Two Buffalo Favorites

After celebrating a year in Buffalo just a few days ago (the longest I've lived in one place in over 3 years), I decided to cross a couple more Buffalo food favorites off my bucket list. Lucky for me, two were located right across the street from each other.

Paula's Donuts:

located at: 2319 Sheridan Drive, Tonawanda, New York (New location!)

Being the crazy that I am, I thoroughly researched what to order from the beloved Paula's Donuts. The top items recommended on Yelp were the Cheese, Red Velvet and Peanut Cream. Sadly they were out of the Cheese Donut (Serious Eats seemed to really love it) but they happened to have a freshly baked batch of red velvet. My two friends and I each ordered a donut (Megan got a cinnamon one, Loren got a bavarian cream powdered donut and I got the red velvet) and we split them evenly three ways so we could each sample our picks. Each giant donut is $1.

Both the Bavarian Cream Powdered and Cinnamon yeast donuts were so fluffy and fresh and super tasty. The Red Velvet cake donut was still warm, moist and almost too sweet but still delicious. It's no wonder Buffalonians flock to this donut shop. It's just too delicious to pass up. 

Ted's Hot Dogs:

As if eating donuts wasn't enough at 1pm, I insisted we go across the street to have a Ted's Hot Dog since it is revered as one of the best hot dogs in Buffalo. I've had one Buffalo hot dog at a Minor League Baseball game a couple months ago and enjoyed it, but I wanted to make an official trip to try out a Buffalo favorite. 

As a Chicagoan, I asked myself:

"What makes a Buffalo hot dog so great?" 

For those of us who grew up in the Windy City, we are used to a plethora of toppings (most importantly celery salt, in my opinion) on top of a Vienna Beef dog. But in Buffalo, toppings aren't center stage on their dogs. The hot dog is supposed to shine on its own, it all its charcoal-grilled glory. 

Since the dog itself is so important, local manufacturers Sahlen and Wardynski perfected the recipe for their German-Style franks They are not sweet, a little peppery and definitely skinnier than the hot dogs I'm used to eating in Chicago. Sahlen's franks are used at Ted's.

I tried not to overtop the dog but still got ketchup, mustard, relish and Ted's hot sauce. It was a little too saucy in the end (I had to scrape some off) but it was tasty. I hope I'm not turning my back on Chicago when I say that I liked my Buffalo char-grilled dog. 

And I washed it down with a sugary concoction that Buffalonians love: a Loganberry drink. It was a super sweet, berry-flavored drink that wasn't life changing and a one time deal for me. 

So after two gluttonous treats, I can say that even though I wasn't miraculous stuffed, I was however a little queasy. Next time I'll avoid combining donuts and hot dogs in one meal (even if I starved myself all morning for that meal).