But while we've been unpacking, we've also been experiencing Allen Street and the Buffalo metro area.
Friday night, with dirt rings around my neck that I washed off in the restroom, we went to the Towne for dinner. A says, "It was okay; it was just diner food." While on one level I agree, it is diner food, in comparison with the diner we went to in Tioga County, Pa., on Thursday, it was expensive and had better food selection. Thursday I spent $39 for lunch for six people and left a $10 tip for my superduper neighbor and waitress Jenn in at the Brick Tavern in Blossburg, Pa. I think I spent about the same total for the two of us at the Towne - I need to get used to "normal" prices again.
Saturday we kept unpacking, ordered a white pizza with spinach and broccoli from New York Style Pizza here on Allen. A says, "There wasn't any ricotta cheese on it, and the garlic was powder not real. The crust was very good and the service was great. It wasn't a bad pizza, just not quite what I thought it would be, I guess."
Did I mention that I have the cutest little claw food tub in my apartment? It's adorable... to look at. The shower wasn't ready when I arrived on Friday. Over the weekend, A and I tried multiple ways of bathing. We pretended to be coal miners in the 1890s, when showers (well, any indoor plumbing) were not a part of most houses in Tioga County. We poured pitchers of water over each others heads to shampoo and rinse. Once we were relatively clean, we went to Allen Street Hardware Cafe... Wow!!! great beer selection. Dinner was good too. A got the scallop special with deep fried plantains and rice, I got the eggplant & pesto panini. Yummy yummy. A says, "The food was good. The portions were a little small. The beer was good. It was a little dark in the restaurant."
Sunday, we went to Amy's Place up near UB South. I had the lentil soup - bland - but the sunny side up eggs were very nice. A had some kind of lamb wrap which he liked a lot. On our way back to the car, we met a very nice lady with a front yard garden. She has an alpine section - so neat. The flowers were gorgeous and very unusual.
I have an apartment less than 1/4 the size of the house I sold; it's hard to cram what I consider "necessities" into it. And that's after a 10x10 storage unit and several give-aways.
Missing Image ;(
We went to Home Depot, Target, back to the apartment, back to Home Depot, back to Target, and on our way home down Elmwood, we stopped at Saigon Cafe. A got scallops again, "They were very polite. Speedy service. Great portions for the buck. Excellent food." I got the eggplant in green curry which I didn't like because it's a coconut milk curry. But A loved his and the nibble of mushroom I had from his... yum yum. The hoisin sauce with my veggie spring roll was amazing. I got the caramel cream dessert. I didn't like it, but A loved it. I'd definitely go back but order different things.
Monday, more unpacking. *sigh* the apartment was dirty so we had to clean everything - kitchen cabinets, floors, windows, shelves - and unpacking took many hours more than I expected. However, we still made time for play and went to the Buffalo Zoo!
I have a small but rather insistent animals rights streak and so I resist visiting zoos, but A hadn't been to one since he was a kid visiting his grandmother in South Carolina. Since A took time off to come here and help me move, he gets to pick the daily entertainment. Go see pix:
[I tried to embed a slideshow and failed, and I don't have the patience to resize and upload the 22 pix.]
Here's one picture from the set to encourage you to go see the rest:
"The zoo's worth going to. There are nice exhibits with a really nice selection of animals. It's very kid-friendly," A said, "Someone shoulda been deep-frying those cockroaches."
I had lots of fun taking pictures. The Lorakeet Landing was especially fun - one bird let me get very close for quite a while. Such vibrant colors!
I've been living in a very rural area and have needed suits... twice? in the past five years. The program I started on Thursday requires more professional dress than I've needed in about 10 years, so going to the mall became a high priority. (I certainly welcome suggestions on where to get women's suits - plus size! 18/20. Lord & Taylor at the Walden Galleria had the best selection at that mall.) We had a little snack at Johnny Rockets, then after I bought a pretty nice suit at L&T, we drove back into the city and decided to cruise Elmwood to see what was still open. A decided to try Jim's Steak Out. He says, "It needs more exploration." I think that means he liked it and wants to go back. I tried a bean burrito supreme with a side of guac at Elmwood Taco & Sub (ETS) and really liked it.
On Tuesday, the management company finally installed my shower in the adorable clawfoot tub and I felt much cleaner. After I worked on a client's website for a couple hours, and checked in with my friend & colleague Kelly in Tioga County, we managed to get almost everything in the apartment cleaned and unpacked. I have a desk-ish thing and bookshelves. That's all that's really important, right?
As "payment" for helping me, I treated A to one of his favorite things - Korean barbecue at Woo Chon Korea House in Williamsville. A has had Korean barbecue one other time - when we moved my friend Lisa out of her house and into a storage unit in Maryland. (Her stuff moved into the storage unit; she moved to NYC.) Her parents were so kind and treated us to dinner at Woomi Korean barbecue in Wheaton, Md. That was freakin' awesome. Tonight at Woo Chon, the food was equally yummy, the service was outstanding, and the soju was biting! Since there were only two of us and I didn't eat barbecue, he didn't get the treat of the at-the-table barbecue, but he loved the kitchen-prepped beef barbecue. So many yummy sides! bean sprouts, tofu, kimchee and kimchee... I had the tempura, and a couple of those little pizza juns.
Then we went to several bars on Allen Street: Gabriel's Gate, Staple, the little no-name bar in the yellow vinyl-sided building, Nietzche's, Frizzy's, and another stop at NY Pizza. We had walked walked by Gabriel's Gate several times - it looked kinda tough and maybe like hardcore metalheads (no offense, (e:metalpeter) and (e:tinypliny) !) hung out there, but we went in anyway. It's gorgous inside!!! Totally worth going in just to see the woodwork. Staple was probably the most comfortable for me, A loved Nietzsche's - he's a bass player currently seeking a band and is now jealous of where I'm living. He liked this sign:
Frizzy's (I might have the name wrong) was boring in comparison to the other places and didn't have as good a beer selection. The no-name bar wasn't our style either. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the bars.
Wednesday while I was working, A visited THREE sausage markets. Spar's European Sausage Market, 405 Amherst, was his favorite - he bought a LOT of sausage there, plus a really nice cheese with peppercorns in it. He wanted to go to Canada, but he didn't remember to bring his birth certificate. Maybe next time. We did more shopping (poor guy had to sit in all these boring stores and wait for me to try stuff on) then got take out at India Gate. Good food once again.
A left Thursday and took my puppy home with him. :-( I didn't take any pix of her while she was here because I knew it would be painful to see them. China Cat Sunflower is settling in nicely.
I also miss my elderly cat, Kitten, who stayed with the house I recently sold. She would beg me to turn on the bathroom sink faucet:
You don't have to resize them. Unless they are huge in terms of MB. The site will proportionally resize them to 400px wide for you.
(e:tinypliny), That's two entrees and two appetizers in the Woo Chon Korea House photo. We had leftovers that we took home, but that's how Korean barbecue comes - lots of sides. Panaro's was near the top of my list of things to try, but A wasn't very interested (he tends to avoid Italian places because he's such a good Italian cook.) I'll get to it. I don't think Gabriel's Gate would mind a tourist gawker. They do have a decent bar-food menu so you could get food. Get to work so we can hang out! :-)
I guess I need to go find LaNova :-)
(e:leetee) - DOSAS! yea! I'll be checking that out soon! Here's a review if anyone's interested: :::link::: I used to go to Udupi Palace in Langley Park, Md., for dosas and other south Indian delights.
Great post about your exploration of your new city. :O)
I, too, think the Towne is overrated... and the service isn't always very good. The Royal on Sheridan and Military is much better. On Elmwood, some say that Panos is good, but i think it sucks...
Nice zoo pics. Like you, i have a bit on an animal rights streak (me being a vegetarian for moral reasons and all that shit), but i have to admit, i admire the progressive ideas some zoos have. And i think the Buffalo Zoo with it's small size and budget is really trying to break away from old ideals. Plus, i would totally miss the Lories and Lorikeets -- i miss them all winter.
I'm with (e:Drew), i like LaNova. Try their NY Style, it's pretty good... and a bit greasy the way only real cheese on NY can be.
The Korean food place is to die for... when they have Tofu as one of the side dishes, i feel like i am in heaven. But, that's just me the veghead talking.
My favorite new find, food wise, is the Palace of Dosas on Millersport. LOVE!!
Happy exploring of your new home!
Janelle disagrees but I think LaNova is pretty good.
Great post. I think you have already explored Allentown more than we have. I need to get out!
Not to disappoint you, but I haven't found good white pizza in Buffalo, yet. Maybe at the pizza place called 888 on 888 Main St. I still need to check it out.
I haven't been to the Zoo. Your pictures are beautiful! I probably should go. :)
I think you will find the semester so busy that you won't find time to feel sad about the separation from your pets. They do look adorable though. Nice reviews of the restaurants. I agree with A's assessment of the NY pizza place. I didn't like their pizza so much. I think my 1st favourite pizza in Buffalo is the white pizza at Panaro's (Delaware and Allen - across the street from you!) But they are only open 11:00 AM to 3:00PM Mon-Fri and close whenever they please. Basically, the restaurant is a hobby for them! :D. My second favourite pizza is the Roswell cafeteria's, when its fresh (11:30 AM to 1:30 PM).
I do listen to a ton of heavy metal but I don't really live the "metal lifestyle" so people are pretty surprised to find that I listen to *any* metal at all! I love gawking at woodwork (I think I might have been a carpenter in some past life) so I need to check out Gabriel's Gate! Do they have any food? I don't really drink (except when I am flying). Do you think they would mind if I went to check them out like they were a museum?
And Wow, that Korean place looks fantastic! Just how many dishes did you order? Looks like you ordered the whole menu!!
I am kind of curious why you would need formal suits for graduate school. Does it involve a lot of interaction with actual clients - somewhat like patient interaction in medical school? I have been living and loving my grad life in worn pairs of jeans these past three years and I sort of like not having to dress up. I get away with getting up 20 minutes before I have to be at work!
I am not a big fan of coconut milk either - it tastes strange to me. But I absolutely LOVE shredded coconut based soups. All South-Indian food is invariably flavoured with shredded coconut. It tastes very different from coconut milk. It has none of its cloying sweetness. Combined with Jalapeños/Red chilles, shredded coconut ranks right up there in gastronomical heavens.
I like the Falafel sandwich with chips at Amy's. :) I haven't been to Allen Street Hardware Café yet. I am keeping my not-eating-out oath for now because I looked at my budget for eating out and found that it exceeded my budget for groceries! For a grad student, that is financial suicide. I am not sure that you should accept prices at restaurants here as normal. I think they are expensive. The only reasonable and genuinely cheap place I have found is the Taste of Thai on Hertel. I have to admit that it is really cheap and really tasty. Places on Chippewa are probably the most expensive. I would rank places on Elmwood and Allen as somewhat expensive. Places in Williamsville would again shoot through the roof with their costs. The last time I ate out it was at Ming's Café. It was SUPER-expensive! And its not even in a "hip" area.
Nice to hear that you are settling in. I hope my crazy proposal-dissertation run settles down soon so we can meet up... :(