Noise and Dining... and Two Questions...

My son and a bunch of friends once drove the 70 miles to Buffalo through a snow storm just to get some Anchor Bar wings (the sacred birthplace of Buffalo wings). By the time they got there the blizzard had closed the bar!

And yes, folks, the proper condiment is blue cheese dressing.

Speaking of wings, the tandoori wings at Shalimar are pretty darn good - though unpredictable... sometimes dry and almost crunchy, other times gooey. But always tasty.

Wait a minute... I'm supposed to be talking about noise.

DID YOU ALL HEAR ME?

SpyroGyra's Dave Samuels taught me how to make wings - although a Chicagoan by birth, SpyroGyra was a Buffalo based band and he had the Anchor Bar as a model and reference. Fry 'em crisp, coat 'em with a nice blend of butter, hot sauce and a little vinegar. Serve 'em with BLEU CHEESE DRESSING (no Ranch, thank you) and celery sticks.

Anyway, Dave's sticking point was not so much the dressing, but the fact that the wings had to be crisp!

Thanks to those who suggested L & N for our hard-of-hearing guest. When I called for the reservation, I was told our Friday night might be a busy one because of Valentine's Day. We took a chance and went anyway. We sat by the fire, the mood was great, and our friends were impressed with the food and wine. The loudest noise in the house was us. The only other times we had been there was during the week, so we expected a little hubbub, but nothing distracted us. Our waiter, by the way, was delightful - personable, helpful, informed.

On a side note, after dinner we went to Vernon Lanes just to show our friends that wonderfully odd place. We ended up bowling a game. Delightful. Then we ran to Old Towne and bought a bottle of one of the wines we had at L & N. Our friends from Rochester were very impressed: in backward New York, you can't buy a bottle of wine after 9 pm!