NYS Food Map
NYS Foodie Map by Shannon Glazer
This map was created by Shannon Glazer and uploaded at Buffalo.com. I was most surprised to learn that “pizza rolls” is a thing.
Tag: food
Buffalo's Food Trucks React
Interviews conducted Tuesday after the Common Council passed the new Buffalo food truck ordinance. It is expected to be on the Mayor’s desk on Monday, and will hopefully be signed shortly thereafter.
Buffalo’s Food Trucks React
Interviews conducted Tuesday after the Common Council passed the new Buffalo food truck ordinance. It is expected to be on the Mayor’s desk on Monday, and will hopefully be signed shortly thereafter.
Nickel City Chef Season 4: Tickets on Sale Friday
Feed Your Soul, a local organization headed by local foodie Christa Glennie Seychew, has now produced three seasons of “Nickel City Chef“, a local variant of the “Iron Chef” model. Local chefs battle a “Nickel City Chef” using a secret, locally sourced, ingredient. A panel of judges tastes and rates the food on taste, presentation, and use of the secret ingredient. (By way of full disclosure, Seychew is my food editor at the Buffalo Spree, she and FYS are clients of mine, and I have been honored to judge during all three seasons of Nickel City Chef.)
The purpose of the competition isn’t just to highlight the creativity and technical expertise of local chefs – some of whom are quite established, and others who are just up-and-coming – but also to promote the excellent farms and producers of high-quality food right here in western New York.
Although the audience at Nickel City Chef doesn’t get to taste the items presented for judging, each competition is catered by a well-regarded local restaurateur, and it’s fantastic to watch chefs hard at work – with expert color commentary from SeaBar chef/owner Mike Andrezejewski – and the suspense during the judging process is palpable. The competitions take place at Artisan Kitchens & Baths on Amherst Street.
Tickets for the fourth season go on sale Friday. Following on the heels of Western New York’s hottest selling holiday release, Nickel City Chef: Buffalo’s Finest Chefs & Ingredients, Feed Your Soul anticipates tickets for all four shows in 2012 to sell out within 36 hours.
Taking place in the stunning loft showroom of Buffalo’s Artisan Kitchens & Baths, Season Four’s schedule of dates is listed below. Tickets for the 2012 season go on sale at noon Friday, January 6th. Tickets are $38 each and include catered gourmet snacks and access to a cash bar during the event. Children under 16 are not recommended to attend.
Links to online ticketing will be available at NickelCityChef.com.
February 19th
Nickel City Chef Krista Van Wagner of Curly’s
versus
Challenging Chef Frank Mercado of M&T’s Private Executive Dining Room
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March 4th
Nickel City Chef Brian Mietus of Bacchus
versus
Challenging Chef Dunbar Berdine of Black Rock Kitchen & Bar
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March 25th
Nickel City Chef Adam Goetz of Sample
versus
Challenging Chef Christopher Daigler of Encore
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April 15th
Nickel City Chef JJ Richert of Torches
versus
Challenging Chef Chris Dorsaneo of Lloyd
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Ticket Link: www.NickelCityChef.com
Two and a Half WTFs
UPDATE: I am making this post sticky for the time being, as I will be speaking with Shredd & Ragan on WEDG 103.3 on Tuesday morning (click the link to listen live) around 8am regarding the Valenti’s Restaurant saga. Follow-up posts exist here, here, and here. As with any story, if you want to provide information confidentially, send an email to buffalopundit[at]gmail.com.
Yes, it’s media criticism Monday.
On Friday, The Buffalo News’ venerable, legendary restaurant reviewer Janice Okun gave a new Italian red sauce joint in North Tonawanda, “Valenti’s” 2.5 stars.
(I don’t know why literally every single Okun review involves a half-star, either.)
In that review, which was predictably yet unfortunately devoid of good feedback about the food or its flavor, Okun made the following observations:
Co-owner (with his wife, Lori) and Chef Terry Valenti is a Western New York boy recently returned home from Texas and Florida — he cooked at Mama Leone’s in Manhattan and in resorts in Daytona. In 2003 he took on uber-chef Bobby Flay on the popular “Iron Chef” program. Knocked the socks off him, too.
“It was the parsnips that did it,” says Lori. For the show, Terry produced Chilean Sea Bass stuffed with that vegetable (and artichoke hearts for good measure). He even dreamed up a Mango Parsnip Ice Cream that went over very well.
In the days since that was published, we’ve established the following:
1. Iron Chef America (featuring Bobby Flay) didn’t exist in 2003.
2. The list of Iron Chef America episodes reveals no competitor with the surname “Valenti” challenging any Iron Chef, ever.
3. The list of Iron Chef (Japan) episodes reveals no competitor with the surname “Valenti” challenging any Iron Chef, ever.
4. The aforementioned episode lists from America and Japan reveal that there has never been an Iron Chef “battle parsnip” in either series.
5. Mr. Valenti claims to have graduated from the CIA in 1993 and then became head chef at Mamma Leone’s.
6. Mamma Leone’s closed in January 1994.
7. A March 2009 health inspection of Captain Hiram’s, where Valenti had been working for 4 months at the time, is shown here. These should be made public for New York eateries, as well.
Aside from the massive question marks over the chef/owner’s alleged backstory, can someone explain to me why the photos that accompany these restaurant reviews seldom show the actual food? The Valenti’s story depicts four women outside the restaurant bidding each other good-bye, two of whom have to-go boxes. All I can gather from the image is that Valenti’s has a nice sidewalk. As for Okun, she gushes over the comfort of a restaurant’s booths, but we have no idea whether the veal is any good.