Lagniappes: A Little Something Extra
The Silverstein cousin duo at Lagniappes (pronounced: lān-yāps) has brought a new noshing concept to Buffalo-- upscale take away. At Lagniappes, guests will find delicious high-quality food served in take-out containers. Co-owner Chris Silverstein explains, “I want the food to look as good in the box as it does on the plate.” Everything is made “to go”, but folks are welcome to stay. And in a couple more weeks the high-end, environmentally friendly, microwave safe take-out containers should be in. Chris has worked in many fine dining Buffalo restaurants over the years but his dream was always to go to New Orleans and submerge himself in her rich cuisine. To make it happen he gave up his apartment and moved home for a year to save. He finally got to Louisiana, where he spent 5 wonderful and absurdly hot years training in The Big Easy.
Although this is Chris and Don’s first restaurant owning venture, you’ve tasted their food before. They worked at The Rendezvous and Ya-Ya Bayou Brewhouse. And most of the Creole/Cajun/New Orleans-style food you enjoy at various Buffalo restaurants can be credited to Chris who has trained many local chefs in New Orleans cuisine.
What exactly is New Orleans cuisine? It’s not strictly Creole or Cajun. It melds Spanish, French, Italian, Creole, Cajun, and African cuisines and techniques; which results in FUN! “New Orleans' food is so much fun,” Chris told me, “fresh ingredients, the textures, the colors- it is so much fun.”
On top of all that, it's delectable. My companion and I shared a few dishes. Naturally we started off with Chris’s award winning sausage and chicken gumbo (2002 Taste of Buffalo). Chock full of sausage, vegetables, and huge chunks of chicken it could be a meal in itself. As you would expect, it’s spicy. Those of you less inclined toward spicy heat would be better off ordering the traditional jambalaya, a tasty concoction of crawfish, andouille, chicken, vegetables and rice in a red Creole Cajun sauce.
And, if you’re like me and can’t stand any heat, you should order the creole meatloaf. It’s flavorful and moist and served with mashed bourbon sweet potatoes--and when I say bourbon, I mean bourbon! The musky flavor of the bourbon complements the meatloaf well.
The most popular menu item is by far the chicken and sausage gumbo, but my companion and I disagree. Our favorite was the superb crab cake. Loaded with crab and perfectly crispy it was served with a tasty Creole dipping sauce.
With late hours Lagniappes is the ideal stop on your way home after a fun night out, they're open until 2am Tuesday through Saturday. Also, keep an eye out for late-night delivery in the next couple weeks as well (until 1am). Only having been open for a month, check back with Lagniappes as they tweak the menu and expand their hours.
Lagniappes
244 Allen St, 14201
716. 883.3663, call for hours
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AuburnAve
883-FOOD .... Niiiice.....
Can't wait. I miss Yaya
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aMUSINGs
Good food! We had po boys...remoulade was particularly tasty! Glad to see them move into the neighborhood!
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kelly
I was so sad when Rendezvous closed... but this may be even better. It's pratically in my backyard!
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AuburnAve
See.. i couldnt wait very long. My gf called me and asked me to pick up take-out from here last night. AMAZING!! Just exactly what I wanted. I went in - 3 tables in all and bellied up to the kitchen counter where the chefs were working diligently. I was offered a takeout menu with immedtate mention of what was sold out (great service and a great thing to see in a new restaurant). Lots of good traditionals. Many po'boys. Even veg options (fried eggplant po'boy). We ordered the meatloaf (as recommended above) and crab cake entree. Both awesome, crab cake did NOT come with a remoulade which I believe it should have. Jambolaya was lacking in shrimp (none) and the sausage was a bit dry, but still very good. Crab cake itself was spicy and moist. Sides of collards were just like I make them, red beans perfect. My biggest disappointment was the mac and cheese. Over spiced and not a good cheese base - like a processed cheese sauce.
Please all - don't let this place fail!!!
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kelly
Just went for lunch. Amazing!
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emilie
A few days ago my boyfriend and I were trying to figure out a good place to get take-out and we were having a hard time. This seems to be another one to add to the list, especially since we both love New Orleans style cooking! Hey Christia, you should do a round-up of great take out joints in the city!
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foodpatron
Lagniappes – good food, bad customer service
I went to Lagniappes about six months ago and the food was terrific. Today 3/17/08, I decided to call in my order so by the time I got there it would be less of a wait. I got on the bus in Kenmore and called in right away from my cell phone. The girl picked up the phone and told me “hold on a second.” Okay, that is fine. I know places get busy, I worked in food service before, I know how crazy it gets. So I waited. I’m on the bus; I don’t really have much else to do. Well, she left the phone off the hook and pretty much forgot about me. I heard her ask someone for a lighter, listened to her discuss her feelings about someone who played a stripper in some movie called “I Know who Killed Me Last Summer” and basically goof off with her friends. It was pretty ridiculous. I got into the restaurant, cell phone still to my ear and walked in the door. I told her that she left the phone off the hook and it was me and she laughed. Apparently keeping a customer waiting is funny. I showed her the time counter on my phone and told her she had me on hold for 26 minutes and 33 second. She laughed again she said, “Well, it was busy.” No apology, just, “it was busy.” The phone was right next to her, how hard is it to pick it up and at least tell me she was busy in between goofing off with her friends? And the owner who was behind her in the kitchen either didn’t know what she was doing or just didn’t care. The kicker was she didn’t seem to care that she forgot about me asked me if, “I knew what I wanted” and “if I was ready to order.” I knew what I wanted 26 minutes and 33 seconds ago, but did I really want to patronize a place like this? I may like the food, but I would rather spend my money at a place that actually cares about their customers.
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driz716
foodpatron you are not alone!
My boyfriend has had equally distrubing experiences at Lagniappes recently.
Without going into the exhausting details, lets just say they have ruined a several dinners for us now.
I have a few rhetoricals looming in my head.....
Why does the counter girl always say 15 minutes when we all know it will be more like 45-1 hour?
Why is she so, for lack of a better description, STUPID and RUDE?
Also, why doesn't Chris or Don or whoever do something about it?
It's a shame - their food is so delicious but it will be awhile before we are dumb enough to give them another try.
I guess I will just have to work on my own cajun recipes in the meantime.
Report this
driz716
foodpatron you are not alone!
My boyfriend has had equally distrubing experiences at Lagniappes recently.
Without going into the exhausting details, lets just say they have ruined a several dinners for us now.
I have a few rhetoricals looming in my head.....
Why does the counter girl always say 15 minutes when we all know it will be more like 45-1 hour?
Why is she so, for lack of a better description, STUPID and RUDE?
Also, why doesn't Chris or Don or whoever do something about it?
It's a shame - their food is so delicious but it will be awhile before we are dumb enough to give them another try.
I guess I will just have to work on my own cajun recipes in the meantime.
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chefchrissilver
Hi I am Chris the owner of Lagniappes on Allen Street and first I want to thank all of my customers for making our first year a success! I am always very upset when someone is not happy at my place and my regulars all know I will do almost anything to keep a customer happy. I want to comment on foodpatron who was unhappy above the phone mishap was our fault but most of everything else in her posting is a bold face lie! I tried very hard to make her happy and she flat out said she was going to post this all over the Internet unless she got free food. I tried to buy her dinner the day this happened she didn't want it. I don't have time to deal with this kind of person I want above and beyond to make up for my mistake.
As for driz716 I am very sorry for any problems my counter person was wonderful for our first 6 months or so but I did have to let her go after a few personal problems got in the way of her doing her job well I am very sorry about that! All of my food is prepared fresh and takes sometime to make, all my counter people look to me for the timing and we always try to be quick. I have a very small apace and we do get very busy with take out sit downs and delivery's. It is not unheard of for me to have as many as 40 orders at once and unfortunitly if your number 40 its going to take sometime. But I always try to be honest with the wait time and with the amount of returning customer, good comments, letters and praise from my customers I think I'm doing OK. But mistakes do happen and I am very sorry I hope you give me another try. I always tell my customers to call their order in ahead to save time. Once again I am so sorry you had a bad experience.
Best regards,
Chris
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driz716
Chris--your immediate response to this old post tells me something about the care and concern you put into your business. I apologize for making a spectacle of what seems to be a few isolated issues that I was unlucky enough to experience more than once. I absolutely LOVE your food and will try to order again soon, when I'm not in a hurry!
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