Talking to The Walls

When you think of interesting getaways I am guessing the first city that comes to mind is not Buffalo, NY. I am guessing the images that come to mind are cold dreary winters, chicken wings and another season ending in disappointment for the beloved Bills. These are all very much part of the identity of Buffalo but what you probably havn’t seen yet are Buffalo’s many hidden gems. Being a huge basketball fan and learning that Buffalo would be hosting the opening rounds of March Madness I booked my tickets a few months back and began planning my trip. Since I would only be spending 24 hours I wanted to pack as much in as possible to try and uncover Buffalo’s hidden gems. I awoke at 6:30am in Midland, Ontario, Canada and began my drive to Buffalo. No trip to Buffalo is complete without an order of Chicken Wings and my first stop was to Bar Bill in the north part of the city. With an opening time of 11:30am I was feeling apprehensive about being the first person in the bar so I thought I would let some time pass and entered the bar at 11:45am. To my surprise there were no empty seats at the bar and I was lucky to find a small table in the bar area as the bar was already buzzing for the opening games of March Madness. I placed my order for Medium Hot Wings and was pleasantly surprised they carried one of my favourite beers on draft, Fiddlehead, which is brewed in Vermont. I must say these were the best chicken wings I have ever had and served with a side of Blue Cheese of course – Highly recommended.

Next stop was to Key Bank Centre to check out the first slate of games. The afternoon session included 2 games the first of which was South Florida vs Louisville. For my first March Madness game in person it definitely lived up to the hype as Louisville barely held off a comeback from South Florida while catching some of the action of the other games going on around the country on the arena JumboTron. The second game featured Michigan St vs North Dakota. This game was a little bit more lopsided so I had left just after the half to continue my journey in finding Buffalo’s best chicken wings. Enter Doc Sullivan’s – An Irish Bar in the South Side of the city. Here I settled in as was very welcoming and energized with the games being shown on multiple TV’s. I decided on the Garlic Parmesan wings and a Beef on Weck. Beef on Weck is another local staple which consists of a Roast Beef sandwich on a Kimmelweck roll with horseradish. I was happy in my decision as the game was a bit of a blowout and I relished the chance to try another of Buffalo’s highly ranked chicken wings. These wings were very good but a close 2nd to the gold standard set my bar bill. I must return to try the Beef on Weck wings however.

Now it was back to the March Madness evening session featuring Michigan vs underdog Baylor who barely squeaked into the tournament. This was a very entertaining game with Baylor keeping it close in the first half and then Michigan showing their strength with their NBA read talent in the 2nd half. The second game featured St. Louis vs Georgia. St. Louis with their creative offence was very entertaining to watch as they ran away with the game. As it was getting late and game looking like it was in hand I decided to retreat to my Air BnB which was one of the most unique places I have ever stayed. An old synagogue featuring converted lofts with spiral staircases and a kitchen featuring a curtain that looks out on the balcony of the synagogue towards the pews. This was very unique and recommend checking them out on AirBnB listed as Castle in Buffalo on Richmond Ave.

The last stop of my journey before heading back to Canada was Albright Knox Gallery as I had the chance to check out the One With Eternity – Yayoi Kusama exhibit. I had heard many positive reviews of this exhibit of people impressed by the infinity rooms and it did not disappoint. A very cool experience and highly recommend it.

The museum also had some pretty cool displays such as Andy Warhol’s famous “100 Cans” which having seen this image many times was impressive to see original painting in person.

All in all it was a great experience and I will be back to explore some more of Buffalo’s hidden gems.