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Destination Guides
Dining And Drinking
Dining out in Buffalo is more than just chicken wings. In fact, there are more than 1,400 restaurants, bistros, cafes, pubs and grills in the Greater Buffalo Area. That figure doesn't include the annual food festivals where thousands come out to taste local specialties such as Beef on Weck.
Downtown
Buffalo's downtown offers an eclectic mix of dining styles and cuisines, ranging from the Towne Restaurant, which is open 23 hours a day (it's closed one hour for cleaning) and the as-popular-for-the-crowd-as-for-the-food EB Green's Steakhouse in the Hyatt Regency, rated Western New York's only four-star steakhouse with choices such as a 24 ounce porterhouse and a three pound Maine lobster. Or you can try Harry's Harbour Place Grille for waterside ambiance and a celebrated outdoor patio.
Gallery 101 Bistro combines art with fine dining by featuring local artists and Pacific Rim cuisine, mostly Thai and Vietnamese with a little Italian mixed in. Speaking of Italian, Romanello's Roseland is not to be missed, as much for its historical landmark location as for the American-Italian cuisine and table-side cooking. Frank's Sunny Italy is a good choice for families. Also try the Lafayette Tap Room for baby back ribs and blues.
Other Italian restaurants in the Greater Buffalo Area include Nero's Restaurant & Club, which is known for Northern Italian delicacies such as stuffed artichokes and Tuscan-style fillet, Ristorante Lombardo, tucked in a landscaped private courtyard and Andy DiVicenzo's Billy Ogden's tavern-cum-restaurant. If you've still got the munchies after all that, the place to go is La Nova, recently ranked number one among independently owned pizza restaurants by Pizza & Pasta Magazine.
Elmwood and Delaware
While Italian may dominate the ethnic cuisine landscape, Buffalo is also home to many fine restaurants from other parts of the world. The delights of India Gate with its $5.95 lunch-time buffet special, are a must. For a bit of upscale Greek in a friendly and cheerful ambiance, try Ambrosia, recently picked as a top choice by the Buffalo News food critic.
Often maligned as stodgy, Buffalo has managed to build up a fair number of "cool" spots where the "in" crowd can be found. Start at the Caffe Aroma for an afternoon cappuccino and jazz. Stop into the award-winning Sweet Tooth for some tasty pastries and other delights. Also check out Panos On Elmwood for some Greek diner food.
For a chance to try out all of Buffalo's culinary delights at one time, you've got to attend A Taste of Buffalo festival in mid-July. You can sample more then 150 dishes from Western New York's top restaurants, all priced between 50 cents and three dollars.
Surrounding Suburbs
You can get Beef on Weck and a Friday fish fry in just about any place in the city, but for authentic atmosphere try the Buffalo Brew Pub with its dart tournaments and English-style beer brewed on the premises. Houlihan's Restaurant & Bar located in the Buffalo Marriott Niagara offers up high quality dishes in a relaxed atmosphere. Tandoori's, rated among the top 20 restaurants of Western New York, can be found in quiet suburb of Williamsville.
One of the top restaurants in all of Western New York can be found on the northern edge of Buffalo in Kenmore. Truffles Restaurant offers classic continental cuisine with elegance.
Or go to the Shannon Pub in Amherst, a genuine Irish pub. The pub claims to pour the best pint of Guinness in North America and it also attracts some of the finest Celtic performers this side of the Atlantic for all the "craig" (that's fun) you can handle.
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Dining And Drinking
