2007: The Year in Food

We’ve said it before, but the restaurant business is a real revolving door. Restaurants come and they go, but rarely do they stay for dinner. In fact, according to an Ohio State University study conducted in the late 1990s, nearly two-thirds of all restaurants fail in their first three years. That said, though, this year’s openings and closings seem to indicate a strengthening culinary scene in the Queen City, as new food entries far outweigh closings. Please forgive us for not making this list entirely comprehensive, as all that holiday nog may have made us a bit forgetful.

Born yesterday

Lagniappes, on Allen Street, capitalized on the hard times that befell Joey’s Hard Times Café, while just down the way Sample is big on little. Both Steel Crazy Café in Allentown and Snyder’s O3 have combined retail and restaurant space in an effort, perhaps, to make shopping bearable. Italian restaurant 888 Main has made its home at its namesake address, while farther north on Main Rita’s Ice and Mom and Pops Natural Foods are bringing new life to the University District. Somewhere in between those places, Medina Deli came and went in midtown. It’s all in the name at The Snooty Fox Lounge, and Stillwater has set up shop in Lord Chumley’s old digs on Delaware. We’re all feeling Irish now that three pubs have set up shop, and one has returned. J.W. Morrissey’s is serving Guinness and Irish stew to Sabres fans in the Cobblestone, The Irishman Pub & Eatery replaced the Bia Irish Deli (same owner) in Williamsville, Mark Croce brought D’Arcy McGee’s back to Franklin in place of the Buffalo Smokehouse and Jack Devine’s moved into Chippewa to give him competition. Just up Franklin, ritzy Duo Forno replaced the old Brownstone. One Sunset recently opened its doors in the old Lotis restaurant near Hutch’s, offering classy food for the everyman. As always, Elmwood Avenue experienced a great deal of change. Bel Cibo opened in the old Soda Bar location, and serves cheap, family-style Italian. Bistro Europa has a pan-European menu, including many one-of-a-kind Eastern European dishes. Sahara Grill closed, but will soon reopen with improved food. The Village Beer Merchant will soon be peddling hundreds of varieties of beer, along with gourmet foods. Richie’s Place American and Caribbean restaurant has replaced short-lived Puerto Rican restaurant, El Flamboyan, at the corner of Elmwood and Amherst. In the coffee category, Caz Coffee Café opened on Abbott Road near Caz Park, Coffee Time: Mi Casa Es Su Casa set up shop on Niagara near Hudson and there’s rumor of a new java joint near Lafayette and Grant. Lake Effect Diner closed and reopened, and its owners named their new restaurant, Dug’s Dive, after an earlier, and much rowdier, waterfront restaurant of the same name. To the north, fine dining is key with Torches opening in the old Tsunami location, and O’Connell’s Hourglass reopening, with a new business model, as O’Connell’s American Bistro. Williamsville officially has a glut of sushi restaurants with this year’s addition of Sake Café, Wasabi and, in the old Caffé Aroma location, Sea Bar.

Gone, but not forgotten

A lot of mainstays and neighborhood anchors went out of business this year, including The Coda (for the third time), X-Cel Produce, Billy Ogden’s, The Park Lane, Elmwood Bagel & Sandwich Shoppe, Solid Grounds, Fortunato’s and, of course, far-off but beloved Earl’s. The Rendezvous is closed again, as is Jimmy Mac’s (and that whole Mark Wadams thing fell through, by the way). Edritos, which thrived on Elmwood, couldn’t survive downtown’s dead hours. The departure of North End Trattoria means there are now only a dozen or so Italian restaurants on Hertel, and Vado Pazzo has cleared out of the University District.

See ya next year

2008 is looking good from here, with a lot of new restaurants coming to town early in the year. For starters, The Place is reopening on Lexington within a couple of weeks. In the realm of sweet beginnings, Bryant Street Cakery’s getting ready to open near Elmwood, confectionary Chow Chocolat is casting a vote of confidence in Main Street near the medical corridor and Gelato G’s will start churning out the creamy Italian ice cream in the building it shares with Urban Roots. Verbenas is set to open in the old Daffodils, Delish! owner Deborah Clark will soon launch downtown lunch spot Chop Chop and Amigo’s Restaurant will be a new entry on Kenmore Avenue. 31 Club will eventually open, echoing the original supper club that first graced the corner of Johnson Park and Elmwood back in the 1940s, and Bashar Issa’s Statler Hotel will soon feature the Statler Mezzanine Restaurant. And last, but not least, a beer and wine lounge will open at the corner of Elmwood and Bryant, in place of Solid Grounds. At last, a place for the docs at Children’s Hospital to calm their nerves before operations. (P.S.—Don’t be surprised if you hear more food news from that neighborhood soon.)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all she wrote. Happy Food Year!

—peter koch

If you’d like us to pass along your food news, please call us at 881-6604, or email us at editorial@artvoice.com (with “chew on this” in the subject heading).