The Mansion on Delaware

I've been the to Mansion on Delaware twice in the past month and have been impressed with its dinner, service and atmosphere both times! Built in 1869 on Delaware Avenue, this building has a lot of history and beautiful architecture from its high ceilings to its many unique rooms. My first visit to the Mansion was for a wedding and the second for my company's holiday dinner and neither time was I disappointed at any time during the night! The Mansion has a very classy way of arranging the night for their events. The evening begins with soft music, hors d'oeuvres and drinks in the lower level of the building. After the cocktail hour, the dinner bell is rung and everyone goes up one level to where the dinner tables are arranged. The Mansion holds 150 people at the most for an event so it is always a intimate event no matter what the occasion is. Dinner is at least 3 courses and the tables are set exquisitely with simple, elegant candlesticks. I had the chicken dish both times and it was cooked to perfection. After dinner, a dessert table it set up in the middle of the room with more desserts than I had ever seen at a wedding including chesse cake, sugar cookies, rich chocolate cake, keylime pie.....you get the hint! At the conclusion of dinner, everyone is ushered back downstairs where the DJ sits to hit up the dance floor until your feet can't dance any more! The Mansion also has hotel rooms where you can spend the night if you have a far drive or stay if you want to get away from reality for awhile and take in the history of the building and downtown Buffalo, New York. I would highly recommend this venue for any type of event!!! My favorites: the food, valet service, and the atmosphere.

Hope to see you at the Mansion!

Sweet Caroline

Giant Meatballs!

Are you an Italian Lover?!? Well if so, I have just the restaurant for you to try! It is called Mulberry and is located in Lackawanna.......unless you have it programed in your GPS, you might just drive right by it! I had the lobster ravioli with vodka sauce and it was absolutely delicious. I split the giant meatball appetizer which was the biggest meatball I have ever seen! My boyfriend was very excited when he found out that they still had lasagna (we had heard it usually sells out early) and it was amazingly layered with pulled pork, meatballs and sausage. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of lasagna but after trying his, I have changed my mind! If you order the large size lasagna, plan on it being enough for at least two meals!! The restaurant had a very nice atmosphere with a large bar and main seating area. They weren't taking reservations the night we went so I'd plan on arriving early, especially if you want to get that slice of lasagna!! ENJOY!!


- Sweet Caroline

Now this is what Buffalo is all about!

Check out this video.......it encompasses all Buffalo has to offer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT11IdWPvfc&feature=share

Ellicott Square Mishap?

To begin my tour of Buffalo, I decided to check out the Ellicott Square Building which is located between Main Street and Washington. I had heard that there were some cute shops inside and dragged my boyfriend along to check it out! Unfortunately upon arrival, we realized that all of the shops were closed on the weekends however we did catch a glimpse of the main lobby area where they were setting up for a Nurses Association dinner and the inside of the building looked gorgeous with an amazing staircase that would be perfect for a wedding picture. The architecture on the inside and the outside was amazing and I could not believe that I had lived in Buffalo for over five years and never been to this building before! Directly across from the Ellicott Square Building on Washington was the Washington Square Bar & Grill. My boyfriend being the beer conosur that he is decided this would be a good opportunity to sit down for a drink! I agreed and we walked over not knowing what we were about to experience. The restaurant was quite a bit larger inside than I had expected and there were only a few patrons at this time (not surprising at 3:00pm on a Saturday afternoon). We each ordered a beer and before we could pay we were notified by the bartender that another guy at the bar, (who we will call "Dave") was paying for our drinks. Not sure what to make of this we started talking to Dave and he quickly told us that he had just been let out of jail the day before and had won $120,000 on a lotto ticket that morning and was feeling generous. Eventually, we found out he had won on a scratchoff called "Casino Cashword" and was excited because he would no longer have any debt after he received his winnings. The bartender (whose name I'm not sure of) was very friendly and knew more history about Buffalo than anyone I'd talked to before. He recommended some other buildings for us to check out and also a DVD from the library about Frank Lloyd Wright and Darwin Martin. I'm going to have to check it out as their buildings are on my list. We paid our new friend Dave back by buying him a drink and said good-bye to the bartender. On the way home my boyfriend decided he should buy one of the new Casino Cashword lotto tickets that Dave had won $120,000 on maybe some of his luck would wear off on us. We went to Wegmans and bought one each.......we found it hilarious when we read the following words on the top of the ticket: "CASINO CASHWORD win up to $10,000." Until next time....

Sweet Caroline

Buffalonian Pride

I'm proud to be a Buffalonian! Lately there is so much negative press about Buffalo, New York regarding its economy, politics and the waterfront. Our sports teams are not helping with the Bills being 0-8 and the Sabres having one of their worst starts in years. Many young professionals come to Buffalo to go to school and then flee to other states where they believe there are more jobs, stability and excitement. I have lived in Western New York for the past 27 years and am proud to be here! I look around and see so much history, opportunity and potential. I choose to see the glass half-full. Buffalo is the second most populated city in New York State and we do have people moving back into the area all the time. I've decided to check out some of the hidden treasures in Buffalo and blog about my experiences. Hopefully I'll encourage others to visit these hidden treasures as well!

Signing off!
Sweet Caroline