On the road to 500

I get excited each time I get closer to a milestone Triple D visit.  Just a few more and I would be at 500.  I decided to take a trip to see my niece in Syracuse and use that trip to get to my 500th.  My plan was to fly into Syracuse and before going to visit Rebekah, drive to Buffalo and visit a few places prior to making my 500th visit with Rebekah in Syracuse.  I left Dulles on a rainy afternoon for the hour flight to Syracuse.  Prior to my trip I had been contacted by two newspapers in Syracuse about my travels, The Syracuse Post Standard, a daily paper, and the Syracuse New Times, which is a weekly paper.  After landing I saw a few stands of the New Times in the terminal with the edition that featured my story so I picked up a few copies, the reporter, Margaret McCormick wrote a very nice and complimentary article!  I got my car and headed out for the 2 and a half hour drive to Buffalo.

After the long but fast drive I arrived in the Buffalo area and my first stop.  "Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub" is in South Buffalo in a small older neighborhood.  You enter into the bar area and then the dining area is up a set of stairs.  It sort of reminded me of being in someone's home.  I took a seat at a high top table in the bar area and was warmly greeted by the bar tender.  The walls are adorned with Irish decorations. 

Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub in South Buffalo

I had looked at their website and checked out the menu before I made the trip and knew exactly what I wanted, the Triple D Platter.  Thus consisted of all the items that they made during Guy's visit in 2009.  The platter had a Beef on Weck slider, a cup of Beer Cheese Potato Soup, a Crab Cake and two Broccoli Cheese Fried Nuggets.  This was  the perfect meal for my visit.  All of the items were delicious.  Beef on Weck is a Buffalo must have sandwich, something that is unique to the Buffalo area.  It's a roast beef sandwich on a Kummleweck Roll.  The roll has a baked topping of salt and Kummleweck seeds and is delicious.  The one item I was very weary of was the Crab Cake.  I remember on the show that they called it a Baltimore style cake.  I was skeptical because the filler was not like any I had ever had in Baltimore, but I was pleasantly stunned as this was a really good Crab Cake with a lot of crab meat.

Blackthorn's Triple D Platter

Beer Cheese Soup

Loaded with Potato chunks

Buffalo's Iconic Beef on Weck slider

Blackthorn's Crab Cake

Loaded with Crabby goodness!

It was a wonderful start to the trip.  The bar tender took my book back to the kitchen and had the chef sign it.  I headed out to the next stop just a few miles away in the town of Lackawanna to meet my friends Jim and Lisa along with their daughter, boyfriend and Lisa's dad.  "Mulberry Italian Ristorante" is at the end of what seems like an older quiet neighborhood, this is the home of the softball sized meatballs!.  I arrived early and just as I was getting out of the car Jim and Lisa arrived.  We went in and because we were so early out table was not ready so we sat at the bar. 

Mulberry Italian Ristorante in Lackawanna, NY

Jim and I outside the restaurant

We told the hostess about my travels and that I would like to get my book signed before we left.  She told us that the owner and chef was in and that he was going to be leaving soon so if she could get the book and take it back and have him sign it.  She came back with it and said he wanted to come out and meet us and sign it then which was perfect!  Joe came out signed the book and spent about 10 minuted talking with us about the restaurant, the food and the show, he is a great guy.  As we waited Joe decided to send out some appetizers on him!  They brought us about 4 different items; 3 or 4 of their famous meatballs, Cheese stuffed prosciutto, Fried Mozzarella, and Pork and Ricotta meat balls.  They were all awesome and so generous of Joe to let us try them!

Joe, Mulberry's Chef and owner signing my book

Mulberry's famous softball sized Meatball

Cheese filled Prosciutto appetizer

Fried Mozzarella

Pork and Ricotta Meatballs

After all that, none of us were sure we'd have room for dinner!  We were seated at a large table in the back dining room area and had a wonderful time!  I ordered the house made ravioli and it was great.  Jim ordered the Lasagna, which is the signature dish, the only reason I didn't try that was because I remembered on their episode the portion was huge!  It looked awesome and the reviews of all of at the table could only be described as rave!

Mulberry' specialty the Lasagna!

It was a great night of food and friends and that's what this journey is all about!  Seeing old friends and making new ones! 

Our table at Mulberry!  Great friends and wonderful food!

We said our good byes and I headed to my hotel for the night.

The next morning my plan was to go to a few more places in the Buffalo area before heading back to Syracuse to get to my 500th Triple D place!  My first stop was a small but very friendly place on the eastern side of the city.  "Sophia's Restaurant" looks like a house built in an industrial area of the city.  Surrounded by garages and small businesses it looks a bit out of place. 

Sophia's Restaurant in Buffalo

I entered and was warmly greeted by several members of the staff and told to find any seat I wanted.  I chose a table near the door and adjacent to the colorful specials board.  I looked over the menu and decided to try a short stack of Banana Walnut Cinnamon Pancakes.  As I waited I told my server about my journeys and asked to get someone to sign my book and she went and got Sophia, the namesake of the restaurant! 

Sophia's Specials Board

Sophia came by and recalled to me Guy's visit to her restaurant.  She ran the place in the past but has since made her son the owner of the restaurant so when Guy came to film back in 2009 she was not aware of it and sort of ran into Guy by accident.  She really had a lot of nice tings to say about Guy and hopes that he will one day return to the restaurant.   My meal came and the short stack didn't seem to short!  The pancakes were delicious, even though there was a bottle of syrup on the table they didn't need any syrup at all, now that's the sign of a good pancake! 

Inside Sophia's

My Banana Walnut Cinnamon Short? Stack

Sophia was surprised when I asked her to sign the book so we decided that anyone on the staff that wanted to sign would and about 10 members of the staff did, it was great!  This was a wonderful visit and Sophia's has a real family feel, not only with the staff but with the patrons!  Sophia's is a must for breakfast if you are in the Buffalo area.

I headed out to my next stop on the east side of the city.  This place is named after the winter phenomenon that has made Buffalo so famous.  "Lake Effect Diner" is a classic silver style diner and has a lot of cool neon. 

Lake Effect Diner in East Buffalo, NY

Very True!

I took a seat at the counter and decided to try the Potato Pancakes.  As I waited I saw and admired all the stainless steel throughout the restaurant.  The "Guy Ate Here" painting was painting behind the counter on the stainless wall. 

Lake Effect's "Guy Ate Here" painting behind the counter on the stainless wall

The pancakes came out and they were the most unusual potato pancake I had ever had.  I could really taste the bold flavors of the onions and spices but what was so unusual was the shredding of the potatoes, they were shredded thin almost like a julienne cut.  The cakes were not as heavy as most potato cakes are.  Sour Cream and Apple Sauce accompanied the meal.

Lake Effect Diner's Potato Pancakes

y server who was featured in their Triple D episode signed my book before I left.  I had just one more Buffalo place to try before heading back to Syracuse.

My last stop was the old hunting lodge of President Grover Cleveland, in the town of East Amherst, NY.  "Grover's Bar and Grill" is a very cool log building with a lot of eclectic wall decorations.  I arrived shortly after they opened and I knew exactly what I wanted.

Grover's Bar and Grill in East Amherst, NY

Grover's bar area

On the show Guy had Grover's house made Cheeseburger Soup and he raved about it, I knew this is what I wanted to try.  The cup of soup is a thick cheese based soup with chunks of ground beef and tomatoes, basically this is liquid cheeseburger!  I met the owner and she signed the book and really made me feel at home. 

I headed out for the two and a half hour drive back to Syracuse.  I had gotten to all of the places I had wanted to try and happy that my Triple D count was now at 499, just one more to the milestone 500!