Sunday, February 13, 2011

Waiter! There's A Beer In My Soup!

Today as we drove through Buffalo, I remembered that there were a few Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives joints in the area. I went to Page Productions website and looked at the map of restaurants the show has been to and found out where the Buffalo area ones were.

The first place we chose, the
Lake Effect Diner, had no nearby parking. With the mounds of snow and the small parking lots, any magic maneuvering by Ed just wasn't going to happen, no matter how hard he tried. The second place on our list was just a few miles away, so we headed there; The Blackthorn Restaurant & Pub in South Buffalo.

We were quickly seated and greeted by Molly, our super-nice waitress. The first thing that caught my eye on the menu was the Stuffed Banana Peppers. Stuffed banana peppers? Yum. I have to say I was expecting something the size of a jalapeno, like the ones you get on your sandwich at Subway; small, sliced rings. These were no tiny peppers people, these were chili relleno sized peppers.
I guess I have no idea what a banana pepper is, and I've certainly never had it stuffed. I thought they were delicious, stuffed with herbs and four cheeses, baked and served over garlic toast rounds.

The only issue I had is that I thought there was too much stuffing. It was too cheesy. Very, very cheesy...definitely cream cheese, maybe goat cheese and two others I couldn't identify. I would have just filled the pepper, instead of heaping it. Apparently, according to Molly, these are pretty popular in this area; they must be a regional thing because I've never seen them anywhere else.

Along with our peppers, we each ordered a cup of Irish Beer Cheddar soup.

I wasn't in love with the soup. You'd think you couldn't go wrong with potatoes and cheddar cheese, but the beer taste was way too strong for me. It wasn't a "hint" as the menu suggested, it was more like "in your face". Too overpowering for me.

For our main meals, Ed ordered “Kev’s Favorite”, tender corned beef and roast turkey sautéed with red onion, and melted cheddar, served with Pub sauce on Rye. On the side were the pub's homemade cheddar and jalapeno tater tots. The tater tots were the size of golf balls, I've never seen such a thing. Ed shared a bite and I can say they were totally awesome. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a regular tater tot the same way.

I had the Beef on Weck; certified Angus top round carefully roasted in their kitchen, sliced thin and piled high. Served on a kimmelweck roll. That's what the menu said. And when I read (on my new iPhone!) exactly what Weck was, I was excited to order it.

But whoa! It wasn't really as described. The beef was not rare, not thinly sliced and not hot. I hate food that's not hot. It was bad, it just wasn't what I expected. The roll was good, but the salted top a little too much for me and the fries were well, fries.

Honestly, I don't know how these places get on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It just wasn't fabulous. Food that's on TV should be outrageous. It should make me want to eat there again and again. I wouldn't recommend it and I wouldn't go back.

I need to be blown away, and if your restaurant is on TV, you should be doing the blowing.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Wolf
2 YEARS AGO:
Eddie Getting His Licks Friday
3 YEARS AGO:
The Place Is In Ruins
4 YEARS AGO:
Winter Shadows
5 YEARS AGO:
The Angels Of The New York D.O.T.

3 comments:

Ms. Crawford said...

What a bummer! The pics of the food look good though. I do know the struggle, we always like to try different places and sometimes I am like hello I should have just went to McDonalds instead of wasting my money here. Lol

Anonymous said...

Such a shame that you had an experience like that. I have eaten there many times and for the most the service and food has been excellent.

The Daily Rant said...

Anonymous: Well, you know, I might give it another try if we're in the area. If you say you've eaten there many times, I may just have gotten them on a bad night. Those tater tots are enough to draw me back in! :) Thanks for commenting!