NY: Friday - Breakfast - Lake Effect Diner

We started our day out right! When we planned on going to Palmyra I went to the internet to figure out all we could do when we got down there. When traveling in the states, I ALWAYS check out the triple D’s web page (that’s “Diners Drive-in and Dives” hosted by a guy named GUY on food network) I LOVE his show, he goes to all these little mom and pop shops and finds out what great food is out there in the not so obvious locations of the US. So I came up with a list of all these great restaurants to go to in buffalo, and this place is one of them:
“Lake Effect Diner”

Location: 3165 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214
Phone number: (716) 833-1952
Website: http://www.curtinrestaurants.com/lake-effect-diner.html

Man, Derick was so grateful that I picked out this place. We had such an awesome time!


This is an old fashion 50’s diner, they had oldies playing on the radio. The kids had fun spinning on the bar chairs


This place is SO worth visiting for so many reasons, one of which is that they MAKE their own HAM!! (a 14 day process JUST so it can be a side to 1 breakfast dish! That’s love!) they smoke their own bacon, and 95% of the things they serve are made from scratch! They bend over backwards all the time to make the dish full of flavor so when you just sit down to eat, ever bit is heaven. Even their OJ is made from squeezing real oranges. Check out this crazy looking machine!


Coming to a place where Guy’s been, makes me feel like I’m on a movie set. On the wall by the door they’ve hung up pictures taken from when Guy was down here filming at their diner for his show.

You can watch the clip from when Guy’s visited here from this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoeTagnMtV4

And this is Guys “tag” it’s like a signed picture by him only it’s a personalized spray painted “tag” that’s done on the wall of the diner


After watching the clip and doing all my research on the place, I knew EXACTLY what we were going to order, I just can’t remember the name of the item anymore. (but you can watch the details on how it’s made from the clip web link up above)


Derick and I both had their famous breakfast plate, it’s SO GOOD! it’s eggs, shaved ham that’s been made with real love, old school make breakfast fries PACKED with flavor, side of toast and drizzled with what they call “red-eye gravy”, SO YUMMY!! Doesn’t this picture just make your mouth water?


It’s crazy good! And NOT over priced at all!! My plate was only $8 and worth every penny and then some!


We all loved it. And it was SO funny how quite derick was to eat it and not talk while eating. He was just so toned into finishing every yummy bite of his dish!


Even Amanda took a bite and said to me “mommy it’s not yucky, it’s yummy!” the kids really loved the bacon! We’ve never had bacon like this!! This is NOT what your grandma made for you even on her best days.


From Guys web page on food network, I got this restaurants donation of a recipe from their menu called “Italian Fish”. I printed off the recipe and brought it with me so the mast chef could sign it. He sadly just left for a weekend family vacation, so I asked for the chef who made my breakfast to sign it for me.

When she walked out and Sergio (the floor manager) said “this is the chef who made your meal” I looked at her like a long lost relative gave her a heartfelt “thank you” and hugged her. She looked like a deer under head-lights. “why?” she said, I told her “because I appreciate good food, and that’s what you made for me. I loved it! I have a recipe here by the head chef and since he’s gone and you made my meal I would feel honored if you sign it for me” she was shocked and slightly hesitant to sign her name as if she was a movie star but Sergio just kept encouraging her saying “come on, make the magic happy!” and she did sign it for me. she had such a pretty signature too. I’m so happy to add this to my recipe book back home.


They even had a some souvenirs at the checkout area. We got 2 shirts for the kids (to grow into) even though they’re small they’re still rather BIG for kids. They actually didn’t have any kid sizes of the black one so Sergio went to the back and gave us a STAFF shirt from one of the girls! They had post cards too and we got 3 and Sergio gave them to us for FREE! He was such a sweet guy! He just thought I was the cutest thing with my clipboard and printed out recipe and how I was a big fan of Guy from food network and how I loved the food so much. Seriously though, if you come into these mom and pop shops excited to be there and want to indulge in everything they have to offer, they tend to treat you like family! Sorry to most of the family, we only got 3 postcards, 1 for us, and 1 each for our parents so siblings you’ll have to look at the one we sent mom and dad, but this is a picture of what it looked like.


This was by far one of the best brekfests of my LIFE! It was a AWESOME way to start off the day! We will absolutely come back here again the next time we come thru! I highly recommend you guys look them up if yall come by.


And just so yall know (in case you ever go up there) they have 2 other restaurants that have the same cooking staff and menus. One of them is on the lake and we got a picture of it while we drove by.