The Griffin’s Favorite Duo takes on Taste of Buffalo

By: Hannah Wiley, Features Editor and Kaitlin O’Meara, Copy Editor

If you looked at your GriffConnect this week and thought, “Wait, I thought Taste of Buffalo was in July?,” so did Assistant Features Editor Kaitlyn Belile. I (Hannah) decided to go check it out, and again – for the sake of you meat-eaters – I brought my favorite carnivore with me, Kaitlin O’Meara. We would like to put a disclaimer that all the food sat for about 45 minutes before the event even started, so temperature levels were slightly off. 

Canisius’ very own Taste of Buffalo featured a variety of different foods from several local vendors. We tried almost everything that was offered, so we feel very qualified to tell you all about it. To further our credibility, the only place we skipped was Franco’s, because if there’s one thing Canisius students are familiar with in Buffalo, it’s Franco’s pizza and wings (you’ve probably eaten Franco’s at every gen bod you’ve been to these past couple weeks… and these past couple years).  

Dave’s Hot Chicken provided popcorn-ish chicken – between you and me it was more like a tender than a popcorn – which would’ve been better if it was warmer. I (Kaitlin) have become very particular about chicken, and it did not hit the mark I wanted it to. We also tried the fries that they had, and again they probably could’ve been warmer, but the secret sauce (we’re still unsure why it’s a secret – it’s like every other place’s “secret sauce”) was good. They also had pickles, and as pickle aficionados, this was our Dave’s highlight.

Before we talk about our wraps from Pita Gourmet, we’d like to first say our go-to dinner is a falafel wrap so you could say we are fala-fans… We both had a falafel wrap and it was really good! It had some pickled veggie (unidentified) that was a great addition to a tried-and-true classic. The – what may be – pickled onion was neon pink, but it tasted good despite its radioactive color. I (Kaitlin) also had a chicken caesar wrap from them, and it was delicious. 

 To wash it all down, they provided juices from Adriane’s Lunch Box. We tried the peach and mango juice, which was interesting, but really good. It also came in a fun pouch-like vessel, which Editor-in-Chief Mikayla Boyd spilled all over herself while trying to drink. We also had cupcakes from another Canisius favorite – Fat Lady Cakes – and they were as good as ever. Hannah had a red velvet and Kaitlin had a strawberry, and they were excellent.

Despite being seniors (scary), this was the first time we were able to go to Taste of Buffalo and eat, so we were happy! We highly recommend trying any of these places on your own time or going to the Taste of Buffalo (either version) to try some new and fun things.