A couple weeks back, I headed to my hometown of Buffalo, New York to visit family, celebrate the holidays, and, well, eat.
If you hail from a town like Buffalo or Pittsburgh or Cleveland, chances are you have a bunch of favorite hometown places that you must make a pilgrimage to if you are in town. The place may look non-descript and might be a dive or (horrors!) even a dump, but is much beloved by the community. It took much convincing when I began bringing my dear husband (then fiancée) home almost ten years ago, but he does realize now that the very best pizza in the known world comes from a moderately shabby take-out only pizza joint just minutes from where I grew up. It is the kind of place that someone who isn’t in the know would drive right past, missing out on the pleasure and delight that only truly great, masterful even, pizza can bring.
So, things were not looking good for my usual visits to my favorite places, as the weather was not cooperating. (I have included a photo of a phone booth so you don’t have to take my word about the sheer amount of snow. And, no, that snow bank was not created by a plow. It just snowed and drifted that much out in the Southtowns of Western New York.)
Yet, despite near white-out conditions, and perhaps fueled by some cabin fever and the pure love for wings (in Buffalo, we don’t call them Buffalo wings…it would be a bit redundant, I guess), we ventured out to the famous wing restaurant that is nearby, and watched hockey and ate wings and were just generally giddy to be out of the house. And our good humor ended quickly when we drove—or more accurately, inched blindly—home in a true blizzard.
Snow continued to derail my plans for stopping by the local taco chain (yums!) and getting a Loganberry drink (a sweet, syrupy, nearly purple beverage) someplace, going to the hot dog place, and getting my favorite barbecue beef, let alone a submarine sandwich (no one makes them as good as in Buffalo) or getting to the old fashioned soda shop and candy store to buy sponge candy. It wasn’t until the day we were set to fly out that the roads were cleared well enough to venture out and about. Faced with the difficult decision of where we might eat lunch (a discussion that began at 10 am) before our flight at 4:30 pm, we hatched a plan to do our own eating tour. Three of us hit our favorite places, sharing the snacks as we went. We made it to a few of the places--I got my taste of hot dog, barbecue beef, and sponge candy.
Here’s some pictures to show you what the fare looks like and what I long for when I am not quite homesick, but more accurately home-hungry.
I have always loved these barbecue beef sandwiches since I was a kid. My goal is to recreate them as closely as I can. This recipe from Betty Crocker came very, very, wonderfully close.
What are your hometown favorites? Have you figured out how to replicate them at home?
Have you discovered some great place in your travels? Post and let us know.