Quick Upstate Food Review

[imhungryletseat]

We went to visit my son at College in Western NY this weekend and went to a couple of restaurants that were discussed by chowhounders.
Here goes:

Went to Sharkies in Binghamton for Spiedies and Pierogies on the way up. Loved the Pierogies, dripping in butter with pieces of onion. The Spiedies were nothing to write home about. Mine was on the dry side and the blend of spices was similiar to what one could come up with for an everyday home BBQ marinade.

Anchor Bar in Buffalo was next. Now we know why they are the 'king of wings'. The place was packed on a Saturday night and we ordered a bucket of 50 hot wings. We quickly received a mountain of wings (closer to 65 than 50). The wings were just the right temperature for hot wings (by that, I mean they needed a little dip into the blue cheese to reduce the heat) The wings were on the large side and the three of us ate like crazy and still had wings to bring home.) Had a Genesee Cream ale to wash down the wings but they could have a better beer selection, especially with the number of micro's in the area.

We went to Dinosaur BBQ before the Rochester Americans game on Sunday. We got there before five and had a 25 minute wait. We ordered the swag sampler for an appitizer. The fried green tomatoes, eggs, and wings were great. The shrimp boil was also good, the only problem was that you had to peel the shrimp (I know you are thinking, what's the difference, you are going to pick up ribs and wings; it's just our preference) Very good beer selection, and you were able to order a beer sampler of any four beers on the menu.
We all ordered the tres hombres, which consisted of Brisket, Ribs and Pulled Pork. I gather everything was delicious because no one was talking except for the occasional 'mmmmm' The sides (mac and cheese, fries, mashed potatoes, and rice with spicy pork also elicited the same 'mmmm' response! The portion was also on the large side.
Service was on the slow side, possibly because our waiter also had a couple of big parties to take care of.

Monday was hot and we had Abbots vanilla custard before our trip home. Very smooth and creamy!

As a side note, we ran to BJ's Warehouse to pick up some stuff for my son and the BJ's in Henrietta had family packs of Zwiegels red hots and white hots and a variety of beers (including a Ommegang 10 pack of 12oz bottles-two of each variety) I like to see that they have 'local' things to buy. It's a good thing I had a cooler and some ice packs!
Thoughts/comments any place else I should try next visit?

[markp]

What a great post. You had my mouth watering for some of those wings. Thanks for sharing.

Any of you Western NYers know if the legendary "garbage plate" joint in Rochester is still around? I've heard that this is the kind of thing you'd only want to eat after a night of carousing.

[NSL]

Nick Tahou's in Gates (390N to Lyell Ave exit, turn leftand it's down a few blocks on your right) is still there, but it's run under another name now. Something about a family dispute, only one brother runs it now but the other brother wouldn't sign off on the hot sauce and the name. Someplace closer that has the next best garbage plate in town is Mark's Texas Hots on Monroe Ave. It's right in the middle of the bars on Monroe and walking distance from the East Ave and Alexander Street bars.

I would only eat one after a LONG night of drinking but my boyfriend and his buddies go there anytime the mood stikes them