Sunday News: Andale Tequila launches on Seneca, 42 North in Theater District
Invitation to Lackawanna's Arab-American Heritage celebration, and the restaurants I miss the most
Andale Tequila Bar’s first downtown location, at 500 Seneca St, last Compass Run, will officially launch with an April 12 grand opening.
That puts $25 margarita towers about a mile from KeyBank Center, plus Andale queso steak fries, shrimp ceviche with mango, and Andale’s cuatro chiles burger, with Oaxacan cheese and chipotle sauce.
Seneca is the Andale group’s fourth Buffalo-area location, with locations at Main and Transit, 9430 Transit Road, East Amherst, and 1402 French Road, Depew.
Andale started with the East Amherst spot in 2019. It’s a family affair, run by Francisco Audelo, Roberto Audelo, Edgar Guzman and Fernando Guzman, from the Mexican state of Nayarit. Some of the crew is related to the folks running the El Ranchito group, in Clarence, Williamsville, and Amherst.
500 Seneca St., Suite 119, andalecantina.com, 716-335-7825
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, Saturday.
REVIEW: Turkish cuisine has a beachhead in Buffalo, finally, at Sofra Restaurant and Bakery in Depew. The family that runs two Rochester Turkish spots, As Evi restaurant and bakery, has opened a restaurant and bakery that’s bigger than both Rochester places combined. Go deep on this new chance to expand your culinary passport with my Turkish 101. (Later today, for paid subscribers.)
Theater District debut: 42 North @ the Flats has opened its doors at 674 Main St., in the Wurlitzer Flats building.
Its beer and other drinks are from East-Aurora-based brewing company 42 North, its food from Queen City Bistro, from the Fat Bob’s Smokehouse folks. It won’t be a smoked-meat-centered offering, like the Fat Bob’s outpost in the Southtowns 42 North.
A few doors down from Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, Queen City Bistro deals in other American comfort foods, like macaroni and cheese, burgers, and flatbreads. Fat Bob's executive chef Alex Obenauer will run the kitchen.
Order from your phone, and servers bring the food, a hybrid service model that’s used extensively in other U.S. cities, just making inroads in Buffalo.
Hours: 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon Friday-Sunday.
Arab-American invitation: On April 13, all are invited to an Arab-American Heritage Month celebration at the Lackawanna Senior Center, 230 Martin Road.
From 4 p.m.-7 p.m., visitors can see what it’s like to get henna skin decorations, the original temporary tattoos. Or sample Yemeni, Palestinian, and Sudanese cuisine, Yemeni tea, and more. Henna, food, and children’s activities are free.
The event is organized by the Arab-American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) of WNY. The non-sectarian non-profit, founded in 2005, provides support services to families, immigrant or not.
ASK THE CRITIC
Q: If you could bring back three restaurants from Buffalo’s past, what would they be?
- Richard Sterner, Tonawanda, via social media
A: When the subject of dear departed restaurants comes up, I go with Tennyson: Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. The list is long, as it should be, but if the universe granted me three restaurant resurrections, I’d use them this way.
Balkan Dining. Juicy, stubby housemade beef sausages called cevapi in housemade bread, “pita” or borek, made to order, and housemade aryan, yogurt drink, got me hooked on Bosnian. Now Mrakovic Fine Foods in Etobicoke, Ont. is the closest source I know.
Suzy Q’s BBQ. Sometimes I find myself thinking about the BBQ spaghetti like a lost friend. That honey-toasted cornbread was singular. Plus Suzy, of course.
Black Forest Adler. When the Niagara Falls Boulevard restaurant closed, the town that made kummelweck famous was left without a single full-fledged German restaurant. I pine for the roast pork in gingersnap gravy with spaetzle, and that treasure hunt of a house salad to this day. (Yes, I know about Hofbrauhaus. I said “full-fledged German restaurant.”)
More reading from Michael Chelus:
This week on the Nittany Epicurean, I wrote about the 2020 J. Christopher Lunatique Rouge, the 2022 Bedell Cellars Pinot Gris and the 2022 Susana Balbo Crios Sustentia Chardonnay.
Mr. Galarneau wrote about the South American-centered dishes you can find at Tortuga in Sanborn [Four Bites]
Southern Junction was featured on CBS Saturday Morning [Four Bites]
You can celebrate the eclipse with eclipse-themed beers from places like Big Ditch, Brazen Brewing and more [Buffalo News]
Chef Jessica Arends recently took the helm at Cornelia inside the Buffalo AKG Art Museum [Buffalo Spree]
Ryan Fernandez of Southern Junction and Waxlight Bar á Vin are now finalists for a James Beard Award [James Beard Foundation]
Andrew made his WIVB Daytime Buffalo debut this week [Four Bites]
Andrew also explained the significance of being named James Beard Award finalists [Four Bites]
WingNutz has closed its location on Military Road to focus on a new restaurant [Buffalo News]
The owners of Marble + Rye and Fresh Catch Poke will open a new restaurant in Fountain Plaza - Prova @ The Plaza [Buffalo News]
You can also get eclipse-themed food from places like WNY Empanadas, Eileen’s Centerview Bakery [Buffalo News]
42 North @ The Flats has opened in the Theater District [Buffalo Rising]
Brett also wrote about 42 North & The Flats [Step Out Buffalo]
Brian's Buffalo Beer Briefs told us of the return of Sour Power to Pizza Plant, a new release from 42 North and more [Step Out Buffalo]
Christa told us that Dark Forest Chocolate has made a special eclipse-themed chocolate - Total Eclipse [Buffalo Spree]
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