Famous Beef on Weck Near Buffalo
The scene: Buffalo, N.Y.'southward most famous local specialty is undoubtedly the hot wing, which spread from here to almost every corner of the earth. But locals take another heartfelt favorite that hasn't fabricated it as far, though information technology is certainly deserving of admiration: the "beef on weck" sandwich.
While no one eatery can claim to have created this specialty, and it appears on menus all over town, if you ask most locals, the undisputed spiritual abode of beef on weck in the Buffalo, N.Y., region is Charlie the Butcher'southward Kitchen, a meat-centric shop that specializes in the sandwich and other sliced meat concoctions. The eating place sits conveniently exterior the city'southward aerodrome, just a mile from the terminal and perfect for a kickoff or last meal when visiting Buffalo, N.Y.
Charlie's has been an institution hither since 1914, and now is in the hands of the third generation of owners, all named Charlie Roesch, with different middle names. The place is unproblematic — you look at overhead menu boards, order at the counter, which offers a close-up view of the process in the very open kitchen immediately backside it. The actual meat slicing is done by paw on cutting boards right in front end of you. You motility effectually the corner to pay at the single register, and so sit in Formica booths at simple tables topped with floral tablecloths, or alternatively at bar stool counter seating. It feels like a combination of a fast nutrient eatery and food market place, and there are one-half a dozen smaller Charlie's Express locations in the region, including 1 out where the metropolis's NFL squad, the Bills, play in suburban Orchard Park, N.Y. There is as well a seasonal stand dispensing just Beefiness on Weck sandwiches (the master flagship offers much more than) at Coca-Cola Field, home of the city's famously popular minor league baseball team, the Bisons.
Charlie's is not the only place you can try beef on weck, not past a long shot. Some other local favorite is Bar Bill, a neighborhood tavern in suburban of East Aurora, N.Y. (where toy company Fisher-Price, now owned by Mattel, has been based since its founding in 1930), which routinely wins diverse local newspaper and magazine Best of Buffalo awards for its wings. The tavern sits on East Aurora'southward quaint main street, is cash merely and typically crowded, and features heavy, worn forest tables and chairs with a pub feel.
While overlooked by well-nigh out of boondocks visitors, the specialty is also heavily featured on the sandwich menu at the earth-famous Anchor Bar, where the Buffalo fly was invented and a pilgrimage spot for route food fans. It'southward a longtime fixture at Schwabl's, a German eatery that has been here for more than a century and a half, and the sandwich'south roots in German cuisine fit the spot. It is on simply about every bar bill of fare around town, and iconic enough that there have been nouveau riffs on the classic: at The Ward, a large and very popular brewpub cum sports bar (consummate with outdoor seating and indoor live roller derby) right on the river, the dish is transformed into a signature hot dip appetizer. A visit to Buffalo is not complete until yous accept tried it.
Reason to visit: Beef on Weck sandwich
The food: Long a beer brewing boondocks, Buffalo had a practiced sized German language immigrant population, and the story goes that erstwhile around 1880, a pretzel vendor sought to expand his repertoire beyond just pretzels. He borrowed the archetype seasoning of pretzel salt from his master product, incorporated the caraway seeds used in some other culturally pop baked adept, rye breadstuff, and put both these strongly flavored ingredients on top of a Kaiser curl. This creation was known as a kimmelweck roll, and has since been shortened to just weck. The creator sliced it in half, filled information technology with sliced roast beef, added a dollop of spicy horseradish, and voila, the beef on weck was born. While some spots around town today serve the city'south most famous sandwich on other breads or plain rolls, this bun is indispensable to the traditional version.
A classic example of America's melting pot and inventive nature at piece of work, apparently the sandwich has no equivalent or roots in actual German cuisine, Charlie'due south electric current owner, Charlie W. Roesch, is the semi-official administrator of beefiness on weck and has washed demonstrations on Boob tube and at nutrient shows effectually the world, spreading the gospel of the city's 2d nearly famous dish. "I went to Dusseldorf and demonstrated information technology and the Germans looked at me like I was basics," he recalls.
At Charlie's, the whole roast beef is cooked slowly in the oven at 250°F until information technology reaches an internal temperature of 100°F, then the heat is lowered and it cooks even more slowly for another x-12 hours, because as Charlie says, "tenderization happens around 104 degrees." The unabridged process, which he calls "cook and hold," takes 18 hours and results in sliced meat that is extremely tender, amazingly so, only still quite rare and red, the colour of perfect deli roast beef, with a wonderful mouth feel. Here they piece the roll, hand cut the meat in front of you to order — the motto is "carving beefiness on weck" — and then dip the top half of the roll in au jus sauce and y'all add the horseradish yourself to taste, and "that's a beefiness on weck."
The salty gyre is a practiced contrast to the delicious but plain beefiness, and the horseradish adds noticeable kick, though it is non as hot as y'all might retrieve, more like the heat of spicy mustard, adding a dainty glow. Charlie's has sourced the rolls from a local bakery for many years. The common salt makes the breadstuff dry out chop-chop, so the rolls last simply a couple of hours requiring multiple batch deliveries throughout the day. It's a hearty sandwich, and you tin also become a "mini," not a slider but the aforementioned ringlet with slightly less meat, for a dollar less. The typical side hither is fries, which are a fiddling thicker than I like, but cooked fresh and nicely crisp, along with excellent pickles. Charlie's as well specializes in roast turkey sandwiches and grilled sausages of all sorts, including bratwurst, Italian, Polish and chorizo.
The acclaimed version at Bar Bill packs on fifty-fifty more sliced beef, it's really big and meaty, but the coil isn't equally pregnant or bready — at Charlie's, information technology is an integral part of the sandwich, here it is more like an accessory to the tasty beef.
The city's most interesting take is the beef on weck dip at The Ward, which chops up the roast beef and mixes it with horseradish, then adds cheddar, Monterey jack and cream cheese, and bakes it all until bubbling in a ceramic dish. Information technology is served with pretzel crostini for dipping, and information technology's a nifty bar food rendition, perfect for a place that brews its ain beer and needs something to go with that. Other modern takes on the sandwich around the city switch breads or add a cheese, not on the original, and one unique have uses horseradish cheddar to necktie into the sandwich's history.
While it is pop at bars and hence with beer — a good match — and Charlie's the Butcher serves local favorite Genesee ale, the archetype pairing is with Loganberry fruit drink, aka Issues Juice, some other distinctive regional specialty. A Kool Help-similar cross between blackberry and raspberry flavor, Loganberry was the favored libation at the now defunct Crystal Beach entertainment park on the shores of Lake Erie, and while the park is gone, the proper name lives on, as Crystal Beach is the most popular of several brands of Loganberry widely bachelor in the region.
Pilgrimage-worthy?: Yes, this is one of the most distinctive and enduring of America's regional sandwiches and enjoys a high level of quality throughout the Buffalo region.
Rating: Yum! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)
Cost: $ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)
Details: Charlie the Butcher's Kitchen, 1065 Wehrle Bulldoze, Buffalo, NY; 716-633-8330; charliethebutcher.com
Larry Olmsted has been writing well-nigh food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and in one case dined with Julia Kid. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there'southward a unique American eatery you think he should visit, transport him an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/greatamericanbites/2017/10/05/beef-weck-sandwich-buffalo-new-york/731420001/