Earl's Drive-In

I’d like to start by tipping my hat—the wide-brimmed variety, of course—to Earl’s Drive-in (Rtes. 16 & 39, Chaffee, 496-5125), “Home of the Original Fruit Jar Drinkers,” which closed its doors for good last week. The iconic diner that Earl (the restaurant’s namesake) and Marilyn Northrup originally opened as a hotdog stand, has served up home-style food that “sticks to your ribs” to locals and road-weary travelers alike for 52 years. In a word, Earl’s is idiosyncratic: the “legs” of the tables were jeans and cowboy boots; there’s a cinnamon roll on the menu that’s “as big as Earl’s hat”; a section of the restaurant that’s been converted to a country music hall of fame is packed with odd Nashville paraphernalia like Bashful Brother Oswald’s overalls and a letter from Patsy Cline written to Jimmy Dale, and the drinks are served in Ball wide-mouth jam jars. It’s the kind of place that people return to. Even as the rumbling traffic of freight trucks and road trippers abandoned the two-lane highways in favor of superhighways, Earl’s has remained a repeat destination for multiple generations. The glue of the whole operation, the heart and soul that’s held the quirky, imperfect enterprise together all these years has been the hard-working, big-smiling, one-of-a-kind, muttonchop-wearing, tell-it-like-it-is Earl. He was the restaurant. And Marilyn was his glue, and things just plain haven’t been the same since she died in 2002. And now, sadly, the locals will also lose a lifelong partner in Earl’s Drive-in. But there’s still a glimmer of hope for them; Earl says he may open a smaller operation, something similar to the original roadside stand. We’ll keep you updated on that.

One Sunset (1389 Delaware Ave.) will soon take the place of the former Lotis restaurant, north of Gates Circle. Owned by Leonard Stokes and run by veteran chef Bruce Bain, it promises to be more than another short-lived eatery. Stokes, best known for his prowess on a basketball court, graduated from Turner-Carroll High School in the late 1990s and went on to play college ball with the Cincinnati Bearcats before being drafted into the NBA. Now he’s thinking about life after the game, and part of his plan is to run a successful restaurant. He seems to have gotten himself off to the right start by recruiting Bain as head chef. Bain, who spent nine years at Rue Franklin in addition to stints at Buffalo Chophouse, Shanghai Red’s and Fox Valley Country Club, has multi-cultural, contemporary cuisine in mind. That includes a wide variety of foods, from classy pasta, seafood and beef dishes to more laidback foods like Caribbean-style fried chicken, rice and beans, plantains, barbeque back ribs, sweet potatoes and cornbread. Despite that, says Bain, “I’m not going to be shy on the presentation.” In other words, there’ll be all sorts of foods to satisfy every taste, but all of it will be prepared and presented with a somewhat upscale crowd in mind. The restaurant has been renovated since the Lotis days to create a more open, spacious floor plan. The upstairs will be a banquet and catering space. One Sunset is slated to open this Saturday (December 1), and will be open for dinners only initially. A grand opening is scheduled for the following weekend, after which lunches may be added.

BRIEFLY

Deconstruction group Buffalo ReUse (298 Northampton St., 885-4131) is having a free “flapjacks and fixins” breakfast this Saturday morning from 9am to noon. Held at their new warehouse, the idea is to introduce Buffalonians to the one-year-old community organization and its new neighborhood. Go there to meet the dedicated, hard-working folks who run the group, stay for the breakfast of lumberjacks. While you’re there be sure to check out ReUse’s growing cache of discount salvaged housing fixtures and recycled raw building materials.

You may have noticed that Ambrosia’s (467 Elmwood Ave., 881-2196) food is taking on a new flair under its new executive chef, Christopher Machols. In the local restaurant business for 11 years now, Chris trained under numerous good chefs (especially Chef Mark Camalleri, he says) at restaurants such as City Grill, the Left Bank and Embers Grill. Since he joined the team at Ambrosia in August, Machols has worked on creating a fine dining menu at reasonable prices, with foods like duck, lamb and various seafoods. “I’m trying to keep all of my specials under $17,” he says. Machols is also making sure everything’s made fresh—soups and sauces from scratch, and fresh fish every Friday.

Shea’s Performing Arts Center opened a new Intermission Lounge (658 Main Street, 829-1151) next door to its ticket office in time for the opening night of Camelot last month. As the name suggests, the bar and eatery serves patrons between acts, though it’s also opened for two hours before every show put on by both Shea’s and Shea’s Smith Theatre. The Intermission Lounge serves drinks and smaller, tapas-style foods. For added convenience, patrons may pre-order food and drinks to have them ready at the start of intermission.

Speaking of landmark restaurants that have closed, Billy Ogden’s (1834 Williams Street) shuttered its doors this summer after 18 years in Lovejoy. Its closing was no doubt in part due to the untimely death of its founder, the beloved Chef Andy DiVincenzo, in 2004. The restaurant, which Andy’s wife Ellie DiVincenzo continued after his death, was known for serving outstanding food in an unpretentious bar-and-grill atmosphere.

If you’d like us to pass along your food news, please call us at 881-6604, or email us at editorial@artvoice.com (with “chew on this” in the subject heading).