Por Dr. Ink
In navigating Uptown’s numerous pathways to happy hour, I’ve discovered that good things reside behind inconspicuous storefronts. The Buffalo Public House is one of them.
The Brazilian gastropub is fairly easy to overlook, despite its central location on University Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth avenues. It’s upstaged primarily by Burger Lounge to the west and Jimmy Wong’s Golden Dragon Asian Bistro to the east. The address has also seen its share of fleeting tenants; most recently it was East Village Asian Diner and The Pink Noodle before that.
Interior renovations have done justice to the space, which lacked warmth in its previous incarnations. The restaurant’s husband-wife owners, Henrique and Norah Gomes, have spruced it up with a soothing color palette of muted yellow, green and blue, as well as old, Brazilian stable doors stretching across one of the walls.
Eclectic lighting fixtures, comfortable table seating and a cozy 10-stool bar in the rear are among the added elements that give this “house” a welcoming, community feel.The couple brings to scene several food and drink specialties common in their native Brazil, starting with house-made hot sauce using malagueta chili peppers. The sauce shows up on hot wings, priced at $5 (for four) during happy hour, or 50 cents apiece all day Wednesday.
It also lands in one of the $5 cocktails that usually sell for $7.50 outside of happy hour. The Mary-Gueta combines the feisty red sauce with house-made bloody Mary mix and a fermented spirit resembling vodka, which is infused with habanero. Given its five-alarm description, I decided to pass.
I instead tried the sauce directly from a glass bottle sitting on the table, applying it prudently to a discounted Brazilian pastel. The stuffed pastry resembled an empanada. Although when forking into it, a mini avalanche of ground beef, potatoes and onions tumbled out into the spicy droplets of cherry-red malagueta sitting on my plate.
Good stuff, but not an ideal match to the sweetish cocktail I chose. A draft beer from the 20-plus tap selection would have paired much better. They’re all $2 off during happy hour.
The cocktail I nursed was a spin on Brazil’s powerful caipirinha, made traditionally with muddled limes and hard sugar-cane liquor. Here, it’s constructed with the mock vodka and a choice of fresh fruit. I chose kiwi, and the result was a pulpy, refreshing libation that became stronger as I kept drinking it because most of the alcohol had settled on the bottom.
Even though it didn’t pack the knockout punch of a classic caipirinha, I came away sated for a mere $8, and made it known by penning a line of appreciation inside the little notebook containing my bill. My sentiments echoed the scribes of many other customers on those pages.
