In the heart of Buffalo’s theater district is a farm to table restaurant called Local Kitchen and Bar. As the name implies, they serve food from local farms and meat markets. In their own words, the serve Buffilocal food. Part gastro pub and part sports bar, this is the place to go for high quality pub food.

The produce come from Maplevale farms in nearby Falconer, NY while the proteins come from Camellia Meats. Camellia is a well known local butcher famous for high quality and has been selling their product for generations at Buffalo’s Broadway Market.

The owners take their locally sourced ethos quite seriously. Even the wood framing adorning the walls come from a local source. They bought a barn in nearby Clarence, NY and salvaged the wood from it. They also have dozens of local beers, all coming from within 30 miles.

Appetizers

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My companion and I decided to start the meal with appetizers. We went with two: the Iron Island Poutine and their Signature salad. Careful readers of this blog know that I am picky about my poutine, as few places outside of Canada get it right. This one was up to snuff. Consisting of crisp potato wedges and topped with cheese curds and a heaping amounts of short rib, it was fantastic. The Signature salad consisted of fresh romaine lettuce with blue cheese and mandarin oranges. The recommended dressing, a house made poppy seed, was a perfect complement to the cheese making for a very tasty salad. These two items alone would have made for a great meal.

Entrées

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But we did not stop there. For our entrée I ordered the Kelsey Mac Burger, while my companion had the Grilled Turkey and Candied Bacon sandwich. Both came with fries for a side. We both decided to upgrade to their Brussels Sprout slaw. I am not sure who or what the name of the burger is referring to. Possibly Food Network star Kelsey Nixon. She has a famous Mac and Cheese recipe. Like the burger, it features bacon. Regardless, the burger consisted of their famous “wing dip mac and cheese””, bacon, and a hefty beef burger. It was delicious. although, quite difficult to put into your mouth. My companion noted the the grilled turkey sandwich was delicious as well. She raved about the candied bacon, a key part of the dish. The Brussels Sprouts were fresh and crisp. In slaw form, they were a bit on the tart side. Enjoyable, but they contrasted with the burger a bit too much.

Dessert

After all that, we had little room for dessert. Fortunately, there was two of us. There was an item on the menu called the World’s Best Chocolate Cake. This was layers of dense chocolate cake filled and frosted with a rich ganache. It came out cold, so we had to wait a few minutes for it to warm up. Once we did that, it was quite delicious. But it was so rich, I really could have used some vanilla ice cream to cut the cake. Nevertheless, I do recommend the cake. But I must confess, we were unable to finish it.

Summary

For high quality food in a sport b par setting, Local Kitchen and Bar cannot be beat. The wood framing on the walls along with pictures of major Buffalo sites give the place a bit of a homely rustic feel, yet it still maintains the ambience of a contemporary bar. It can get crowded, so I do recommend getting reservations.