The Heneseys do Buffalo

Ryan and I both grew up in Buffalo. We know it's in's and out's. We know to avoid the 90 near the big blue water tower at rush hour (and yes, it's "the" 90). We know Buffalo police will never stop you for speeding on the East side. We know every kind of doughnut Tim Hortons has on the menu. We know Duffs, not Anchor Bar, has the best wings in Buffalo. And for some reason, everyone here loves the Goo Goo dolls. But even though we've lived here the majority of our lives, there are some parts of Buffalo we haven't experienced. Enter Parissa.

Parissa is our very dear friend from grad school in Clemson. She is easily one of the smartest people we know. She came to visit us a couple weekends ago, and we decided to show her some of Buffalo's finest gems. Friday night we had some of the best sushi in Buffalo, Fuji Grill. Saturday began our tour de Buffalo. We started out at the Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin Martin House. This is a massive estate smack in the middle of the Parkside neighborhood. Neither of us have ever been there before, which is surprising because his architecture is so famous in Buffalo, as it is in Chicago, which is where Parissa is originally from.
Anyway, the Martin family was very wealthy, which is why they were able to hire Wright as an architect. But when the stock market crashed in 1939 the family lost all their money, and the house was vacant for many years. Part was actually demolished, and the main house was divided into apartments. The foundation has slowly been building up their funds to fully restore the house, so it isn't fully completed, but there have been extensive renovations done so far. I can't remember the exact figure, but it is somewhere around 20 million, and they still have a few more million to go.

Our tour guides were an old lady and her husband, and they were super cute. It was very informative (i.e. there is 8 miles of oak in the house). I'm not a big fan of the straight line, symmetrical architecture, but the house was very cool. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but here are a few from the outside.

We then headed over to a brewery tour at the only brewery in Buffalo, Flying Bison. It was a huge warehouse in Black Rock, and there were very few indications that it was a brewery. But the tour was free, and they gave out free samples. It was very informative; brewing beer is way more complicated than I thought, and it's lots of chemistry. Here we have Parissa and Ryan enjoying some rusty chain. 

Then we headed to Pano's for dinner. It's a Greek restaurant that serves all kinds of food. Since my undergraduate institution was so close, Ryan and I went to Pano's a great deal. They have good breakfast and dinner, and very good service. We also got baclava for dessert, which I had never had. This is mostly due to the fact that when I asked my mother what it was (the Geenie mentions baclava in Aladdin) she told me it had spinach and broccoli in it. Boy was she wrong. That, or she was trying to prevent me from developing a sweet tooth for Mediterranean desserts. It was very light and sweet and nutty. It looks very difficult to make as well. 

Sunday we started off going to the Botanical gardens. The building it absolutely beautiful, and at the time it was the largest indoor conservatory in America. We were about a week early for the Spring flower show, but we still saw some interesting plants, particularly cacti. 

 Ryan with a Panda Plant

 This lemon was the size of a grapefruit. Unreal!

 An orchid I haven't killed yet

 Selfie!

We then went to the history museum. I've never been there before, which is shocking not only because I'm from Buffalo, but also because I have not one but TWO degrees in history. I thought the museum had a couple cool exhibits, especially the made in Buffalo one, but there were a couple that needed some work. It seemed like some stuff wasn't displayed well, and too accessible for museum guests. Overall though I'm glad I went.

For dinner that night I made herbed chicken, but failed to photograph it. We watched Django Unchained that night as well, and it was slightly disturbing mainly due to all the blood and torture. Quinten's movies still don't appeal to me.

It was a wonderful weekend all around, not only because of the great things we did, but because we got to enjoy some quality time with our lovely friend. Next post, I promise I'll cover food!