Grovers in Buffalo NY

Guten Tag all!! I’m so excited for today’s blog, definitely one to read, salivate and visit!  A little background on the restaurant we are about to review.  My food odyssey (obsession?) started with the explosive growth of the Food Network back in the late 1990s with “Bam!” and “gawlick” from Emeril and culminated with Guy Fieri and his travelling road show ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.’ If you have never seen Guy do his DDD (Triple D), you are missing out; he showcases food joints that do fantastic food in unique and unassuming atmospheres, usually away from the reservation type of restaurants.  Most of the food showcased on DDD look absolutely fantastic and have caused me numerous restless evenings trying to invent smell-o-vision.

Anyways, on a recent road trip to Buffalo NY to watch a football game (my Lions won by the way), I did some research on places to eat.  And I came across Guy’s review of Grover’s Bar and Grill in East Amherst NY, which was about 20 minutes from Buffalo or 5 minutes from our hotel.  The restaurant is housed in President Grover Cleveland’s hunting lodge, which is not very big.  As such, the wait-time for a table is usually in excess of 30 minutes, but my dear friends, it is absolutely worth it.  For the uninitiated, when you go to Grover’s, make your way to the blackboard near the bar and place your party name and number on there.  This is how free tables are assigned to the waiting guests and I’ve seen some unlucky tourists wait over an hour before they realize they need to sign up!  If you are travelling alone or in a hurry, grab a seat at the bar and you will be served much faster!

After what seemed like an eternity (45 minutes) of torture as burger after burger waltzed by our hungry faces, we were seated near the giant picture of Guy Fieri that was hung in the restaurant.  The service was definitely prompt as to help turn the tables over as quickly as possible.  The menu was straightforward, but we came here to sample the Grover’s classics that Guy had recommended on DDD.  Mrs Fressen and I, not wanting to miss out on Guy’s recommendation, set up a game plan in advance.  We decided to split the burger and an order of the wings.  We did not try the cheeseburger soup as we didn’t want to have leftovers since the hotel lacked a mini fridge.

The Mrs opted for the cheeseburger rather than the “bruiser” as she is not a big fan of blue cheese.  As per all burgers at Grover’s, they are 100% Certified Angus Beef of a 80/20 chuck mixture.  Each patty is about 12 ounces and cooked to a suggested doneness of medium.  Mrs. Fressen took the suggestion of medium and had the works placed on the burger with a side order of fries.  Well my friends, let me tell you, this is the 2nd best burger I or the Mrs have EVER eaten.  The combination of high quality meat with the nice sear of a flat top to seal in the juices, on a perfectly sized bun–just perfection.  The thought of the burger right now brings hallucinogenic memories back to me!  The taste of the beef, the flavour of the burger and toppings, all my taste buds were tantalized and screamed for more!  The fries were okay, nothing special, but the burger was out-of-this-world!

I opted for the Garlic Buffalo Wings, as being in Buffalo, I had to do.  The wings were huge, the largest I had ever eaten. I’m not sure what type of mutated chicken these wings came from, but they were huge!  Almost the size of turkey wings.  The combination of the parmesan cheese, garlic, butter and hot sauce was excellent, elevating normal Buffalo wing sauce to another level.  The crispiness of the wings was superb.  The wings, overall, were excellent.

In the end, the cheeseburger was the star of the show with the chicken wings a close second.  We did see many cheeseburger soups but were glad we saved room to finish our meal.  The kicker for our Grover’s experience was that we actually met Georgina and she let us know about her experience meeting and filming with Guy Fieri.  According to her, the crew closes the restaurant for one day and films all the dishes that are made in the restaurant and, surprisingly, Guy tries them all.  As much as Guy wants to eat everything, his crew only allows a few bites of each dish so he doesn’t become full.  On the second day of filming, the restaurant is open for business with real patrons.  Georgina stated that they take about 20 hours of film for a 12 minute segment.  Grover’s has seen a huge increase in patrons since it was featured on DDD and people from all over North America come for her burgers.  Georgina stated that it is not uncommon for a lineup to form at 10 in the morning when the restaurant opens.  Well Georgina, you must be doing something right as you made this lowly dentist and his wife very happy! Great Job!