Global Flavor
DREW BROWN
B Y B R I A N H AY D E N
Meet the Chefs Who Are Bringing Dishes from Around the World to Buffalo
I
MMIGRANTS HAVE LONG BEEN BUFFALO’S LIFEBLOOD AND CENTRAL TO ITS IDENTITY.
In recent decades, new arrivals from all over the world have started restaurants and shared dishes from their native lands, helping to expand Buffalo’s culinary palate. Here are the stories of a few of the chefs who are contributing to Buffalo’s multicultural menu.
Niagara Cafe At the Niagara Café, the cooks prepare all the items on the menu by “ojo” – or eye. A pinch of this spice to flavor the café’s signature rotisserie chicken. A dash of that seasoning to round out the 400 to 500 pastelillos – crispy, crunchy fried pockets filled with steaming hot chicken or beef – handmade each day. And the guidance and know-how of a family that has held onto closely guarded recipes for generations.
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It helps that Maria Hernandez and her husband, Raul, have been on-site at the café almost every day since they introduced Buffalo’s Lower West Side to their Puerto Rican cuisine in 1992. They live right in the neighborhood that continues to serve as the hub of Buffalo’s Puerto Rican population. Their team of family members and veteran staff know how to make the menu’s specialties by memory, from the tostones and maduros (fried and sweet plaintains) to the pasteles (green bananas grated and seasoned and served with pork).
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Maria takes great pride in the café’s evolution into a neighborhood institution over the last 28 years – an accomplishment rooted in its commitment to quality. “We hear, ‘Oh my God, this tastes just the way my mother used to make it,’” Maria said. “We cook the way our mothers cooked. And you can sit here and enjoy it the way you would at home.” 525 Niagara St., Buffalo facebook.com/NiagaraCafePR
Freddy J’s It’s standing room only at Freddy J’s, as customers have filled all eight seats along the counter, chowing down on specialties like fried chicken and red velvet waffles. Behind the counter, owner Fred Daniel chats and jokes with his patrons as pots of rice, macaroni and cheese and collard greens simmer on the six-burner stovetop behind him.
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