Neighborhood revitalization experts say thriving businesses with ownership in the community are key to bringing blocks back. If you’d like to help aid long-term improvement of the economic conditions on Buffalo’s East Side and elsewhere, spending more money at Black-owned businesses there will help.
Black Restaurant Week, organized by Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals for Sunday through June 19, highlights more than 50 Black-owned eateries large and small, from @Eleven Wings and Cuisines to WRA Buffalo Wing Spot.
My list of favorites includes six of the restaurants on the official list and a few more. Here are some glimpses of my most recommended dishes at Black-owned Buffalo restaurants:
People are also reading…
Kalypso
12 Winspear Ave.; 716-834-3663; facebook.com/KalypsoRestaurant
Of the area’s Jamaican restaurants, Kalypso gets my vote for jerk chicken that leaves my lips humming, oxtails so tender that need no fork and curry goat that reminds me of my Trinidadian colleague’s best work. All dinners are served with rice, beans, fried plantains and zesty cabbage.
. . .
Margie’s Soul Food
999 Broadway; 716-322-1748; margiessoulfood.com
The Broadway Market’s longtime soul food outlet offers an extensive array of fried, stewed, smothered and barbecued meats, with stewed pork chops a personal favorite. Sides like black-eyed peas, collards and succotash round out a meal customers can choose by the scoop.
. . .
Freddy J’s BBQ
195 Grant St.; 716-424-2926; facebook.com/freddyjsongrant
Veteran soul food restaurateur Fred Grant keeps the customers coming back to his Fotomat-sized West Side restaurant. His fried jerk fish dinner and barbecue ribs are compelling dinner propositions. Plus, he’ll make fish and grits, red velvet waffles and chicken combination breakfasts all day long.
. . .
Je Ne Sais Quoi
1633 Hertel Ave.; 716-440-1065; facebook.com/jenesaisquoibuffalo
Table service, complimentary Kool-Aid for dine-in customers and the best fried catfish I’ve had in Buffalo make this a dinnertime destination. The quality sides, like mac and cheese and stewed green beans, make it difficult to be disciplined, but I’d save room for banana pudding.
. . .
PhatCatz
965 Kensington Ave.; 716-235-8549; facebook.com/phatcatzofwnyinc
This longtime neighborhood tavern was turned into a soul food restaurant and nightspot by Kim Collins-Jones. Since then, PhatCatz has been serving anyone who comes by – including the occasional Buffalo Bill – fried chicken, fish and haddock dinners with gusto.
. . .
Sunshine Vegan Eats
893 Jefferson Ave.; 716-455-2735; sunshineveganeats.com
A vegan fast-food outpost on Jefferson Avenue has been satisfying the animal-avoidant munchies of Buffalonians since 2020. Hit vegan cheesesteaks, fried not-shrimp, tofu scrambles and eggrolls filled with Impossible Burger, peppers and cabbage.
. . .
The Flaming Fish
535 Main St.; 716-322-5480; theflamingfish.com
After starting as a food truck in 2014, the fried seafood specialists expanded onto Main Street. Fried shrimp come in Bombay, Buffalo and honey Cajun, or a combination. Fried haddock hoagies, catfish po’boys and even a lobster BLT await.
. . .
Abyssinian Ethiopian Cuisine
Nile River
25 Grant St.; facebook.com/WestSideBazaar
Ethiopian immigrant Zelalem Gemmeda’s Abyssinian window in the West Side Bazaar remains the place to go for Ethiopian cuisine in Buffalo. Vegans thrill to the spectrum of legumes and vegetables in the vegetable combination, while carnivores enjoy assortments including stir-fried lamb tibs and long-simmered doro wat chicken stew with hardboiled egg. Both arrive arranged on injera, the flatbread-like sourdough pancake.
South Sudanese restaurateur Akec Aguer offers the most fulsome ful, or stewed fava beans, in town, topped with cheese, chopped tomato and hardboiled egg. His love of dill shines in kebabs, fried beef turnovers and sukuma wiki, collard green and beef stew.
. . .
Shy’s Original Steak House
690 Fillmore Ave.; 716-852-7497
This East Side munchies mecca has been turning out its chopped-and-seasoned steak hoagies for years. Its sweet-and-tangy sauce, cooked into the beef as it’s chopped, sizzling on the griddle, produces a juicy armload of satisfaction that’s worth the wait.
. . .
Yalley’s African Restaurant
290 Kenmore Ave.; 716-322-1012; facebook.com/Yalleys-African-Restaurant-104830462067078
A Ghananian fellow opened the place early this year. While I know little of African food, the peanut soup with chicken made me want to check out more. Fufu, doughlike stuff that serves a role akin to bread with stewy dishes, is interesting by itself, and jollof is an intense rice pilaf with huge character.
