I am constantly astounded at the level of thought and creativity behind the concepts of the Bitters N' Twisted empire. While some are hits (The Victoria, Jekyll & Hyde) and others near misses (Bodega), the 'chain' excels in new and creative ideas. Their latest of these concepts, Buffalo & Rye, joins their winning roster with an inspired twist on dishes from the American South mixed with New York trends.
Buffalo and Rye occupies a small space next door to their sister restaurant, Bodega. In fact, in the event on a long wait, you can drop in to Bodega and order drinks at a discount. The space is relatively tiny, with covers for maybe a couple dozen guests. There are high seats for two, and longer communal tables in the middle for larger parties. The interior features a lot of warm reclaimed wood, from the floors to the bar and the pallets hanging from the ceiling. I like seeing all of the uses of wood in the restaurant without the need for the industrial metal that is seemingly all but a requirement for trendy restaurants these days.
Like most BNT venues, you'll find a focus on crafted cocktails and real/craft beers. They've imported a bunch of American beers for Buffalo & Rye's drink list. This includes a canned beer from Seattle's Hale's Ales, a regional brewery that has been around since the 1980's and isn't too well known outside of the Pacific Northwest. It's an impressive feat that BNT knew of the brewery, and were able to procure their beer for Buffalo and Rye. The cocktails menu features drinks inspired by US culture, such as the kool-aid cooler and mountain dew collins. Outside of cocktails, they have taken great care in cultivating a superb whiskey/bourbon menu, including some of my favourites like Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve, and Blanton's, all at surprisingly reasonable price points.
The food is a simple reflection of American inspired foods, hitting twenty-three items total. They include burgers, pit-smoked meats, salad bowls, hot dogs, brunch, and sides. There are about seven or so items that are suitable for vegetarians. For our first dining experience we dropped in at lunch time on a Saturday. At 12:30PM, the restaurant was fairly quiet and we had no issues finding a table. For drinks, I opted for the aforementioned beer, while Brittany A. tried one of their cocktails that she enjoyed immensely. We chose the 'Pimp Doggy' hot dog as our respective entrees, made vegetarian with a non-meat dog. It's served on a brioche hot dog bun, with sauerkraut, emmental cheese, and russian dressing as toppings. I was really looking forward to this since a hot dog joint back home makes a similar vegetarian hot dog that I could count on as one of my favourite lunch treats. The Pimp Doggy was light on the toppings, with the dressing barely covering one side of the bun, and the kraut a sad sprinkling underneath an oddly placed cheese slice. The brioche bun is so large that each bite you take is mostly bread. A smaller bun and more toppings would make this menu item a real winner, but for now I can't recommend it. The dog is an astounding £7.50, which does not include a side. Back home, a homemade dog like this with 2x the toppings would run $3 a pop. To rectify that, we ordered parmesan and truffle oil fries (£3), as well as a small serving of the mac n' cheese. The fries were sliced and cooked American style -- long, thin, crispy and some the best I've tasted in Birmingham. The mac n' cheese was the real standout here, with a complex smoked cheese sauce bringing forward the most flavour, accented by the toasted breadcrumbs and thyme. The small portion at £4 was enough for both of us to be satisfied.
Our total bill for one beer, one cocktail, two veggie dogs, fries, and mac n' cheese came out to £33.50. It's a bit much even for city centre considering what we ordered, but within the realm of reason given that the menu items are not the easiest to find around here. Had we only ordered the veggie dogs, I would be sitting between awarding 2-3 stars for the restaurant. The great drink selections and the sides elevated the experience for me however. A neighboring couple showed up shortly before us, and dined off the brunch menu. I can easily see myself coming back again to try the scrumptious looking American style pancakes. As with most BNT restaurants, the service was excellent throughout. Give Buffalo & Rye a try if you are searching for interesting American influenced dishes and drinks. read more