The Village of Warsaw is not, technically speaking, in the middle of nowhere. It’s halfway between Buffalo and Rochester, the commercial center of Wyoming County, home to its county seat, and its Walmart.
At Coffee Outpost Warsaw, Josh Noh is using decades of big-league cooking experience to win the hearts and stomachs of Wyoming County.
That’s why Coffee Outpost Warsaw does things most restaurants don’t. Like sell milk, eggs, and cheese – any ingredients on hand, really – to people who need groceries.
After decades of working behind kitchen doors, Noh finds making hungry people happy face-to-face pays off for him, too. “It’s like walking into a chef’s kitchen and saying, ‘Can I get a quart of milk?’ ” he said, “and I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely, man. What else do you need? A cup of sugar?’ ”
Noh has held his own in the Philadelphia restaurants of Georges Perrier, Steven Starr, and Top Chef all-star Jennifer Carroll’s Spice Finch, when restaurant critic Craig Leban gave it three bells – “excellent.” In Buffalo, he cooked for Wayland Brewing Co. and Billy Club.
Which explains how you can sit in a former gas station in a village of 5,000 and enjoy specials like pears poached in strawberry-rhubarb-herb syrup, on a bed of toasted almonds, crowned with a quenelle of freshly whipped Stolzfus Family Dairy cream.
By day, sandwiches, salads, and coffee drinks are the mainstays of COW’s menu.
By night, once a month or so, Noh offers farm-to-table dinners that can compete with any big-city restaurant. He offered this menu for $78 including tax and tip in October:
Beef carpaccio, wild arugula, warm squash, Stoltzfus cheddar crisp, beet pickled shallot, sherry vinegar.
“Beef on Weck,” braised chuck, caraway-dusted potato gnocchi, lacinato kale, horseradish, nasturtium, East Hill Creamery cheese.
Wood-grilled strip steak, beet chimichurri, end-of-summer grilled vegetables, potato.
Maple panna cotta, roasted butternut squash, dulce de leche, black currant and elderberry jam, shaved chocolate, apple.
Noh’s January dinner is already sold out. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of other reasons to check out Coffee Outpost Warsaw.
Noh’s baking bread and focaccia, or serving sandwiches on Amoroso’s rolls imported from Philadelphia. The breakfast sandwich ($8) packs three eggs, Stoltzfus cheddar, and garlic mayonnaise, with meat additions including Philly favorite scrapple ($10.50) sausage ($12.50) or bacon ($13.50).
His beef-on-weck ($15) adorns braised beef with Stoltzfus cheddar, caramelized onions, horseradish, garlic mayonnaise, and caraway salt. Grilled Stoltzfus garlic kielbasa centers the Warsaw Dog ($10), topped with caramelized onions, bacon, garlic mayonnaise, and East Hill Creamery cheese.
Coffee drinks, made with Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters beans, include the Silverlake ($2/16 oz/$2.50/20 oz.), with steamed milk and maple simple syrup, and the Parkside ($3.25/16 oz/$3.75/20 oz.), with caramelized brown sugar simple syrup, steamed milk, grated cinnamon and nutmeg.
Beef from local producer Grasen Run Farm is another way Noh tries to make food shopping easier. Coffee Outpost Warsaw offers ground beef, steaks, and roasts from the Perry farm by the piece or as part of fill-your-freezer packages.
Noh and his wife Mary got together in Philadelphia, and lived there for years. When they were looking for a quieter place for him to cook and her to teach, they landed in Wyoming County, where she teaches at Byron-Bergen BOCES
After working with the best ingredients he could find in Philadelphia and Buffalo, Noh was thrilled by the quality of the stuff he was getting from Wyoming County producers. That’s why he decided to help make it more accessible.
“I’m just trying to give people access to the amazing stuff here,” he said. “If I have chicken in my freezer, you can buy it. You can buy my eggs, you can buy my milk, you can buy my cheese. Like, I’ll just weigh it out for you and sell it to you. Everything, basically, is for sale.”
Coffee Outpost Warsaw, 93 W. Buffalo St. (Route 20A), Warsaw, thecowwarsaw.com, 585-689-2402
Hours: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday.
REVIEW: Shah’s Food, a new restaurant on Niagara Falls Boulevard just south of Ellicott Creek, offers more lamb dishes than any restaurant in town. It also happens to be the only Aghani restaurant in Western New York, which may be related. Having little previous experience of Afghani cuisine, I need to explore more to be certain. One thing’s for sure: This place is a carnivore’s dream, especially if you’re feeling a bit sheepish. (On Thursday, for patrons.)
JACK RABBIT REOPENS: Elmwood dining bar Jack Rabbit found itself high-and-dry on Tuesday after being forced to shut its doors due to an alcohol license paperwork error.
(PHOTOS: Bflofoodie)
By Friday, it was straightened out and customers were welcomed back to its bar and dining room. By brunchtime Saturday and Sunday, Jack Rabbit was hopping again.
ASK THE CRITIC
Q: Two readers asked for help finding meaty ingredients this week: beef heart, and foie gras.
A: The answer to both questions was Moriarty Meats, 1650 Elmwood Ave.
Tom Moriarty’s local meat butcher shop offers both in its well-stocked freezer. Moriarty is the answer to many a carnivore cook’s ingredient quest. Moriarty sells lard, tallow, and duck fat, plus house-cured guanciale for the carbonara purists.
Plus fresh beef, lamb, and pork cut French style, where butchers disassemble animals piece by piece instead of running them through bandsaws. That’s why the Moriarty meat case usually offers more than a dozen cuts of beef, like culotte and picanha, rare or impossible to find elsewhere in Western New York.
More reading from Michael Chelus:
- You can now get the classic Japanese snacks, onigiri and taiyaki, at Konbini [Four Bites]
- Have some first looks at Mira [Buffalo Eats]
- Kevin wrote about what he describes as “Buffalo’s most thoughtful cafe” – Sevens Cafe + Bakery [Four Bites]
- Francesca told us about a local company that delivers Buffalo foods to expats in Florida – Straight Outta Buffalo [Buffalo News]
- Mazurek’s Bakery is back open with a location in Lackawanna [Buffalo News]
- Brett wrote about the Muffin Man of Buffalo [Step Out Buffalo]
- Brett also told us about a North Tonawanda spot mixing southern flavor with small-town charm – The IroNTon [Step Out Buffalo]
- Resurgence Brewing Company is expanding with a new Florida location [Buffalo Beer League]
- Brian’s Buffalo Beer Buzz told us about the return of the New York State Brewer’s Association’s 24 New York State Beers of Holiday Cheer, the lighting of the fireplace at Hamburg Brewing Company and more [Buffalo Beer League]
- Buffalo Mayor-Elect, Sean Ryan gave Buffalo Eats some of his favorite places like The Left Bank, Adolf’s Old First Ward Tavern and more [Buffalo Eats]
- The owners of Amabel Provisions are opening a new wine bar in the Elmwood Village – Concord [Buffalo News]
- There’s a new cocktail bar in Allentown – Equal Parts [Step Out Buffalo]
- Andrew also told us about the dishes he experienced during Friends & Family nights at the newly opened Mira [Four Bites]
- Newell also stopped by Mira [Buffalo Rising]
- Stop by Beer Kind Brewing before they close for the month of December [Buffalo Beer League]
- Brian also told us about Resurgence Brewing Company’s annual New Year’s Eve Bash [Buffalo Beer League]
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