Lent is fish season in Buffalo, and the fish fry is our homegrown pride and joy. But if you look beyond the deep-fryer, there’s so many more delicious ways to enjoy aquaculture on our collective menu.
At the most creative restaurant in Buffalo, Black Rock’s Waxlight Bar a Vin, fish can mean wild striped bass (photo above), skin seared crispy, glazed in herbs fried in the fat, garnished with kumquats, white grapefruit, and a mostarda of green olives cooled in coffee, with vermouth and olive emulsion ($49).
In Lewiston, Bistro Avera offers buttery sablefish ($36) fisherman’s stew style, with shrimp and scallops and carrot salad over a polenta cake.
At DiTondo, downtown on Seneca Street, you can ask for the remarkably tender pesce spada alla griglia ($36), swordfish gently grilled and served with a rakish caper-parsley pesto.
In Fredonia, Western New York’s own legit Peruvian restaurant, Nana Peruvian Kitchen, offers fish ceviche ($24) worth the trip by itself, emboldened with an intoxicatingly delicious cocktail of lime juice, olive oil, cumin, and other spices.
In Allentown, Casa Azul offers black garlic brushed cod in a variety of moles, broths, or pozole rojo ($24).
In Black Rock, Dapper Goose’s sure-bets menu includes another Mexican-inspired preparation, mahi mahi with Veracruz sauce and fried olives ($35).
Lent or not, Hayes Seafood House in Clarence always offers broiled and blackened seafood dinners, drawing from its fresh fish counter.
REVIEW: You don’t have to serve dinner to be a first-class restaurant. Café Bar Moriarty is proof. The cafe offers gobsmackingly delicious European fare drawing on Moriarty Meats, the French-style butcher shop next door that turns locally raised animals into retail cuts, sausages, and cured meats. Chef Jennifer Boye offers pitch-perfect plates ranging from full bites to entree-sized, not to mention Buffalo’s best beef on weck. You have 19 hours a week to fit it into your schedule. (For patrons, later this week.)
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE 101
Come to downtown Buffalo March 5 to savor what Buffalo’s new Americans have to offer.
My International House 101 seminar includes classic Burmese, Ethiopian, Filipino and Mexican cuisine in the downtown food hall dedicated to Buffalo’s immigrant roots. Where it comes from, what’s in it, and how to make it yourself.
It’s 6 p.m. March 5, at International House, which also has a full bar, Buffalo’s only public ping pong tables, and free parking after 5, at 617 Main St. in the Theater District.
Good seats are still available, for $25.
Or $32, if you don’t have a copy of Where to Eat in Buffalo 2026 yet, cause I’ll throw one in for half price. I’ll even sign it for you, if you’re into that sort of thing. Buy tickets here: https://fourbites.net/product/international-house-tasting-event-march-5-6-pm/
Here’s the food details:
Pattaya Street Food: tea leaf salad, curry chicken puff, lotus flower cookie.
Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine: injera roll-up with chickpeas, spinach, lentils.
La Divina Tacos: choice of barbacoa, al pastor, or potato and poblano tacos.
Pinoy Boi: two lumpia fried pork rolls with sauce.
ASK THE CRITIC
Q: We’re trying to pick a place for a birthday dinner. Can you help? The problem is that some of the guests are vegan while the rest of us eat normal. Most of us are in Amherst and Tonawanda, but we don’t mind going into Buffalo.
– Katie B., Amherst, via email
A: These days, most restaurants have something for vegans on their menu, a definite improvement from a decade ago, when pasta primavera, french fries, and salad with Italian dressing were the default options.
Today, I’d suggest Falafel Bar, 3545 Sheridan Drive, Amherst. There carnivores can thrill to uber-crispy chicken schnitzel, lamb souvlaki, and the city’s best chicken shawarma. Plant-based lifeforms can enjoy scores of options from the Middle East, including falafel, babaganoush and other eggplant dishes, and an excellent grilled portobello mushroom “shawarma.”
More reading from Michael Chelus of Nittany Epicurean:
- Mr. Galarneau told us that the best fries, smashburgers, “duded-up dogs” and more can be found at Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs [Four Bites]
- Andrew also wrote about some places in WNY where a fish fry that goes beyond the ordinary like Yankee BBQ, The Shamus and more [Four Bites]
- Brian penned a guide for those in town for March Maddness and in search of great local beer [Buffalo Beer League]
- Chandler Street Breweries is now open [Buffalo Beer League]
- Andrew told us how hackers helped him meet his idol – Mark Bittman [Four Bites]
- Brian’s Buffalo Beer Buzz told us about Buffalo Beer League’s partnership with Big Ditch and The Ridge for some giveaways, a new line of hard teas from Ellicottville Brewing and more [Buffalo Beer League]
- Francesca told us how Third Space brings old-school café culture to downtown [Buffalo News]
- Chef Martin Danilowicz of Roost is taking over the space that formerly housed The Garage on Hertel [Buffalo Rising]
- The owners of Giancarlo’s Sicilian Steakhouse have opened a new, “fast elegant” concept in Williamsville – Ana Blu [Step Out Buffalo]
- Alycia suggested some restaurants to try in Clarence beyond Transit Road including Gertie’s, Murphy Browns Beer Empourium and more [Step Out Buffalo]
- Sarah wrote about the Khachapuri at Pennys’s Coffee Shop in Allentown [Step Out Buffalo]
- Jamie told us about three meals she made with proteins purchased from Strobel Farms [Open till Four]
- Francesca took us behind the scenes at Oliver’s [Buffalo News]
- Brett wrote about the Paris-inspired coffee twist you can find at The Sugar Palette on Hertel [Step Out Buffalo]
- Fitz Books started serving its Liege Waffles at its new location yesterday [Buffalo Rising]
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