Eating what the ad man sells

If you carefully read what scientists report about links between nutrition and health, it can be anough to give you an upset stomach. One year a low-fat diet is supposed to help lower the risk of cancer. The next year another study says, not really. Omega-3 fatty acids are supposed to help prevent heart disease, [...]

Primal feed

Pepperoni grease is good for your skin
Is your all-time favorite pizza the kind you grew up with? Lots of people seem to stick with the tastes that first shaped their palates.
Not me. I first experienced Bocce’s in my teen years. Then I went away for a decade and only got Bocce’s on returns to Buffalo. It was always there [...]

Toast of winter

For a wintertime appetizer, crostini are classier than cheese and crackers, but hearty enough to warm guests shaking off the snow.
For a recent gathering, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, baby portobello mushrooms and a fennel bulb were cooked to show off their natural strengths.
The grape tomatoes were blanched, peeled and roasted confit-style in an olive [...]

Brews, brats, and a side of history

Not to be mistaken for TGIFriday’s
In 1868, three years after the end of the U.S. Civil War, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed African Americans equal rights under law.
And this tavern opened.
Both have had their ups and downs since. But at least black people can vote now, and you can still get a cold [...]

Bang for the buck

Toasted pita on the way.
Oftentimes, all it takes is a dollar’s worth of something special to elevate regular dishes to the extraordinary. We’ll try to make the case from time to time here at Buffalo Buffet.
This time, it’s Spanish chorizo – a dried, cooked sausage that packs a wallop of toasty paprika and garlic flavors. (Mexican [...]

Cardiac cuisine

The focus on fat-free, calorie-counting cooking these days has gotten lots of folks feeling like a pat of butter on their baked potato is a mortal sin. Everybody could use a dose of perspective.
Which, as it turns out, is on the menu at Sodolak’s Original Country Inn, in Snook, Texas. The next time you’re torturing [...]

Far East, nearby

Hoowa’s shelves are full of surprises.
*** 
Cooks who have never ventured outside the “Asian” aisle in Tops in search of ingredients are stunned when they learn how much better the selection – and prices – are at ethnic Asian markets across Western New York. In coming months, Buffalo Buffet will try to clue you in to [...]

The peril of pernil

Vargas’ pernil sandwich
There is a burden that comes with knowledge. Especially the knowledge that you can drive down Hudson Street, about two blocks off Niagara Street, and get a beautiful Puerto Rican roast pork sandwich – pernil – for $4. There is no way I can feel anything but wretched now whenever I’m forced by [...]

Pho sure

 
Pho bo at 99 Fast Food by exposure-buffalo.com (via flickr.com)
Describing pho bo, the national dish of Vietnam, as “beef noodle soup” hardly does it justice. Until you put your face in the plume of steam rising from a massive bowl of anise-scented broth, pink shaved ribeye steak and cilantro, you can’t be expected to understand the [...]

Foie heaven’s sake

When you’re a topnotch author and amateur cook, having knocked out a few little titles like the French Laundry Cookbook and the acknowledged bible of home-curing meats, Charcuterie, what do you whip up for a cozy stay-at-home New Year’s Eve?
Why, a roasted whole foie gras, of course. Why didn’t I think of that?