Buffalo | Bloody Queen City

Archive of ‘Buffalo’ category

05
Jan
2022

Catching up on 2021

I quit my job!!!!

J quit his job!!!!

New jobs for both of us! I haven’t started mine yet, but we’ll both be working “normal” hours and thus have the ability go actually go to brunch on a regular basis. I see Bloodies in my future.

But until then, time to catch up on the only 3 Bloodies I’ve had since St. Patrick’s Day. Man, that’s sad 🙁

Fall brought my Aunt into town, so the whole family took a day trip to Hammondsport and the surrounding area for wine and beer tastings. We found ourselves at Timber Stone Grill for lunch, and I found myself a Bloody.

Timber Stone Grill, Hammondsport NY

I forgot to ask for my drink to be spicy, and it suffered (to me) for that. For $12 the drink had decent tomato flavor, and came garnished with bacon, 3 olives, celery and lemon. It had a horseradish-y flavor, but I’m curious what they would have used to add more spice – more horseradish, or generic hot sauce.

Bacon!

In our first Sunday Brunch since the leaving of the jobs, we stayed in town due to time, and checked out Frankie Primos +39. They have 2 locations, one in downtown Buffalo, and a newly opened location in North Tonawanda, where we were. Like I said, we had a time issue, and by the time we got there the brunch menu was over, but they still made me a drink.

Frankie Primos in North Tonawanda

Without anyone (J) mentioning this website, the bartender gave me a special touch – unfortunately I don’t know what it was. Was it the garnish? Or some other extra ingredients? Who knows. What I do know, is that it was delicious. One of the best in a while.

Prosciutto wrapped cheese

The drink was very spicy, with a pickle juice like tang. Garnished with citrus, a blue cheese stuffed olive, and cheese wrapped in prosciutto stuffed in a hot pepper! I had to do my once a year reminder that I hate blue cheese AND olives, but the rest was fantastic.

And finally, another Sunday brought me to Chez Ami at the Curtiss Hotel in Buffalo for dinner before going to see Hamilton. I hear good things about the restaurant, but we’ve only ever been to the rooftop bar that was closed that day (although it IS open in ALL weather!)

Dinner bloody mary at Chez Ami

While my friend’s meal was delicious, mine left a bit to be desired. So did my Bloody. I didn’t even take notes on it, it was so unremarkable. All I can say is, it was heavy on the sour tang. Too much Frank’s maybe. I would give the restaurant another try, but it’s pretty spendy and there are so many other great restaurants in Buffalo to visit.

So wish us luck on the new jobs, and for finding the best Bloodies in 2022!

04
May
2021

Lakeward Spirits

categories: Buffalo

It’s the day before Cinco de Mayo so what better way to celebrate than to talk about a Bloody Mary I had on St. Patrick’s Day!

While Covid still rages, ethnic holiday celebrations have continued to be a bit different. Buffalo cancelled the parade again this year, but since bars were allowed to operate many still had smaller events, like Lakeward Spirits.

Lakeward Spirits is a distillery located in the old Barrel Factory in Buffalo’s First Ward. It occupies the space along with Pressure Drop Brewing, Snowy Owl Kombucha, Buffalo’s Best Cucina, Elevator Alley Kayak and Bar Cultivar (which actually, I’m not sure is open. It is/was a cider brewery, if that is the right term.) The space is awesome, with a great event space upstairs, where they hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party with live music.

It’s very possible that I’ve posted about them before, honestly, I’m too lazy to look in the archives. When we arrived at the distillery, the menu listed a Bloody that seemed new to me. So after our first Irish themed drink, I opted for the Bloody.

You still gotta have the mask in the photo for posterity!

For $9 the Bloody features their Grain Canyon Vodka infused with jalapeno, tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, pepperoncini and pickled vegetables (including my favorite, pickled green beans). I asked for it spicy as usual, and it definitely was. I’m assuming it was spiced up with a basic hot sauce in addition to the horseradish and infused vodka but it didn’t overwhelmingly taste like Frank’s which is always good. I was glad it used regular tomato juice and not a bottled mix, as so many bars do. Solid Bloody, would drink again.

Lakeward Spirits Bloody Mary

Tomorrow’s Cinco festivities will also be different, and while I’m sure to have some drinks, they most likely will not be Bloody. Until next time…

17
Mar
2020

PANIC! at the distillery

categories: Buffalo

A week ago when the world was only slightly crazy, and maybe you could still find toilet paper on the shelves, J and I were headed to see Enter The Haggis at Buffalo Iron Works, and with some time to kill before the show we stopped at Hartman’s Distilling in the First Ward.

I am only a week or so late with this review, instead of weekS or months, because I have nothing else to do. That’s right, I am temporarily out of a job due to the Covid-19 virus panic of 2020. My place of business has been shut down since it is a public place with the potential for large gatherings, and we work with dirty dirty cash. There is no way for me to work from home, no way to do my job virtually, so I’m trying to be productive on Day 1 of my Corona-cation.

Hartman’s Distilling is the newest distillery to open in Buffalo, located next door to Resurgence Brewing’s 2nd location in the old EB Holmes building. Whoever owns the building did a fantastic job with the renovation from an abandoned brick shell to brewery, distillery and other offerings. The 2 bars share a nice courtyard that has gas fire pits and games in the summer.

I had seen them advertise their bloody mary on social media, but it was always mentioned as a brunch drink, and indeed was not on their regular menu. But after my first gin based cocktail, I asked if it was a brunch only drink, and lucky me it was not.

Hartman’s Bloody Mary

Hartman’s house made mix features a lot of horseradish. A. Lot. You can clearly see it throughout the drink, and it is the main flavor providing the heat to the drink. But there is also a touch of sweetness and garlic that comes from sriracha, a bit of tang from olive juice, and a touch of heat from chili oil.

I was ordering this on a Thursday, and initially it did not have a very fancy garnish, but once J gave bartender Joe my card for this site, he got a little nervous and offered to add the garnish they usually do for brunch. I accepted.

The brunch garnish

The garnish is a simple and classy addition, nothing crazy-go-nuts, just olive, celery, cherry tomato, prosciutto and cheese (usually, but not in mine). For $8 this is a solid cocktail with a good flavor that goes beyond the classic, without alienating bloody mary purists.

And here’s a funny story about bartender Joe. A year or 2 ago we stopped into Hotel Henry for a drink, we were sitting at the bar, looking at the TV and the local news is interviewing someone at the airport. I look at the TV, I look at the bartender. I look at the TV, I look at the bartender. I ask, “Is that you?” Bartender looks at the TV, “Oh yeah, that’s me.” LOL Well I think that bartender is bartender Joe. I could be wrong, but Joe looked familiar, and although we encounter many bartenders in our travels, not many have been on TV at the same time.

Now the question is, what to do with days 2-14 (at least) of my Corona-cation?

13
Oct
2019

Quick Hits

categories: Buffalo

I suck.

I know it, you don’t need to point it out.

I have a motivation problem. In that, I have none. On top of that, I haven’t had that many cocktails to post about. It’s not that I’ve run out of places with Bloody Marys to try, it’s that 1. we haven’t gone to any of these new places and 2. I haven’t been in the mood. And then I have to review it, like it was my (unpaid) job, and I just don’t want to.

I suck.

So I’m going to clean up my back catalog of drinks, and hopefully, get back into the mood.

First up. Sun Burmese restaurant in Williamsville, NY (I do not know if they offer this at their other locations, though I would imagine they do). They make the drink with a house made mix spiced with wasabi, topped with pepper and a dried lime. There was other “heat” adding ingredients besides the wasabi, and while it was a small drink, it was tasty and worth a try.

Next, Mesque on Hertel Ave in Buffalo. Mesque is my favourite cocktail bar in Buffalo. We only “discovered” it 2 years ago, although it’s been there for as long as I remember. It is just easy to miss, as it’s known as a soccer bar…I don’t know about you, but I don’t expect a soccer bar to have high end cocktails, I expect it have beer and cater to fans of Man U et al. But I was wrong, very very wrong. They have a rotating seasonal cocktail menu featuring some very creative drinks. One of their previous fall drinks was an Indian masala spiced drink, and one of their spring drinks featured peas. And it was amazing. I finally tried a Bloody there, because I saw it advertised as one of their game day specials ($7.50 on a Match day, $8 normally). The bartender and GM, Dylan, came to Mesque from Panorama on 7 who won this year’s Buffalo Bloody Mary Fest, so I knew it would be a good drink. (Panorama was my pick as #1 this year, and I enjoyed their drink when I had it in the restaurant. Sadly, Panorama kept Dylan’s plaque!) The drink was very spicy and heavy on salt and pickle, maybe a bit too much for some, but a nice outing.

We did some traveling in September, visiting my friend and former roommate in her new digs in Portland, Maine, and taking a few days to go to Orlando for Universal Studios. Florida didn’t turn up any Bloodies (who wants to drink a tomato cocktail in 95 degrees, sitting by a pool?), but I managed to find one in Portland. Nosh was right across the street from our Airbnb, and open late, so we stopped in one night for a snack and cocktail. Garnished with lemon and lime, I found some olives at the bottom. The spice level was mild, and relied on fresh cracked pepper. Nothing special, not bad. Just a basic, classic bloody.

Portland was very cool, and pretty hipster-y, so I was surprised at the lack of bloodies at the places we went. I thought they’d be all about sticking lobster claws in tomato juice! I was even willing to get one, considering I don’t like lobster, and I don’t like my food looking like the animal it used to be. Haha. Missed opportunity Portland!

So that cleans up my back log of cocktails (for now). I do have 2 gifted mixes to get to, and I will aim for next weekend. I feel bad that I haven’t talked about them yet, like I’m taking advantage of these companies. I assure you, I intend to talk about them in a timely manner, I just suck, as I said.

29
Jun
2019

Sidelines – A diamond in the rough

categories: Best Of Buffalo, Buffalo

As has been recent tradition, Mid-June brought a week of vacation. We didn’t have real plans, just a few nights out of town. We spent a night on Seneca Lake so we could go see the goats at Lively Run Dairy and have some wine, and we planned 2 nights in Columbus Ohio at the Dog House – Brew Dog’s beer hotel. The rest of the time we just hung around town, relaxed, saw some music etc.

Now it’s been 2 weeks since we visited Sidelines Sports Bar while off of work, and I had all the good intentions in the world to post in a timely manner. I downloaded and edited my photos, I basically knew what I wanted to say, but then I suddenly had no time to write anything up.

I was all set to go when I woke up to no internet in the house. Cycled the power on the modem and router, all the usual stuff, and had to call the cable company in the end. Of course, they say nothing is wrong on their end, it must be my modem. So I drive out to their store to get one of theirs, I am told it should work right when I plug it in, except of course, it doesn’t. Another phone call, still nothing they can do on the phone, they gotta send out a guy. So this turns into 2 days without home internet, and 2 more days of not posting this review. (It turns out SOMEHOW my cable got disconnected AT THE POLE.)

Then it was my birthday, and finally nice weather where all I wanted to do was sit on the back porch. And my normal work hours. And, I won’t lie, Wizards Unite, the Harry Potter augmented reality game finally came out lol. I just had no time to sit in front of the computer and type. And while it is nice out today, I knew I HAD to write this review, so I’m outside on the back porch on the laptop, typing this up even though all I can see is my own reflection in the screen.

Sidelines! Sidelines is a typical “old fashioned” neighborhood sports bar in Buffalo. We had only been there once before when we were out early in the 2018-2019 hockey season and we wanted to find a place to watch the Sabres game. It’s a good enough place. They had a menu with the usual bar food – wings, fingers, fries etc. There was no hint that they served brunch, or that they had a BUILD YOUR OWN BLOODY MARY!

I only found this out on accident when browsing #bloodymary on Instagram (I was epically bored) and they had a post with the above photo. I thought, no chance was this in Buffalo, but it totally was!! This is the kind of thing I’ve been waiting for in Buffalo. The kind of drink promised by Templeton Landing but not delivered. The kind of drink offered by Fat Bob’s once, but not since (that I know of).

It’s not a Build Your Own bar like I had in Arizona, where you are literally mixing yourself a drink, but it’s a list of ingredients that a professional bartender will put together for you. I like that better, because they have skillz. Take a look at what Sidelines was offering.

For a base price of $8, you can pick from a variety of vodkas and tequilas, choose your base and spice level, pick some add in flavors, and choose from a standard list of garnishes. Then if you want to go crazy bananas you can add in a variety of larger garnishes for an additional charge and create yourself a whole brunch meal.

I went with a medium base, because I was adding in Tabasco, horseradish and jalapeno juice and I didn’t want it to be tooooo overwhelming. I am not picky about my vodka but J always orders Tito’s so I just chose that. From the complimentary garnish list I picked pepperoni, bacon, pickle and lemon and lime wedges. To round out my meal in a glass I added a hard boiled egg, chicken won-ton, pizza log and chicken finger.

Arriving in all it’s glory with a spiced rim, the bacon was nice and crispy, the won-ton delicious and everything else A+. The chicken finger was doused in Frank’s hot sauce, which I didn’t expect, but it was fine if not a bit unnecessary (I did order actual breakfast as well). The drink itself was in a larger glass, not your typical pint glass, and had a good flavor.

Color me impressed. This is not the kind of drink, or brunch as a whole, that you would expect from a neighborhood sports bar. This is a definite Best of Buffalo recommendation from me, as you can be as simple or crazy as you want. If you don’t get enough meal in your glass, or like me, you are with a Bloody hater, they offered a nice brunch menu as well. My drink ended up being $18, but you can stick with the basics for $8 and still get a fantastic cocktail. For $24.50 you can get EVERYTHING. And I would imagine if you wanted to double up on a certain garnish, they’d do that too.

I believe brunch is only on Sunday, but don’t quote me on that, just go see them!!

Up next, Columbus Ohio!

14
Apr
2019

Hot Mama’s – the Return of Val!

categories: Buffalo

When I started my Bloody Mary journey several years ago, there was stiff competition for my favourite local Bloody between Roxy at Essex Street Pub and Val at Rohall’s Corner. But then Roxy “retired” from bar tending to become a nurse, and Val opened her own bar, but didn’t craft cocktails anymore. And while Val’s bar, Hot Mama’s Canteen, still had a good Bloody type drink available, it just wasn’t the same.

But wait! We’ve gone to Hot Mama’s a few times recently to see our friends’ band The Healing Committee play and Val has been there! While she wasn’t really tending bar, she was around and I asked if she could make me a drink I could properly review for the website, and she obliged.

Like I mentioned in my previous post about Hot Mama’s, when asking Val for a drink, be prepared to be faced with a variety of options on how she should make it – classic, fruity, meaty etc. And again, I didn’t know what to choose! I let her make the choice, basically going with a spicy classic.

Be careful – if you’re not into spice, make sure you make that clear. Because it. is. spicy! Garnished with their famous Fire Pickle wrapped in capicola the drink is spiced up with 2 kinds of Val’s Headstone Heat Hot Sauce (Mexican Aftershock and All American Sauce) and habanero sea salt (made in house from ingredients that go into the hot sauces).

Also garnished with an olive and lemon slice, this drink is spicy yet fruity (from a secret ingredient!), sweet and bright, with a fresh tomato taste brought out by citrus, and a tad of Guinness to bring it all together. Made fresh, to order, from a homemade mix, it’s definitely worth checking out. But bring a straw. Hot Mama’s has gone straw-less, and while for basic drinks straws aren’t necessary, for a Bloody it’s kinda needed. Or you can buy one of their reusable stainless steel straws for an extra…$1.50ish…which is then yours to keep and reuse.

Also, if you’re into hot sauces, stop in and pick up any of the varieties of Headstone Heat sauces. In fact, a good day to do that would be June 12th, when you can check out The Healing Committee, be in a video, eat some tasty food and get some great drinks! See you there!

07
Mar
2019

4th Buffalo Bloody Mary Fest

categories: Buffalo

Happy New Year!!!

What?

It’s March?

When did that happen?

Where have I been, you ask? On the couch mostly. I know it’s been months since I last posted but I haven’t really had any drinks to share. J and I did go to brunch at the reopened Providence Social, and I did have a bloody, but it just really wasn’t worth posting about. Then I participated in “Dry January” – that whole thing where you don’t drink alcohol for a month after the holidays. And the February just went POOF in a cloud of smoke. So here we are, March, and March brings the annual Buffalo Bloody Mary Fest, now in it’s 4th year (3rd at Riverworks).

The stars aligned this year and fest veteran Jeff not only got tickets in time this year (thanks to his fiance Kelly) but did not skip town like last year. So the 4 of us made our way to Riverworks fashionably late in order to avoid any massive lines.

This year’s 10 bars again had some repeats (Rusty Nickel, Black Button, Burning Buffalo, Acropolis) and some newbies (Panorama on 7, Soho, Casa Azul, Garage Cafe, Terrace at Delaware Park, Frankie Primos +39), and only one of the n00bs had I tried before (Panorama on 7). So let’s dig in!

Panorama on 7
Ingredients: Tomato juice, lemon & lime juice, pineapple juice, olive juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, Frank’s hot sauce, horseradish, celery salt, black pepper, garlic powder
Garnish: Mini chicken and waffle slider, chipotle honey drizzle

Bloody Clucking Mary from Panorama on 7

The only restaurant new to the fest that I’d had before was Panorama on 7, but there was no chicken and waffle slider that time! This was the first drink we tried when we got to Riverworks, and it held up as the best throughout the rest of our sampling. It was spicy and tangy, with a great garnish, yet stayed “classic” in flavor. (They ended up winning Best Of this year.)

Rusty Nickel Brewing Co.
Ingredients: House Bloody mix, Maiti flavoring, pineapple juice, sweet jerk salsa puree, blend of hot sauces, RNBC “Tropical Slice O’ That” Beer
Garnish: Celery stick, lime wedge, chilled pineapple cube, sweet gerkin pickle, pickled cheery pepper, pepperjack cheese cube, coconut shrimp, pineapple glazed ham cube, dark sweet cherry, Paula’s toasted coconut donut

Mahalo Nani from Rusty Nickel Brewing

I gotta give Rusty Nickel credit. They’ve been at every fest at Riverworks (honestly, I can’t remember if they were at the 1st one at Shea’s) and they’ve given a different Bloody every year. This year was a sort of Hawaiian take, with pineapple and ham, along with other tropical flavors. The drink was very spicy but also sweet, with their “go above and beyond” garnish like previous years. That said, did I like it? Not really. It may be good to some people, but it was just too sweet for me.

Rusty Nickel always has a creative sign too

Black Button Distilling
Ingredients: Tomato Juice, cucumber, horseradish, habanero puree, Worcestershire, garlic, onion, lemon juice
Garnish: Cucumber chunks, halved grape tomatoes and fresh dill, tossed in a vinaigrette

An in focus photo would not make this any better.

This was my 3rd try of Black Button’s Bloody mix, and I still don’t like it. Had it in their tasting room, had it at last year’s fest, had it at this fest, and it still tastes too cucumber-y/dill-y for me. In case I haven’t mentioned it before (I have.) I HATE cucumbers, so nothing about this drink was appealing to me.

Garage Cafe
Ingredients: Tomato juice, celery juice, GCL Seasonings, sriracha
Garnish: Mini cinnamon roll, sausage, carrot, cheese, olive

The Garage Tune Up Bloody Mary

The first newbie of the day, The Garage is a cafe that opened up in an old mechanic’s shop on Hertel Ave last year. They are famous for their huge cinnamon rolls on the weekends, but I had yet to have one as we’ve only ever gone for late breakfasts during the week. This was my chance to taste test a mini cinnamon roll, and boy was it good. Sadly though, the drink was not great. It was pretty watery and mild in flavor. It acted as a kind of inoffensive palate cleanser between the horrendous cucumber monstrosity that came before it and the “nope” that came after.

Acropolis
Ingredients: Tomato juice, red & yellow pepper, cucumber, carrot, clam juice, olive juice, horseradish, crab meat, garlic, lemon pepper, celery salt
Garnish: House pickled celery and carrot, lemon, pepperoni, dusted with KTB’s seasoning rub

KTB’s Bucking Bloody

Given the many ingredients in this drink, it tasted like water with a bit of horseradish. Contrasting with their previous year’s drink, it’s like they went to the other side of the coin, from too strong, to nothing. Nope. Next.

Burning Buffalo
Ingredients: V8 juice, Worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, black pepper, celery salt, smoke
Garnish: Smoked gouda, tomato, salami, pickled celery

Burning Buffalo Bloody Mary

Defending champ Burning Buffalo put up the same drink as last year with a slightly different garnish. Like last year, and like what you’ll get ordering one at their restaurant, it’s a quality Bloody Mary with strong horseradish and a good amount of spice. However, mine seemed a bit too salty, like someone was a little heavy handed with the celery salt.

Soho
Ingredients: Tomato juice, celery salt, Italian black pepper, Frank’s hot sauce, Worcestershire, horseradish, jalapeno juice
Garnish: Spanish stuffed queen olive, kosher dill pickle

Soho Bloody

Certainly the most boring looking of the day, Soho’s offering was a pretty basic, standard, Bloody. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that interesting either. There was a hint of horseradish, but overall pretty plain. Their simple garnish was drowning in the drink, and I’m not sure mine had the stated pickle on my skewer with the olive.

Casa Azul
Ingredients: Charred fresh tomato, jalapeno, sweet Vidalia onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, Worcestershire, Casa habanero/garlic hot sauce
Garnish: Tajin rim, poblano chip mustache

Charred Mary

Casa Azul has great tacos. Casa Azul has great margaritas. Casa Azul’s Bloody Mary would make a great salsa. Because that’s basically what it was: a cocktail that was blended more than a salsa, but not enough to be a drink. The poblano chip mustache was a cute, creative piece of flair, but was pretty stale by the time we got around to their table. I liked the flavor, but like I said, it’d be better left chunky in a bowl with some fresh tortilla chips. (However, in a comment conversation on my Instagram, another fest attendee said their sample was too watery. Perhaps we got the bottom of the barrel after all the ingredients had settled? Would that make it better or worse?)

Terrace at Delaware Park
Ingredients: Tomato juice, Clamato juice, peperoncini juice, lemon juice, horseradish, Crystal hot sauce, Old Bay spice
Garnish: Old Bay spice, poached shrimp, pickled green beans, pickled jalapeno

Shrimp Cocktail

The Terrace at Delaware Park is a great space in the summer, inside the Marcy Casino on Hoyt Lake. We’ve visited for a few tap takeovers, but haven’t been there since they became a fully functioning restaurant. Their drink was thin and watery, but not terrible. It had a horseradish flavor that combined with something else to make it really truly taste like a shrimp cocktail, where other horseradish based Bloodies do not. I think mine only had shrimp and lemon for garnish, as there was no hint of anything green floating around in there.

Frankie Primo’s +39
Ingredients:

Garnish:

Drink: When we got upstairs at Riverworks to try the 4 remaining bars, Frankie Primo’s was out of drinks and had a growing line (I had flashbacks to the first fest at Riverworks, felt a tightening in my chest lol). While a few places were quickly pouring a new stock of drinks, or putting together extra garnishes, they were the only ones who were completely out of anything for people to try. They were also moving like molasses in preparing new drinks. So was it good?

Who knows, cuz like annoyed impatient Dumbledore here, we were not about to wait to find out.

We finished up with J’s typical bottle of champagne and glass of orange juice, since once again he did not partake in any Bloodies.

Besides the drinks, there were no DIY crafts this year, but instead they replaced it with some live entertainment. We missed the Bloody chugging contest (gross?!?) but they also had a Make Your Best Bloody contest where people who signed up had 5 minutes to use a host of provided ingredients to make their best cocktail. The trick was, you could only use one ingredient at a time, so no hoarding all the hot sauces or garnishes. You couldn’t take something else til you put back your previous item. I might have signed up to try had I known about it. Maybe next year.

Rusty Nickel always has garnish game.

Get ready, get set….

We had a good time, but mostly it was from hanging out together, and not because the drinks were particularly good. This was the first year where I didn’t drink the majority of what was offered. Previous years, unless something was really heinous (looking at you, cucumbers) I’d finish each drink. But this year I found myself tossing drink after drink. Have I lost my taste for Bloody Marys? (Admittedly, I have not been in the mood for them recently.) Were the drinks on offer that bad this year? Was there a quality control issue, and we were getting watered down drinks because the bars were trying to stretch their mix? I don’t know. I do know, and I’ll say it yet again, that Step Out Buffalo needs to resurrect their cheap Non-Bloody drinker ticket, because $45 for J not to drink any of the Bloodies is just too much, and honestly I might take next year off.

Jeff, Kelly, J and me 2019

28
Aug
2018

Update: Cask and Cow

categories: Buffalo

When we first visited Cask and Cow in Lewiston NY, they were still only “soft opened” and their menu hadn’t quite been set yet. I still had an excellent bloody mary though. Now, almost exactly a year later, J wanted to check out the food menu so we took a trip to see them, and see their new bloody mary.

Updated Cask and Cow bloody

Now featuring a cheeseburger slider, and bacon with citrus slices and olives, it’s still a great drink. Check them out!

30
Jun
2018

Quick Hit: The Tabernacle

categories: Buffalo, Cities

I can’t believe it’s the end of June already! Where did half the year go? With the long winter, and late spring, it feels like it should only be the beginning of May. But alas, here we are, June. And June means vacation. And vacation this year meant Las Vegas. But before we get to Las Vegas, I have a quick review of The Tabernacle at Sweet_ness 7.

The Tabernacle is a new addition to the back of Sweet_ness 7 cafe on Grant St in Buffalo. They bought the building behind the cafe and transformed it into a modern day chapel. And in great story you can read in full here, their line cook, WHO NEVER PAINTED BEFORE, took over and is solely responsible for all the painting in the space.

The Tabernacle

This space is truly incredible. To think the artist had never painted before, and he filled this entire space with wonderful paintings, it’s amazing!! I sense a career change!

Seriously…he never painted before…?!?!?

We visited later in the evening, after dinner, so we did not partake in any of their food menu, but I had to try the bloody.

Look at this space!!!

Garnished with 2 cherry tomatoes, olive, lemon and lime (they were out of celery), this drink did not have any ice, which was unusual. The house made mix was peppery and a bit sweet, with heat from horseradish. It’s a decent offering, worth checking out.

Tabernacle Bloody Mary

22
Apr
2018

Coles

categories: Buffalo

It’s been a while, again, but I just haven’t been ordering any bloodies lately. We haven’t really gone anywhere new, where there’s a bloody I haven’t tried. But we made it to Cole’s on Elmwood the other night for Geeks Who Drink trivia, and I used one of the bonus question drinks I won on their bloody.

I have had one before, years ago before the blog, and real late night when it was far too busy and full of college kids. Yuck, college kids! I can’t say it was very good. But I hear raves about their bloody, especially during brunch, so I tried it again.

Cole’s Bloody Mary

J always hands out my card to bartenders, to let them know about this site, but then they get all nervous. The bartender gave me my drink, and was antsy to find out what I thought. My initial thought was that it was a bit sweet. He tasted it, and thought it wasn’t very spicy, and I agreed so he took it back to add in more.

Garnished with lemon, lime and olives, the final product was still a bit sweet but it had a good amount of spice. It was a good classic flavor, exactly what you’re looking for in a bloody.

Cole’s also has awesome jalapeno popper wonton things. Check em out!

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Archive of ‘Buffalo’ category

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