What a great line! No, I am not declaring myself totally addicted to Buffalo (although this may indeed be true), it is Andrew Galarneau explaining his relationship to the Queen City and why.

In My Name is Andrew, and I'm a Buffaholic, Galarneau, who is The Buffalo News Food Editor, documents how "Having heard announcements of Signs That Things Have Changed for most of my adult life, I have developed a severe allergy to municipal cheerleading." I haven't run into Andrew in a while, but I suddenly realize how annoying I have probably been for him over the past decade.

But even curmudgeony Galarneau is finally becoming a believer. The Bills and the Sabres made him very wary, but Buffalo's remarkable food scene is winning him over. "I have seen glimmers of something remarkable happening in Buffalo restaurants, but I’ve kept it mostly to myself. A part of me wanted to shout my head off about it years ago. I did not. Why? Because I love my city, and I hate to see it let down. Monday morning at the office after a Bills loss is a black hole no tonnage of Timbits can lighten." 

"The restaurants of Buffalo are forcing me to confront my illness," he continues. "Plate by plate, meal by meal, they are feeding me the antidote, the medicine that’s helping me believe in my city again."

"I have no taste for cheerleading. But it’s my job to tell the truth as I see it. So here goes. Something remarkable is growing in Buffalo. An established roster of fine and casual restaurants has been joined by a plethora of places offering choices Buffalo never had. In the last five years, new restaurants have fed me some of the best meals of my life."

This is not idle praise or empty enthusiasm. Galarneau eats at every new restaurant and many of the old standbys. He knows food and he knows food service. He can tell when ingredients are substandard, when service is haphazard, when the menu lacks creativity or logic. His is a voice to be heeded.

After listing some of Buffalo's well known excellent restaurants like The Black Sheep, Seabar, Toutant, Craving, and Elm Street Bakery, as well as lesser known gems like Balkan Dining and the West Side Bazaar, he declares: "I have taken to calling such places New-School Buffalo. They could make only-in-Buffalo food worth visiting for. By showing that Lockport pork and Lewiston peaches are tastes to brag on just as much as Carolina shrimp or Vidalia onions; that indigenous Buffalo cuisine goes beyond chicken wings." 

The publication of Nickel City Chef: Buffalo's Finest Chef's and Ingredients, by Christa Glennie Seychew, is my small contribution to transforming Buffalo into a culinary tourism destination. Galarneau's recognition of "only-in-Buffalo food" as key to this process is just one of his many major contributions to this lofty goal.

"If we support these sons and daughters of Buffalo with our money, and our attention, we could win – national recognition, anyway. Respect. Meanwhile, our restaurants are helping make Buffalo a city our children choose to stay in, not flee. Ask any parent what that’s worth. My name is Andrew, and I may always be a Buffaholic. But I’m taking recovery one meal at a time."

Take a few minutes to read the full article. It's great! Thank you, Andrew.