On his Travel Channel show, No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain usually features food and establishments which, saving a monstrous inheritance from a likely non-existent rich relative, I'll likely never find my way to: rooftop BBQs in Colombia replete with a live chicken imbibing grain alcohol before being shuffled to the cooking pot, desert dinners of slow cooked camel in Saudi Arabia, the myriad wonders of Singaporean street food, on and on until I am green with envy and desolate with disappointment. I'll never get there from here.
So it was with a great deal of interest that we watched his show touring through the areas hit hardest by the recent economic downturn: Baltimore, Detroit and BUFFALO, NY! Buffalo, NY as in the Buffalo we drive through on our way to see relatives in Hamilton, Ontario. Buffalo as in an hour's drive from Hamilton. Buffalo as in, we CAN get there from here without planes, trains or connecting camel rides.
Per Mr. Bourdain's recommendation, our first stop on Le Tour de Buffalo was Schwabl's for the old Western New York standard, roast beef on weck: thin sliced beef on Kummelweck, a heavily salted and caraway seeded roll.
The sandwich alone was worth the drive with the salty, heavily seasoned roll perfectly complementing and flavoring the beef. Be sure to slather a healthy amount of the fresh horseradish onto the meat before diving in, it adds a great, sharp, crisp note to the sandwich.
One note, you're likely best served having the roast beef cooked well done. Blasphemy I know, but my medium rare proved a bit tough and caused the familiar, terrible "Meat Pulled out from Bread Syndrome." Meanwhile, Agnes' well done sandwich was juicy, just as flavorful and cured the MPoB issue.
As a man devoted science and numbers, I look forward to future visits to Schwabl's and testing my well done vs. medium rare hypothesis. No doubt we will need several trial before attaining publishable results that will stand up to the scrutiny of peer review.
Thanks to Anthony Bourdain for bringing the show closer to home and giving us an opportunity to eat something new and visit a place we've never been.
The Schwabl's Scorecard
Steve recommends:
1. Beef on weck. Order two, eat one and take home the other for dinner. Your call on the well done vs. medium rare hypothesis.
2. The side dishes. In the name of tradition God said, "Abstaineth thee from the french fries and cole slaw (although Agnes gave both a thumbs up) and get the hot German potato salad and pickled beets."
3. The birch beer. A time machine in a glass, when sodas were mildly sweetened with strong flavor. I had three. Piggy.
Steve does not necessarily recommend:
The service. Curt, gruff and slightly indifferent, in a word absolutely Germanic. I say this with love and props to my roots. My guess, if you're not an out of town interloper who watched that damned TV show, the results might be different. Maybe not.
Steve wishes:
1. Our visit did not fall between "punch seasons." We were too late for the Ebenezer Punch (Memorial Day through Labor Day) and too early for the Tom and Jerry (Thanksgiving Eve through St. Patrick's Day.) Dammit!
2. He would have tried a cocktail from the bar. No fake drink powders/mixers, no BS, all fresh ingredients. Huzzah! Next time!