Room Buffalo, dominating.

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You may say this is old news or I’m late in posting this (it’s a whopping three days late). My apologies – it’s been quite a busy month for me!

But regardless, I wanted to put this out there, and in case you missed it, let you know that it was a pretty amazing month for Room BuCelebrating-10-Years-room-buffalo-michael-p-design-buffalo-ny-hertel-avenueffalo.

In addition to celebrating ten years of great success, the high-end Hertel Avenue interior design shop, and specifically, Michael P. as designer, was featured on HGTV’s House Hunters Renovations.

You can read much more detail about it in Buffalo Rising’s article, here.

I just want to offer my public kudos to Michael P. and Room Buffalo for taking their creativity, style and expertise to the national stage and representing North Buffalo so well. Pretty damn cool if you ask me!

I also learned that August 9th was deemed Michael P. day in Buffalo. If I was mayor Brown, I would’ve done that too. Congrats again to them, keep up the good work! And for all of you, stop in and peek around – I’m sure your decor can use an upgrade!

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The Hertel Brand

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Maybe it’s a happy coincidence. Or maybe the folks at the Hertel Business Association were inspired by my two-part blog series posted a few months ago focusing on the area’s brand, or lack thereof, and how people refer to the Hertel neighborhood.

If you look at some of the points I tried to make, it came down to just two things. The first was that people call the Hertel area all sorts of things from the common “North Buffalo” and “HerteI” to the lesser knowns like “North Park” and “Northside”. And that point led into the second, that the core business district was lacking a true identity; a marketable name that can translate beyond the city limits and help spur additional traffic and economic activity.

So it looks like HBA, the group in the best position to take the lead on a branding effort, is now working to address that. Refer to their latest press release, which reveals an agreed upon name, a new logo, and also gives some detail on the background and thought process that went into the decisions.

Sure, maybe I would’ve liked to seen this come about in grander fashion with a big reveal and launch campaign, but that’s likely not realistic. (I’m used to the big budgets that come along with marketing for a bank.) And if I had more time, I would’ve volunteered to help lead the effort, but I’ll settle with thinking I was a part of it via this blog.

Hertel, I’m happy things are starting to happen.

Happy (716) Day at the Fest!

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Today begins the annual four-day celebration on Buffalo’s finest avenue of the Italian heritage and everything that comes along with it.

Coincidentally, it’s also the celebration of Buffalo Day: 7/16. So in the spirit of helping fest-goers while finding cool ways to use our area code, I’m going to give you my recommendation on what to buy at the Italian Festival if you had exactly $14 in your wallet.

$7 – Steak and Dandelions from Lombardo’s. Don’t be scared of the dandelions. They’re sauteed in butter and garlic and are glorious. The cuts of steak are well worth the price too.

$1 – Bottle of Water from Bing’s. The coldest, purest, wettest, purified spring mineral water around. OK maybe not, but a buck is definite the cheapest. Stay hydrated people, it’s hot out there.

$6 – Stuffed Pepper Roll from Molinaro’s. Sausage and stuffing with three cheeses, rolled in dough and deep fried. Healthy AND delicious!

An alternative could be to find one more dollar and blow it all on three slices of Campi’s Pizza. Just throwing that out there. Oh, and by the way, they have TWO Campi’s Pizza stands this year – one at Commonwealth and the other at Virgil. Mind blown.

So there are some options for you. Hopefully you have more than $14 because there are a lot of incredible eats to be enjoyed…and I didn’t even talk dessert! The usual bakery suspects are all there filling and serving their cannoli, feel free to reference the extensive research done in 2013 to help with the choosing.

Buon appetito! God Bless Buffalo. Go Bills.

716 Fest

Rock star musician meets rock star neighborhood

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Thursday: Mick Jagger asks for “the best Italian in the city”. Mick Jagger goes to Ristorante Lombardo.

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Friday:  Mick Jagger asks to go sightseeing. Mick Jagger goes to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House.

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Rock star musician eating rock star Italian, admiring a rock star architect while taking in a rock star neighborhood.

Rock on Hertel!

That’s a Big Ass Fan!

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I walked in to MAC’s on Hertel for the first time on Monday night with no intention of writing about it; mainly for fear that I’d be late to the party. While it’s only been open for a few short weeks, there’s been no shortage of reviews and updates over the interwebs. My friend “Tsuj” from the Buffalo News gave a good one after his first visit there and Buffalo Rising had it covered as well.

Then I saw this big ass fan…
 …and couldn’t resist writing some words about it and the place in general.

The picture does the fan zero justice, but trust me when you see it slowly spinning around the restaurant ceiling like a wind turbine your reaction will probably be the exact same. What’s even better is that I’m told that the fan is actually made by a company called Big Ass Fans. Priceless!

You’ll do a lot of “looking up” at MAC’s because, frankly, there’s a lot to take in. The fan hovers over the open space that is the 360 degree bar area. A billboard size mural of Buffalo from the Pan American Exposition adorns the back wall. TV’s line the dividing wall between the first and second floors.

Clearly, much thought and care was put into every detail and it doesn’t look as if expense was spared either. The MAC’s trolley which offers free rides for groups of 15 or more is evidence of that.

Trolley

I will say I drank more beer than I ate food on my first visit. But of the few appetizers we shared I will say they were glorious in that stick-to-your-ribs kind of way. I’m looking forward to trying out a number of things on the unique, old-time, Buffalo themed newspaper menu…hopefully from the new second floor balcony next time.

Now it goes without saying that I want all businesses to succeed and thrive on Hertel. But I think I want that even more for MAC’s. It’s just too big, too new, too awesome of a place in the heart of Hertel to not be a real destination. Good luck to them, and to each of you, enjoy!