the recent goings on in the Buffalo restaurant scene.

Its not breaking news that Vera, and the Goldmans' new Black Rock Kitchen & Bar have just opened in Buffalo, and if you want you hear about their food, i suggest taking a gander at the BuffaloEats blog for reporting on the respective cuisines.  I have yet to visit Vera myself, and i was impressed with the menu descriptions at BRK&B, but what i am most concerned with in this post are their locations, and what they mean for local business.

In the case of Vera, it is not so far off the beaten path -- sushi people have been frequenting that location of Kuni's for some time now.  but Lexington does seem to remain a bit of pocket unto itself.  people don't walk down Lexington unless they have a destination on Lexington in mind.

But maybe Vera is a step in realizing my absurd vision of Buffalo, on some level.  I'd like to see it draw that walking crowd of foodie hunter-gatherers onto Lexington.  I'd like to see Lexington turn into the branching of arterial flow that would pump eaters and drinkers all the way across Richmond and into Rhode Island.  My hope for Vera is that it becomes an anchor for a trendy crowd to hang around that generally unadorned sidestreet.  any foot traffic is good traffic, and Kuni's i think stands to benefit from the opening of Vera, particularly as Vera seems crafted to be a drinking destination in addition to being an eatery.  i don't know what the proprietors of Vera intend for the future of their bar, but i could see them and their clientele in a centrifugal relationship between both the Essex Street Pub and Left Bank.  and if The Place and Kuni's take the right cues, they could stand to expand their offerings, extend their hours, and garner the revenue of folks who'll already be stomping around in the area.  The Place has a dilapidated, exclusive charm i'm surprised more hipsters haven't appropriated yet.  perhaps it's too corny to consider the diner-like atmosphere and aged clientele to really be ironic yet, but it could get there. Across Richmond,  Left Bank could stand to dial their stuffy image down a notch, while Prime 490 could at least let people know they're there.  And if the rumor was ever true that the Essex was going start offering bar food, now would be the time to do it.


the Black Rock Kitchen & Bar i'm a bit more worried about.  is worried the word? maybe not.  i guess i'm withholding judgment.  i'm hesitant. their Amherst Street location is way off the beaten path, and not one i ever take unless i'm headed to Wegmans.  People seem to hail it as a milestone of Black Rock's revitalization, but i'm not yet convinced.  would i like it to be? sure.  i don't have any doubts it will do well.  As Allen Street Hardware's "sister store" i would almost venture to say that kind of endorsement is enough, and if the Goldmans are running it, even better; they'll make their money.

the problem for me is that its not that there aren't other eating and drinking establishments within walking distance of BRK&B, but the type, and the crowd to which those establishments cater. I want to believe in the same centrifugal potential for Amherst Street that i believe could be practical on Lexington, but i dont' know if there will be much cross pollination between places like Casey's or Sportsman's Tavern and BRK&B.  even Voelker's is a stretch, with all of its kitschy, townie bar appeal.  the real questions isn't whether foodies with patronize BRK&B -- that's not what its success will be built on.  they'll have no problem drawing people who like food, who have the money to eat out constantly, who will tell their friends and parents and out of towners to go there for the unique and fun dining experience.  the question is whether the young, riotous, bar-hopping, bicycle riding, anti-establishment, trendy crowd that has made Hardware a success will feel like migrating all the way to Amherst Street where BRK&B is the only bastion of its kind.  the fact is that places as successful as Hardware -- and every other hole on Allen -- make their money on the booze.  Part of why people enjoy Allen Street is the ability to hop from place to place once the scene feels stale.  This will be harder to do on Amherst Street unless some of the establishments there realize the potential that BRK&B is offering.  Either a revamp and re-imaging of some of the places on Amherst is in order, or the Black Rock is going to be a very sophisticated but lonely destination.

Or, it just might not matter.  who knows.  its interesting what crowds find appealing once they end up in a certain area.  that people are abandoning Chippewa in droves for destinations on Allen and Elmwood might just naturally shove patrons into a more northerly destination like Amherst Street.

at any rate, there's no way to tell other than to watch.
i prefer to to do so with a drink.
here's to seeing my vision unfold.
cheers.