Thought about returning to Anchor Bar on
the way through Buffalo to Cooperstown but saw online someone got
shot there the day before and if it was open…well…we’ll wait a
little bit. An online search brought us to Charlie the Butcher,
famous for another Buffalo staple, beef on weck. It’s not only real
but a serious thing. |
Charlie himself was behind the counter measuring out the seasoning for his roast beef like he was splitting atoms. It must work. The little storefront was soon filled with customers eyeing the roast beef being sliced in front of them like a cheetah watching fat and dumb antelope with only one eye and a limp.
We settled into one of the few tables, most of the lunches walked
out the door, and wondered at the peculiar trays of condiments.
Soon, our name was called and a loaded tray of awesome arrived. The
bratwurst and the kraut were rich with a bit of tangy, but I was
surprised how mild both turned out to be. The garlic in the Polish
stood out through the bun and peppers/onions and worked wonderfully
with the variety of mustards.
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Charlie & The Beef Are A Thing In The Buf |
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On The Table...Horseradish Is Stupendous |
Just In Case The Table Isn't Enough...There Are Other Condiment Stations |
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The Brat & Kraut Were Pretty Subdued For Me |
The Polish Had More Mocny (Power/Taste) |
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When it comes to the beef and the kimmelweck roll, the beef is
actually really tasty. I wish they would slice it thinner as it has
serious tug and chew for a sandwich filling. A smear of the Broadway
Market horseradish and it went from delicious to excellent, just had
trouble forcing my teeth through it. The roll, topped with large
granules of salt and some caraway seeds was made for the beef. You
can order the beef on a plain roll but if you do, they will deduct
7˝ points from your I.Q. score. |
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Delicious Beefiness Hampered By Thick Slices |
But The Roll, Oh The Roll |
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Soft But Cheesy Mac |
The sides were worth ordering. The mac & cheese was soft but loaded with cheese and cheesy flavor. That should happen more often than it does. The creamed cucumber with flavorful sauce, sliced onion and some kind of seed (celery?) was refreshingly super tasty. Even Steph like them, onions and all. We ended with a huge bowl of rice pudding. I still don’t get it. Mmmmmmm. Pudding. Delicious. I know. Let’s put something lumpy into it. Something desserty? No, rice. The only one I ever really enjoyed was from Berry’s in Norwalk…it was barely sweet.
Charlie’s was definitely sweet, fine, just not my thing. Chalk up
two signature Buffalo dishes. On the way back through Buffalo we ran
out of local classics and ran in the other direction. |
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Wonderfully Refreshing And Flavorful Creamed Cucumbers |
Rice Pudding Was Good...As Far As Rice Pudding Goes |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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B- | C | C | A | D | B- | ||
Kimmelweck | Tuggy Beef |