In Buffalo, we have tried the wings and the weck. I don’t really know of any other defining city dishes so we decided to go British instead. People seem to love the place, we actually had two meals. The first in the newly opened chip shop, the second came home with us in a cooler, traditional pork pies.
At the chippy, the service was a little spotty, it seems like almost everyone is training on something or other, but once things started moving they fared pretty well.
The chip shop looks like it was inserted into the warehouse space they have been using to manufacture and send pork pies all over the world. We ordered and sat down to some British beverages. I grabbed the most peculiar sounding Ben Shaw’s Dandelion & Burdock Classic, which turned out to be my favorite of the two. I don’t really have words to describe what it tasted like…mostly dandelion and burdock? Sweet, floral, kinda like a well balanced cocktail.
The Tizer (it says “The Great British Pop” on the can) was less pleasant for me. The best description I have would be a classic Coke with a healthy splash of medicine. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…sure…but the medicine doesn’t really help the carbonated sugar water go down.
Before we get to the fryer, we ordered the pie of the day, the Cornish Pasty a fat little football of brittle and savory crust crimped on top and leaking a bit of brown happiness down the side. This warm (not hot) pocket was packed to the gills with expertly seasoned ground beef, and assisted by turnips, potatoes and plenty of onion. It was then I think we knew we were in for a real treat.
They imported a frying range from the UK so how do you not do fish and chips. OMG, I’ve seen people on tv talk about a chippy making them feel like they were home…the fish and taters made me want to find the home of this treat. I know people give the Brits grief for their cuisine…probably started with the French who also give us crap for our burgers and hot dogs and they can go back to licking their frogs and snails (both of which are pretty tasty by-the-by) cause it was beautiful. The huge filet of cod (a small order) was steaming hot and flaky. The tumultuous waves of solidified batter were the sound and flavor of spectacular. The batter is so thick as the fish slides into the bubble, but the resulting crust it becomes after it exits is extraordinary. The thick cut chips are made from imported King Edward potatoes and it could be the tuber or the fryer or the cook but they were also excellent and both took another step up when you splashed them with the dusky English vinegar.
Like many chip shops, they stock candy bars and various other things you can batter and send to happy places. We had them do a sausage. Who thought of that? A genius, that’s who. Mild but juicy and ensconced in the same crispy perfect. The vinegar was even great on the sausage. We couldn’t imagine another bite. No candy bars. Then they put sausages baked into puff pastry in the display case and we had to run out the door. Well, sort of. We left without sausage but we did purchase a cooler of pies to take home for the next day…six pies actually. Hey, judging doesn’t reflect well on you as a person. You can find out about the pies here. This place was just a find all the way around.
You'll Fry Just About Anything?