Binko, you *nailed* it! I broke my annual return from Montréal to KC for a stop at Charlie the Butcher's for a beef on weck. The beef was superb, and the weck was Platonically Ideal. That is one of the best sammiches on the planet. I make that journey twice a year, which means that now I'll get two BWs a year. Yesssss!

Geo

Glad you enjoyed it! I hope to be back in Buffalo later this year and check out Schwabl's beef-on-weck, which I've heard some locals claim to be better than Charlie's. I've also heard a lot of support for a place called Laughlin's, and another one called Eckl's. Must explore....

Do your research diligently, Binko! Then report back, so I can take advantage of it on my next trip through Buffalo!!
Geo

Binko wrote:Glad you enjoyed it! I hope to be back in Buffalo later this year and check out Schwabl's beef-on-weck, which I've heard some locals claim to be better than Charlie's. I've also heard a lot of support for a place called Laughlin's, and another one called Eckl's. Must explore....

my in-laws who live there (i guess that should be in quotes) think Eckl's is the best. i've attempted to go twice but their hours weren't compatible w/ mine. i still say bar bill is worth checking out too

...and don't forget to consume copious amounts of sponge candy from watson's and a chicken finger sub or two in addition to your wings and weck...

Binko wrote:Glad you enjoyed it! I hope to be back in Buffalo later this year and check out Schwabl's beef-on-weck, which I've heard some locals claim to be better than Charlie's. I've also heard a lot of support for a place called Laughlin's, and another one called Eckl's. Must explore....

Hopefully this is not too late to, uh, inform your decision. Tried Schwabl's a while back, a lunch on our way back to Pittsburgh - pics and food weren't great. I didn't quite think it was at the same level as Charlie's. It was a different style - more steamed and for me a bit mushy. Still it was beefy and succulent, but the mushiness, wateriness of the sandwich left me thinking I wasted an opportunity to visit Charlie's.
Still Schwabl's has an old time cool vide that's interesting.



Roast beef getting carved

notice the beef in the hot 'box' - it sits in a pool of the hot water

Roast Beef plate


Roast Beef on Weck






(Not certain now what this was called on the menu, perhaps it was) Roast Beef Sandwich with gravy

This actually tasted better than it looks - I tried a little. I liked the gravy and I think that it masked the softness of the beef.

The available horseradish at Schwabl's disappointed.

Schwabl's Restaurant
789 Center Rd
West Seneca, NY 14224-2240
(716) 674-9821
http://www.schwabls.com

It's been a while, but what about Ulrich's Tavern? Anyplace that's been there since 1868 (!) has gotta be doing somethin' right.

I recall a pretty damn good beef on weck there a while back. Okay, so it was a few years. Okay, okay. More than a few. But it was a damn fine sandwich. Binko, if you're in the vicinity...

Lunch- Monday-Friday 11:30-2:45 PM
Dinner- Thursday-Friday-Saturday 5-9:30 PM
Bar- Monday-Friday 10am-11pm (Later on Fridays)
Closed Saturdays July & August
Sundays closed
(716) 855-8409
674 Ellicott Street
Buffalo NY, 14203

Tnx for your report on Schwabl's Das, saved me from some disappointment next Dec. The beef in your pic looks more like pastrami than it does roast beef!

Geo

Don't hate on Schwabl's, Gents!

Although I can't speak to the quality of the beef the day sazerac visited, I found Schwabl's beef on weck to be the best of the beefs I sampled in Buffalo. The reason: Schwabl's was the only beef that had a beefy taste vs. a bland one. I did not find the texture mushy, though my beef was from the more thoroughly cooked portion of the beast on the carving board. IMHO Schwabl's also had the freshest and best-textured and seasoned of the kummel-weck rolls, horseradish, and potato salad.



Furthermore, where else can you still get a Shirley Temple to drink with your beef on weck, I ask you!

I say, "Gloves Off." LTH has had enough of pizza wars! Let the beef-on-weck wars commence!

[edited to add picture]

I drive to Cape Cod each summer and have seen this thread a few times vowing to visit Charlie the Butcher.

Binko, thank you for posting about this fantastic, not too far from I-90, sandwich place.

Loved the salty caraway roll, the rare roast beef, the horseradish sauce. A fantastic sandwich.

Viva Charlie the Butcher.

TC

Couple more data points from my last trip out there last week.



I try not to be parochial about my hot dogs. Chicago has wonderful all-beef franks, and I do miss them when I'm gone, but I'm not necessarily convinced that Chicago is the end-all be-all of the hot dog world. I mentioned in the Montreal thread that I was less-than-impressed by the "steamies" in Montreal, but I had a couple of good experiences in upstate New York, including Ted's in Buffalo and Heid's in Liverpool/Syracuse. I'm just going to go over Ted's in this post.

Ted's has multiple locations throughout the Buffalo area, and I visited two of them: one on Transit Road near the airport in Buffalo, and the other in Orchard Park, just south of Buffalo. I hit the one on Transit during the lunch rush, and it was doing a brisk business. Ted's offers a few different franks: a regular, an all-beef, a footlong, and a skinless one for the kids. I started with the regular. The cooking method caught me a bit off-guard. Ted's hot dogs are cooked on a grate directly over coal, maybe two inches from the tops of the coals. What's interesting is that as the franks are rotated on the grate with a pair of two-prong grill forks, they are also slashed into with the forks, so you end up with a hot dog that looks a bit like it's exploded rather than the intact tube of meat you'd expect. You'd also think that this would dry out the hot dog, but I found this not to be the case--at least not with the regular hot dog. The toppings choices are mustard, ketchup, homemade hot sauce, onions, relish, and pickle. I got one with all the dressings. At the Orchard Park location, I got the same thing, except an all-beef dog.

My verdict? I loved Ted's regular hot dog, would pass on the all-beef. The regular dog was delicately spiced and, despite the turn-and-slash cooking method, managed to retain moisture, had a nice charred edge amplified by the slashing of the grill forks, and had the expected natural casing bite to it. It reminded me somewhat of a grilled Bobak's pork frankfurter. If you go into Ted's expecting the flavor profile of a Vienna Beef, you will be disappointed. It's just not that kind of dog. But it is a solid hot dog through and through. The hot sauce wasn't particularly spicy, and reminded me a bit of Heinz chili sauce with some relish (or some similar sweet-sour flavor) mixed in.

The beef hot dog (which is pictured above) was more aggressively spiced, but I didn't like it enough to recommend it. Unlike the regular hot dog, it became a bit mealy in the cooking method and tasted somewhat dried out. It's possible that it was the fact that I had it at a different location, but I observed the cooking method and it looked the same to me. Also, it could be my parochialism coming through: I'm used to a certain kind of all-beef hot dog, and this dog doesn't compare (for me) to a properly prepared Vienna Beef dog with its bursting garlicky beef juices. That said, were I given the choice between a Ted's regular and a Gene and Jude's (my favorite local dog), I could go either way. It's a solid, solid hot dog.

I also dropped into Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora, being tipped of to them having one of the best beefs-on-weck and wings. I will say this: if you want to sample a solid representation of beef-on-weck and wings in a single stop in the Buffalo area, Bar Bill Tavern is a sure bet. Plus it's got beer, which is always a big plus to me. I'm still a bigger fan of Charlie the Butcher's as far as beef-on-weck goes.

Bar Bill's beef-on-weck was solid, don't get me wrong. Juicy, well-cooked, hand carved right in front of the bar. I just didn't particularly care for the weck roll. It was lightly toasted, which added to the flavor, but it didn't quite have as big crystalized bits of salt. It seemed undersalted to me. That said, the beef itself was juicy and well-cooked, although I would have preferred it slightly less done. The beef I've had at Charlie's has always been a bit rarer--which I prefer--but reading various reviews online, it seems I may have just always been lucky at CtB's.

Meanwhile, the wings themselves were top-notch. I ordered the extra spicy, which elicited the question "have you had our extra spicy before" from the woman working the bar. I said "don't worry, I"ll be okay." I was okay, but these wings actually were extra spicy, as opposed to the hottest wings at Duff's and the Anchor Bar, which are somewhat spicy, but not mouth-numbingly so. Put it this way, I felt the extra spicy wings at Bar Bill's Tavern were hotter than the habenero/Red Savina wings of Jake Melnick's here in Chicago. Bar Bill's wings, though, did not have any habenero or similar chile pepper in them. They did not seem to have any capsaicin extract in them that I could detect, either. The wings were large, crispy, cooked perfectly. However, I would NOT recommend ordering the extra spicy. Just stick with medium or medium hot. Get the extra hot on the side. I did not follow my own advice in this thread, and I was a bit disappointed at myself. The reason is this: while I do find their preparation of wings to be great, their extra spicy sauce tastes powdery spicy to me. It doesn't have that great balance of buttery/oily, vinegar, and spicy that a good Buffalo wing sauce has. It's just powdery chile heat without the balance of the other ingredients. It's like it you took a standard Buffalo wing sauce and dumped a load of the hottest powdered red chiles you could find into it. But if you want really hot wings, this is the hottest I've found so far in Buffalo.

Thing is, I still think Toon's has the best "Buffalo" wings I've tasted.

Bar Bill Tavern
185 W Main St
East Aurora, NY 14052

Binko, as a Buffalo native I have long enjoyed your reports on WNY food options. Ted's red hots are a favorite of mine. It's worth mentioning that the dogs come from a proud old local packing company called Sahlen's and are available at various Meijers in the Chicago area.

http://www.sahlen.com/

They got Sahlen dogs here in Chicago!?! Awesome! I was at the Meijer's off 355 in Bolingbrook last week, but I didn't notice them there. I wasn't specifically looking for them, but I was looking for natural casing dogs. I'll have to look more closely next time.

Holy cow. That website says there's three places within 3 miles of me that carry Sahlen's. I'm going to have to check it out today.

ETA: Well, I checked out two of the places listed: Joe and Frank's on Archer & Harlem as well as the Cermak Grocery on Pulaski. Unfortunately, neither actually had Sahlen's dogs. (They may have had other Sahlen's products, but it's the dogs I'm after.) Their Facebook page on non-Western NY distribution, unfortunately, seems last to have been updated in 2010 and doesn't include Illinois for their hot dogs. I will have to keep looking. Do you know specifically which Meijers have them?

Hmm - no. My information came from the the same list of Meijer locations you saw on the Sahlen website. To be continued....


EDIT: Bingo, Binko. I just spoke with the deli at Gene's Sausage in Lincoln Square. They regularly carry a few Sahlen's products but not hot dogs. However, based on the inquiry, they agreed to place an order for a case of dogs next week and expect to have them on Thursday, August 23. If you get there before me, there may be some left.

Gene's Sausage
4750 north lincoln ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-SAUSAGE
http://www.genessausageshop.com/

Whoa. That is awesome. I'm going to have to make a note on my calendar.

hotsauceandbluecheese wrote:I just spoke with the deli at Gene's Sausage in Lincoln Square. They regularly carry a few Sahlen's products but not hot dogs. However, based on the inquiry, they agreed to place an order for a case of dogs next week and expect to have them on Thursday, August 23. If you get there before me, there may be some left.

Excellent! This Buffalonian is excited at the prospect of some hometown dogs. Last Sahlen's red hot I had was at Franks for the Memories in Mundelein. Before that, a foot-long at Ted's.





Fire up your charcoal grill and grab a couple forks (for ripping and tearing).

At Franks For The Memories in Mundelein, they advertise using Sahlen's dogs. Very, very good Buffalo wings too. The Schultz family hails from Buffalo and uses the Anchor Bar recipe.

Franks For The Memories
645 East Hawley Street
Mundelein, IL 60060
(847) 949-9464
http://www.franksforthememories.com

hotsauceandbluecheese wrote:Hmm - no. My information came from the the same list of Meijer locations you saw on the Sahlen website. To be continued....


EDIT: Bingo, Binko. I just spoke with the deli at Gene's Sausage in Lincoln Square. They regularly carry a few Sahlen's products but not hot dogs. However, based on the inquiry, they agreed to place an order for a case of dogs next week and expect to have them on Thursday, August 23. If you get there before me, there may be some left.

Gene's Sausage
4750 north lincoln ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-SAUSAGE
http://www.genessausageshop.com/

Well, I did manage to pick up a 5-lb bag from the Ted's outpost in Phoenix, so I should at least be set for a couple of months. The curious thing is that the Smokehouse Sahlen's wieners they sold at the Phoenix Ted's were collagen casing dogs. I know Sahlen's has a natural casing product, but now I'm wondering whether Ted's dogs are natural or collagen casing. I could have sworn they were natural casing when I had them in Buffalo, but now I'm not 100% sure.

Spent all of a late evening in Buffalo before heading into Canada the next morning after making the drive from Chicago. This was my first visit to the Queen City, though it was less than 24 hours I liked what I saw and would stop over again if heading thru. There would be no "this or that's" as far as dinner goes. I was getting both wings and a beef on weck. Anchor Bar and Schwabl's might be the more well known places serving these Buffalo specialties but we stayed near the University and that ended up being just fine. Both Charlie the Butcher's main location and Duff's Original are nearby. These two spots seem to be the locals choice for both.


As I was saying about the locals loving it...in line at Charlie's

Small space where you place your order, pay for and pick up inside the dining room which it leads too. I knew I was getting not one but two beef on wecks but was very tempted by some other options on the menu. The smell of grilled meats was in the air as they have a charcoal grill and offer a 1/2 pound hand packed freshly butchered patty. At $5.95 they looked like a big time bargain and many locals were ordering them. They were also grilling up some fresh asparagus and Sahlen's brand hot dogs. I saw an Italian Beef (with cheese) on special.


Grill lady at work

With the carving station sitting right in front of you they sure know how to make your mouth water. The expert carver doesn't diminish the end product by going as fast as he can so it takes as little time which is well worth it. I ate a sub from D'Amato's the day before and had the roof of my mouth scratched pretty badly while eating it. Despite the pain from the salt on the excellent rolls touching the scratch, I thoroughly enjoyed the sandwich. Both the one there and the other I ate later. The precisely spiced horseradish, flawlessly cooked roast and perfectly placed Kummelweck roll had me singing ♫Charlie, how your Angels get down like that♫


Beef Slicer at Work

After a little rest we were off for dinner at Duff's which has been around since 1946. These days they have several locations including a few north of the border in Canada. This one in Amherst is the original. Buffalo Wings are what they do, if you're under 12 I suppose you're allowed to order them boneless.


The "Original" Duff's

They say that their medium is hot but it's not. So go higher if you like heat. There was a 20 minute wait but the tables move and the wings come out quick since they're constantly frying them up. Beer is available to sip on while you wait. My GF likes the drumettes and sometimes asks if it's possible to get more of those than the flats. Most places say no, they said sure and sent out a 20 piece of all drums. Nice gesture, great sauce and perfectly fried wings. I've never been to Anchor Bar which claims the creation of Buffalo Wings but these ones from Duffs lived up to the hype. We were mad we had to leave a few since they're no good reheated. Fun experience.


Buffalo Wings in Buffalo

Charlie the Butcher's Kitchen
1065 Wehrle Dr
Williamsville, NY 14221
(716) 633-8330

Duff's Wings
3651 Sheridan Dr
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 834-6234

Musta just missed you, Beef! My buddy Kevin and I broke our trip to Montréal yesterday and pulled off of I-90 to go to Charlie the Butcher's. [BTW, note that the Cleveland Ave exit is not paired with an on-ramp, so it's a pain to get back on I-90 after the sammie!] Got there at noon and a half, line out the door. But the line moved fast, and we got in and seated in a dozen minutes or so. It's exactly as described by you, so I won't say anything more.

Has to be the best roast beef sammie in N. America, fer shure. At first bite the salt on the weck seems as thought it would be too much. But by the third bite it tastes just right, and the crunch is an essential part of the show. Damn! what a fine production.

Does anyone know what cut of beef that is, and how they treat it? Marvelously tender and tasty.

Geo