Sunday News: Lloyd Taco Factory sets January opening on Elmwood
More last-minute Thanksgiving pie options, khao soi alert, 'nice' dining recs
Lloyd Taco Factory plans to open its long-sought Elmwood Avenue location in January at 492 Elmwood Ave., formerly Thin Man Brewery.
The Elmwood Lloyd Taco will hold about 180 people on two floors, with two bars, a streetside second-story balcony, and plans to eventually add live music. The menu will stay the same across Lloyd restaurants and trucks: Mexican-inspired burritos, nachos, tacos, and vegetable sides, made in-house, like Lloyd’s tortillas.
The homegrown Buffalo restaurant group with a Mexican-inspired menu has long had designs on one of the city’s busiest streets. “This is a long time coming for us,” said Chris Dorsaneo, who started the business with high school friend Pete Cimino. “We had intended on Elmwood being our first location, which is wild to think of now.”
It only took 14 years.
Smoke alarms were wailing the first time I met Cimino and Dorsaneo, in 2010. Their taco truck’s commissary was a church kitchen where grilling chicken thighs required propping open doors for ventilation.
Lloyd has come a long way since then. One truck became three. In 2015, the partners appeared on CNBC’s “Restaurant Startup” but turned down an offer of $250,000 for 25 percent of their company.
They parlayed a bank loan into restaurants on Hertel Avenue and Main Street in Williamsville, adding a full-service bar to the mix. After two failed runs at other Elmwood Avenue locations, Lloyd has a place on Elmwood.
The former Thin Man Brewing building contains a brewery system, but the partners don’t want to get into the brewing business. Lloyd Taco Factory will continue to sell beer made by others.
Today Lloyd Taco Factory has about 110 employees. Every one is eligible for the company’s 401K plan, which adds four cents for every dollar workers save. Shift leads and other supervisors get company-paid basic health insurance.
The company is hiring, holding open interviews for all positions on Nov. 27 (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) and Dec. 2 (3 p.m.-7 p.m.), at Lloyd Taco Factory, 1503 Hertel Ave.
REVIEW: In Kenmore, Home Taste has given Chinese nationals from the University at Buffalo dishes they long for - and everyone else in town can enjoy the results. Leave the syrupy deep-fried confines of American Chinese for delightful surprises drawn from the homeland’s many-faceted cuisine. Housemade dumplings that include unusual flavors like chicken and fish with leeks are just the beginning. How many Chinese salads have you tried? How about some nice soup, or an omelet? (Later today, for patrons.)
LAST-MINUTE PIE SOLUTIONS
If you need a pie for Thanksgiving, and want the best for your guests, consider the Lexington Co-ops and Farmers and Artisans, which make their own pies from scratch from local fruit.
At the Lexington Co-ops, 807 Elmwood Ave. and 1678 Hertel Ave., the cherries are from Niagara County’s Singer Farms, the apples from Cornerstone Orchards. Six-inch pies and 9-inch pies ($9.99, $19.99) are ready for your holiday table.
Vegan pies are standard at the co-ops, too, for your animal-free Thanksgiving.
At Farmers & Artisans, 4557 Main St., Blackman Farm fruit goes into pies that workers run up and put in the freezer. If you want guests walking into apple-pie atmosphere, a bake-from-frozen pie might be just the thing.
Thai khao soi alert: At Tiny Thai, 27 Chandler St., Thai native Kae Baramee offers tastes of Thailand found nowhere else in Western New York.
This week, she’s offering khao soi ($17.99-$22.99), a deeply flavored curry soup rich with coconut milk and loaded with meat, tender egg noodles, and pickled mustard greens. It comes in chicken, beef, or pork. A crunchy fried noodle topknot adds crunch. Squeeze the lime wedge, and tuck in to be transported. You can check out her whole menu here.
ASK THE CRITIC
Q: I love Toutant, but we want to try someplace else. What would you suggest for a nice dinner out?
r/Buffalo poster
A: Here’s a few of my suggestions for a dinner to remember for the right reasons.
It’s hard to go wrong with DiTondo, where an Italian chef is delighting folks who want Italian food that reminds them of Italy.
Waxlight Bar a Vin is the spot for creative dishes made with classic technique in the chillest room.
Inizio is Buffalo’s fresh pasta specialist, with a classy but unstuffy vibe.
Casa Azul has housemade tortillas and mole verde on its side as the nicest Mexican-inspired restaurant in Buffalo.
Coco is favored for pre-show dining a couple blocks from Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, with moules-frites and other French-inspired dishes.
Billy Club is classy Allentown dining with a sharp farm-to-table menu.
Prescott’s Provisions is a top steak recommendation, but this splurge-worthy restaurant is a multi-sport threat: fish, pizza, veg, and dessert all soar.
More reading from Michael Chelus:
Mr. Galarneau the consistently good food to be found at each location of Pita Gourmet [Four Bites]
Yankee BBQ is opening a full restaurant and bar in Hamburg [Four Bites]
Francesca suggested that we warm up with seven Buffalo-area soups including offerings from Gabriel's Gate, Globe Market and more [Buffalo News]
Brian's Buffalo Beer Briefs told more about Big Ditch's new NA beer, the fifth annual New York State Pints Days and more [Step Out Buffalo]
Bamboo Ridge is bringing Vietnamese, Thai and Burmese flavors to Allentown starting tomorrow [Four Bites]
#30#
I really like the Lloyd guys. All the best Pete & Chris.