Sunday News: 42 North and Fat Bob's go downtown with Queen City Bistro
Emperor Dumplings signals return of dim sum, Barrel + Brine launches submarines, and is Buffalo a $50 corkage city?
Queen City Bistro has opened its doors on Main Street, as the people behind Fat Bob’s Smokehouse and 42 North Brewing Co. take their collaboration to downtown Buffalo’s Theater District.
At 674 Main St., the Wurlitzer Flats building now boasts a bar and dining room. It’s not a barbecue joint.
Queen City Bistro is not meat-centric at all, in fact, serving light fare like flatbreads, chicken wings, sandwiches, and salads. Alex Obenauer will run the kitchen after making his bones as Fat Bob’s longtime executive chef.
“Our partnership with John Cimperman and 42 North, starting in fall 2020, has just worked really well,” said Bridget Ryan, Fat Bob’s sales director.
“Neither of us were actively looking to jump in, but the vibrancy of the Theater District, new leadership at Shea’s, cars on Main Street, there's so much going on in that community, the increase in residential properties,” said Ryan, whose husband and business partner Patrick Ryan has owned Fat Bob’s owner since 2013. “It's exciting to be a part of, and that was really important.”
Expansive decor includes gold and marble accents under airy ceilings. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible, right down to regulation bathrooms.
Expect Openauer’s menu to expand, with pasta dishes and more, as the new crew works out the kinks on its shakedown cruise.
Queen City Bistro, 674 Main St., 716-815-4042
Hours: 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon-10 p.m. Friday, Saturday, noon-7 p.m. (Kitchen hours, bar may be open later.) You can glimpse the menu and make reservations here.
REVIEW: The Dove is an Italian restaurant in Orchard Park that has served dinner the way that Sherry Davies and Dina Mattiello think dinner should be, since 2003. Getting The Dove treatment is rare as that albino buck that, for a time, lived in Forest Lawn Cemetery. For $31, the best veal parmesan of my life was preceded by housemade bread, meatball and sauce, pasta fagioli with bowls of finely chopped onion and freshly grated romano cheese, and a chilled shot of limoncello. Meanwhile, Buffalo diners flock to places where $50 gets you veal parmesan that arrives alone, a la carte, like an orphan. (For paying subscribers, later today.)
DIM SUM DRAMA: Emperor Dumplings is coming back to life.
The full-fledged dim sum parlor opened in Tonawanda last fall, to widespread applause, at 2309 Eggert Road.
In January it closed without warning, and a battalion of newish dim sum fans hoped they’d get to enjoy another taste of taro with barbecued pork and sticky rice with sausage and chicken steamed in lotus leaves.
The problem was the chef leaving. Last week, owner Zaw Win said Emperor Dumplings has found a replacement chef, and will reopen as soon as possible. New menus are being prepared, he said, so stay tuned for a date for dim sum.
He and his crew are hoping for May.
SUBMARINE WARNING: Fat Sangwich, a Barrel + Brine popup, is delivering hoagies that can hold their own. Through May, at 155 Chandler St., Suite 3, entrance on Manton Place.
EDITOR’S NOTE
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Please do keep sending me your questions on where to eat, find ingredients, and dishes you seek, at andrew@fourbites.net. I learn so much from answering your questions. Plus, experience says that if one brave reader asks a question, the results can serve many.
ASK THE CRITIC
Q: My husband and I were out for my birthday dinner at a local steakhouse and brought a bottle of 2010 Wellington Mohrhardt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon. The bill arrived with a $50 corkage fee - in Buffalo, NY.
The server did not inform us of what the corkage fee would be prior to opening the bottle, as servers usually do. As we were leaving, we spoke with the manager on duty about this huge corkage increase.
The last time we dined at this establishment was in June 2023, when the corkage was $30. He claimed that the corkage increase was implemented by the owners/upper management and that it really wasn’t that much of an increase. He said that it was increased from $35 about five months ago. And, that it was necessary because of increasing costs.
Today, I noticed that the restaurant has their corkage fee listed on their FAQs page.
My husband and I eat out a lot, and we always have wine with our meal. At home, as well. Wine is an integral part of our evening meal. We are well aware that most restaurants are unable to carry a large selection of older wines for several reasons: storage space and funds are at the top of the list.
Also, they are only able to sell what is available from their distributors and most distributors do not have aged wines available. We would be very surprised to find a 2010 Cab at any restaurant, and if we did, we probably couldn’t afford it.
We typically see corkage ranging from $15 - $30 in most restaurants. Sometimes we are lucky and get corkage waived. We do tip based on the value of our wine. Of course, most servers are unaware of this until the end of the meal.
We always offer our server or sommelier a taste of the wine that we brought because we are quite certain that they will not have the opportunity to taste a particular wine that we have brought from our cellar. We belong to a number of California wine clubs whose wines are not available in New York State. The wines that we bring in are usually from small-batch producers.
I wrote a post on a wine blog asking what corkage fees people were seeing around the country. The responses ranged from $15 to $50, seen in a very high end restaurant in Minneapolis and, apparently, it’s becoming more common in LA, and in Napa and Sonoma.
What do you think?
A: First, thank you for your scrupulously detailed question.
Any unusual charges applied to restaurants bills - whether a $1 a plate to boost kitchen worker wages, an auto-gratuity covering the entire bill, or boosted corkage fee - should be communicated to the customer before they are incurred.
Listing on a website page, or even the menu, is not sufficient for new charges, those less than a year old. To do otherwise is to give some customers the impression that the restaurant doesn’t overly care if you return.
When the manager said the increase was directed by ownership, that rings true. Rising costs may well have forced the increase, as well. When owners decide their restaurant isn’t generating enough revenue, one approach is to charge more for everything, and hope your customers play along.
However, telling you the $15 increase wasn’t that much was rather rude. Did he know if you saved up the whole year for that birthday dinner? It’s not that you’re penny-pinchers. You tip servers on the value of the wine you bring to restaurants, which is rare.
That said, what really sticks in my craw is a restaurant employee responding to a sensible question about a cost spike by essentially rolling eyes at customers like hicks with manure on their shoes who need to get up to speed on modern restaurant standards.
That said, I have paid few corkage fees in my time. I’m wondering what others with more experience drinking wines they brought to restaurants would have to say about your example, and the state of corkage fees.
Please send any such communiques to me at andrew@fourbites.net.
More reading from Michael Chelus:
This week on the Nittany Epicurean, I wrote about the 2020 Arrowhead Spring Vineyards Cool Terroir, the 2021 Tenute Silvio Nardi Rosso di Montalcino DOC and the 2021 Cuvaison Chardonnay Hedon.
Mr. Galarneau wrote about the Caribbean flavors you can find at La Casa de Sabores [Four Bites]
JAM Parkside celebrated its fifth anniversary [Four Bites]
Newell visited "The Original" Vasilis Restaurant [Buffalo Rising]
Francesca told us how the chicken and waffles get made at Crenshaw's Chicken and Waffles [Buffalo News]
Gregory Crenshaw discussed his specialty chicken and waffles [Buffalo News]
Francesca also wrote about Funk and Fermentation [Buffalo News]
Remedy House reopens TOMORROW [Buffalo News]
Cluck Cluck Moo Moo has opened a second location on Hertel Avenue [Buffalo Rising]
Christa told us about Liana Rose, the woman behind @bflofoodie on Instagram [Buffalo Spree]
There is a new tea house and café in downtown Buffalo - The Original Tea House and Café [Buffalo Rising]
Brian's Buffalo Beer Briefs told us of the opening of Farmcraft Brewery in Strykersville, Spotted Octopus' second anniversary and more [Step Out Buffalo]
Have a look inside the newly opened Dalfanso's Italian Imports [Buffalo News]
Francesca interviewed Chef Jeffrey Dalfanso and discussed his new business - Dalfanso's Italian Imports [Buffalo News]
42 North's brew pub has officially opened on Main Street in downtown Buffalo [Buffalo Rising]
India told us how to order bubble tea like a pro [Buffalo Spree]
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