Author Archives: Karen Fashana

Hip and Happening

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After a long winter, we all look forward to the month of May. May means warmer days are in store, flowers are in bloom and patio beers are in my not-so-distant future.  The fifth month of the year also symbolizes Buffalo’s kick off to the summer travel season.  In my line of work as the Marketing Manager at Visit Buffalo Niagara, that’s kinda a BIG deal.  Most destinations are at their finest when summer rolls around and Buffalo is no exception.

CoverTo mark this momentous annual occurrence, our Buffalo Niagara Touring Guide rolls off the presses and arrives on our company’s doorsteps every May. My role as Senior Editor on the project has me offering insight on content. We can’t include everything so what’s makes the cut? What’s new? What’s hip? What are Buffalonians talking proud about? What would make someone in New Haven, Connecticut get up out of their recliner and make the 437 mile trip to Western New York?  It’s not all Bills games and chicken wings (although it IS the 50th anniversary of our saucy staple).  This year on our Hip and Happening list is Hertel!

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A full page devoted solely to Hertel Avenue. We tell prospective visitors to look for the marquee lights of the newly-restored North Park Theatre, to channel their inner interior decorator at room and to follow their nose to Romeo & Juliet’s. A few more shout-out’s to Mes Que and Modern Nostalgia and that there is how you make your neighborhood famous.

Interested in getting your hands on your own FREE copy? We’ll mail it to you! Request one here.

This year’s guide is truly our best yet, I know I know I’m biased but trust me on this one.

Once it arrives, bring it to Mes Que, we’ll share a patio beer and cheers to Hertel.

 

 

School 81: A Diamond in the Rough?

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I gave birth to this kid four months ago.

SBR

Cute, right?

Well he wasn’t more than a day or two old, before Charlie and I started SERIOUSLY talking about where we would send him to school. Sure, we were getting a little ahead of ourselves given that he has to first master some basic life skills like eating and sleeping and cheering for the Bills before the bus pulls up and whisks him off to kindergarten. But still, now that we have a real-life tiny human in front of us, all of a sudden we feel like we have to start the conversation.

Many o’ times we’ve uttered the words “well there’s NO WAY we can send him to public schools, not in Buffalo”. The options were always Catholic schools, charter schools (whatever those are) or banking on the fact that we were raising the next Albert Einstein and we’d be enrolling him in the early achiever program at Harvard.

A pleasant Facebook conversation with a Hello Hertel reader I’ve never met now has me thinking otherwise.

This fellow North BuffaLOVER wrote me a quick note to say how much she enjoyed reading our blog. We exchanged a number of pleasantries and yada yada yada (thanks George Costanza for one of the greatest segues ever), turns out we have a mutual friend (classic Buffalo) AND turns out she’s a teacher at School 81 on Tacoma Ave.

I have driven by that school a million times and in the last four months have been wondering if that is one of the good ones you hear young parents living in the city talk about. According to her, it is. My eyes lit up.

She said the principal at 81 runs a “tight ship” and their students go on to Nichols and City Honors. She acknowledged that Buffalo Public Schools do have their challenges (putting it nicely) but said that walking into School 81 is unlike any other. Who is this Principal Tight Ship and what is he all about?

See this article from the Buffalo News on School 81’s Principal, Robert Clemens.

If you’re a young parent in North Buffalo, I truly hope you clicked that link. After reading that, I have a renewed sense of hope that a Buffalo public school, School 81 in our own backyard, could be a viable option for our child’s education someday.

A renewed sense of hope from a complete stranger, now Facebook friend, thanks to this very blog.

Now I just need Principal Clemens to stick around for another 13 years…ya know, in case that Harvard thing doesn’t work out.

Baby Clothes on the Cheap

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It’s pretty obvious why moms out there shouldn’t be spending top dollar on togs for their tots.

It shouldn’t cost your first born to clothe your first born.

Sure that adorable pint-size North Face jacket is irresistibly cute but dropping a hundred bucks on something they’re going to wear for a few months is just plain dumb.  Yep, I said it.  Besides how quickly our kiddies grow, there’s really three simple reasons to buy baby clothes on the cheap:

  1. Pee
  2. Poop
  3. Spit Up

LogoI have yet to meet a kid that hasn’t destroyed 68% of his/her wardrobe from one of the above offenders.  When you’re tossing away that onesie, it’s a bit easier knowing you didn’t pay full price. Far from it actually if you shop at Peek-A-Boo Baby Boutique on Hertel Avenue.

Baby consignment shops like Peek-A-Boo are pure genius.  Gently-used clothes for newborns to toddlers being sold at a fraction of their original price.  How’s it work?  Moms bring in bags of clothes their kids have outgrown (sans the stains) and Peek-A-Boo turns around and sells them to frugal moms like me. In fact, I stopped in to their 50% off sale earlier this month and walked away with 13 items for only $27 (3 of them even had their original tags on them!).

Baby3 (2)

Follow along on their Facebook page and Peek-A-Boo’s owner, Stacey, will regularly post grab-bag deals and snapshots of what she has in stock.  Oh and it’s not just clothes, you can find shoes, toys, bouncers and other previously-loved nursery accessories at a killer discount.

I realize that only 6 weeks of motherhood doesn’t necessarily give me “mom cred” just yet but whether it’s 6 weeks or 60 years, mom always knows best.

Baby5

Salumeria Belsito is now open

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Don’t be fooled by the bare façade over the door of the former Gino’s Bakery building. The lights are on, the staff is hired, and the wine is stocked.

Salumeria Belsito announced their soft opening the other day so we took a walk down to check it out.  Here’s a few snaps from our evening:

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Wine served in old-school juice glasses.  My Grandpa D’Agostino would be proud! And with $4 Happy Hour prices, he’d be giddy too.

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Meat, cheese, bread and wine are the foundation of a solid first course Italian meal.

Wine2We didn’t have time to stay for a panini but the bill came with a nice touch. Tax included. Who doesn’t love a nice rounded number?

According to the owners, the official grand opening will take place during the Hertel Holiday Walk – December 6th & 7th. I’d recommend you hold off on your visit until then to give the owners a chance to get the sign out front, artwork on the walls and put the rest of the finishing touches on the place. Or go there today if you just can’t wait.

Salute!

Dash’s makes a dash for Kenmore Ave.

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Say it isn’t so! Last week, Budwey’s Supermarkets announced their plans to sell their Kenmore Avenue grocery store to Dash’s Markets. With no need to operate two Dash’s stores in North Buffalo (Kenmore Ave. & Hertel Ave.), Dash’s will be closing their Hertel Avenue location. Say what?Store

“Budwey’s employees in North Buffalo have been told Dash’s plans to spend upward of $2.5 million to upgrade the store, while its nearby store on Hertel Avenue will be closed.” – Buffalo News article from October 16th

Sure, I don’t do my MAIN grocery shopping at Dash’s on Hertel but I’m pretty much stopping there every week to fill in the gaps. “Filling in the gaps” translates into “Things I forgot at Wegmans” and today was no exception. It’s hard to make a tuna casserole without the tuna.

It’s also nice to not have to deal with the chaos at Wegmans when you only need three or four things. In fact my sanity depends on it. Now what am I going to do? Let’s be honest, their move to Kenmore Avenue is only a 1.2 mile detour and the new location is technically still within the North Buffalo city limits but the thought of a vacant building on Hertel Avenue never sits well with me.

Enter Lexington Co-op?