Yesterday my friend Joyce and I visited the Albright-Knox Gallery and Art Museum  in Buffalo, New York.  It was a spectacular day of viewing the amazing Marisol collection of sculptures, as well as admiring some very famous paintings that we both had studied in art history classes – from Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani and my heroes Johns and Rauschenberg!  We kept saying a variation of “what is this doing here, and, I didn’t know this was here!”

On that high note, we decided to go in search of fish fry.  The gallery store employee directed us to Cole’s, an Irish pub located only minutes away in the Elmwood Village neighborhood.

Presentation:  Haddock is a Friday-only special here and it is prepared three different ways – beer battered (Joyce’s choice), broiled or broiled Greek-style.  I chose the latter minus the tomato addition.

Taste:  I have to say that this meal was the best fish dinner I have ever had.  The fish was mouthwatering.  I was told they broil their fish in white wine but when they do it Greek-style they use a Greek dressing marinade and add spinach and feta cheese to the fish before broiling.  I am in love with these people.  Too bad they are a bit over two hours away.  I asked to be adopted.  The waitress did relay this to the chef and kitchen staff, and she said they were delighted that I was delighted and I was very, very…sooooo delighted.  <3

Joyce thought her beer-battered version rivaled the fish she had last week in London, England.  Yes, that good!  She chose sweet potato fries and soup as her sides.

I loved the flavor of the coleslaw with my salty friend, feta, but as per usual, I was in salt overkill with the fries.  I think they were peppered as well.  Next time I will ask for saltless fries with this meal.

Restaurant Experience:   OMG times infinity.  I highly recommend this amazing restaurant!  We were seated immediately and the waitress was absolutely lovely.  We shared that we were out-of-towners (Joyce is from Binghamton, New York) and were excited to be there.  She welcomed us and matched our enthusiasm.

It was relatively quiet inside the restaurant with soft rock music playing.  We were able to continue our conversation in between bites and oohs and ahhs over the food – mostly me, as I am the crazy fish lady, let’s make that clear.

Location:  Cole’s is located at 1104 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14222, a two-minute drive from the AKG Art Museum (or a nine-minute walk).

Hours

Parking:  We parked on the street.  I didn’t see a parking lot.  We were there around 3:30 PM on Friday afternoon, which is between lunch and dinner so it wasn’t a problem finding a spot.