Onward we drove with New York state in our sights. We hit Buffalo, NY just in time for dinner. Who goes to Buffalo and doesn’t get chicken wings?…we do, because we have a different local dish in our sights – the beef on weck sandwich.
The Blackthorn Restaurant (2134 Seneca St., Buffalo) has been serving beef on weck for decades. Slow cooked roast beef is piled atop a kimmelweck roll.
Traditionally served exclusively in western New York, the kimmelweck roll is similar to a hard roll but topped with coarse salt and caraway seeds.
The beef is sliced thin, served medium rare, and comes with horseradish on the side. The sandwich itself is very tasty. It’s not the best beef style sandwich I’ve tasted – the beef was a tad dry, though improved with the horsey sauce – sorry Arby’s.
It’s always fun to try an original local food, and that’s what this was all about in the end.
Our sandwiches were served with their popular jalapeno cheese tots. Over-sized fried nuggets of goodness were, quite honestly, one of the highlights of the meal. They were flavorful with a touch of heat and lots of ooey gooey cheese inside. They arrived hot and were a perfect alternative to fries. Best tots ever? Probably.
We also enjoyed exceptional Irish beer cheese soup. Another house specialty, Blackthorne’s had a distinctly strong beer flavor profile – much more prominent than other beer cheese soups I’ve come across. There were nice chunks of potato in the soup which was a little thinner than other versions. I was able to enjoy more without filling up so much.
On the side we each enjoyed a stuffed banana pepper. Another dish I’ve never tasted, and this was a winner. A large banana pepper was stuffed with a blend of cream cheeses, herbs and bread crumbs. The pepper is charred on the grill and served nice and warm. You can add a single banana pepper to your meal, which in my opinion, is the way to go; get something else like fried tomatoes with blue cheese as an appetizer.
Uh…yeah, we did get the tomatoes. Blue cheese, fried goodness with a drizzle of balsamic. It was crunchy, tangy, funky and a real winner as far as bar food goes. So, I’ve done this post in reverse order as we experienced it at the restaurant. This is okay – I’m not rewriting it.
I’m hungry. Let’s eat!
Hungry Hungry Hinden 