everyone should shuffle off to buffalo

when i told people that i was going to buffalo for the weekend the most common responses were:
1. why buffalo?
2. buffalo? like in new york?
3. buffalo in winter? you're insane.
4. wait, isn't buffalo like 5 hours away?

to which i responded:
1. why not buffalo?!?
2. yes, new york.
3. yes in winter, hello, we live in cleveland, is it really all that different?
4. no, buffalo is only 3 hours away! (or under 3 hours away if you drive like me, fyi)

the decision was made - CK and i were getting in the yuppie mobile and shuffling off to buffalo for the weekend.

with neither one of us ever visiting the city before i emailed karen from the buffalo niagara convention and visitors bureau for some recommendations on where to stay/eat/play and that was by far the best decision i could have made. they were more than helpful directing me towards the places i needed to check out.

for hotel accommodations for the weekend getaway we stayed at the comfort suites in the downtown buffalo entertainment district near chippewa street. the rooms were great with a very legit suite set up of a living room lounge area and then a spacious separate bedroom - a nice place to call home for the weekend.

friday night CK and i chose a fine dining restaurant in the historic allentown district called Tempo for dinner, that based on recommendations and their menu online seemed like it was going to be quite the culinary experience.

let's just say that Tempo lived up to the hype - DELICIOUS.

the exterior of tempo restaurant (i did not take this pic, fyi)

martinis and scotch, a delicious bottle of benmarco malbec, and a caesar salad done right with anchovies (none of that creamy dressing crap) were just a start. a proscuitto wrapped and gorgonzola crusted filet mignon with fried gnocci (!!) that CK had was one of the best filets i've ever tasted, and the osso bucco veal shank special that i ordered was perfectly cooked/flavored and such a large portion that i could only finish half of it made the meal one for the record books.

for the record, i want to go back and eat the whole meal again.

post dinner we headed to the snooty fox lounge which was a little too dance party like for us so we headed back to chippewa street by our hotel and landed at a seemingly unlikely location in jack devine's irish pub.

oh how i wish i could take back all those shots and you not closing till 4am

now while i wouldn't really ever go as far as to call jack devine's a legitimate irish pub, the people in front of and behind the bar made our night there entertaining to say the least. by the end of the night i'm fairly sure everyone was best friends.

sidenote: the bars are open till 4am in NY. ohioans beware - remember no one needs to stay out drinking that long. no one.

saturday, after an epic recovery from the night before, we headed out to a buffalo institution called The Anchor Bar to eat, what else? buffalo wings!

anchor bar double order of hot (yes, get the hot, trust me) buffalo wings with blue cheese and celery, natch

home of the original buffalo wing the anchor bar is exactly what you would expect - no frills, large menu, always packed and sports on the tvs. while i've been told that there's better tasting wings in buffalo i felt that i needed to at least get to the source and try wings where they were born.

it was at anchor bar that my friend from college, liz, who lives in buffalo, came and met up with us. she was from then on our personal tour guide, driving us all around the city showing us the one of the things i didn't expect from buffalo - amazing old architecture - there really were some great buildings and landmarks to observe.

after our tour we headed to the elmwood ave area to check our one of buffalo's newest additions in blue monk which is a gastropub and a beer snobs wet dream. with 32 craft beers on tap and more that i can count available in bottles i dare you to not find something here you don't like.

see CK drink a delicious belgian something or other beer - faaaaaaaaaaaancy.

see the very educated and friendly bartending staff in the foreground of the massive tap list at blue monk

after blue monk obviously it was time to eat again so we stopped at another famous buffalo tradition in Jim's Steakout which is know for, among other things, the chicken finger sub which is tossed in your choice of wing sauce and served on a toasted sub bun with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. i.e. heaven in your mouth.

buffalo sure loves fried chicken and hot sauce, this is a fact.

sunday morning, after a wonderful weekend away from CLE, it was time to head back to ohio but not before we checked out one more place.

our coffee and breakfast came from SPoT Coffee where we ordered lattes and breakfast wraps for the road, but couldn't help take in the cool and relaxed vibe of this more-than-a-coffee-shop shop. if i lived in buffalo i would camp out at SPoT Coffee and just observe everything around me.

after another easy leg of our road trip was complete you would think it would be time for bed right? well, this is me, and by now you should know better.

as i mentioned in my last post i headed to my first reggae brunch at the park view to check out carlos jones and drink lots of red stripe.

my partners in crime for the reggae brunch sunday funday - hartzell, yours truly, tricia, muffin and jesse - ya, mon.

post "brunch" hartzell and i headed to bar cento for dinner and to meet up with AJP, CK and seanski and to split a sunnyside pizza, ya know, cause i hadn't eaten enough all weekend...

when bedtime sunday night finally came around i couldn't help but simply smile thinking about all the good times that occurred over the course of the weekend, and if you guys ever need a last minute getaway don't forget about buffalo because there's much fun to be had!

thanks again to the buffalo niagara convention and visitors bureau for their guidance, i can't wait to go back for more and you should too - seriously, you'll be pleasantly surprised!