You can count on a few things returning each September: yellowing leaves, cooler nights and fall flavors.
Find a couple of the season’s most popular flavors on the menu at the following local businesses.
Apple
Local farms mash, press and pasteurize their apples for fresh cider every fall. Spend a day at a farm to drink some of the thick and tart apple cider. Options include Becker Farms and Vizcarra Vineyards (3724 Quaker Road, Gasport), Blackman Homestead Farm (4472 Thrall Road, Lockport), Cherry Bank Farm Cider Mill (5140 Townline Road, Sanborn), LynOaken Farms (10609 Ridge Road, Medina) and Smith’s Orchard and Cider Mill (4960 Mapleton Road, Pendleton). Not on a farm but full of cider in multiple forms, including cider slushies and donuts, visit Mayer Bros. Cider Mill (1540 Seneca Creek Road, West Seneca).
For local alcoholic hard cider, visit Donovan Orchard Estate Ciders (8503 Lower Lake Road, Barker), OSB Ciderworks (517 Main St.) and The Cider Project (from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays only, at Groundwork Market Garden, 1698 Genesee St.).
For food, Babcia’s Pierogi (999 Broadway Ave. and 33 Elm St., East Aurora) serves an apple pie a la mode dessert pierogi. Swan Street Diner (700 Swan St.) has a caramel apple-stuffed French toast special. Rosie’s Handcrafted Ice Cream (431 Main St., East Aurora and 488 W. Utica St.) makes an apple cider sorbet with local Mayer Bros. cider.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin flavoring has returned to lattes, ice cream and beer. There is hardly a local coffee shop that doesn’t serve a pumpkin spice latte, but for some creative applications of pumpkin, try: Half Baked Cookies’ (multiple locations) pumpkin spice latte cookie. Julie’s Pizzeria (12 E. Main St., Springville) has brought its pumpkin spice wings back on the menu. Bflo Pizza Bistro (388 Porter Ave.) has also brought its pumpkin cannoli back for the season.
Local chef in Halloween-themed Food Network cooking show
Buffalo-based chef Camille Le Caer is competing on the Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship” hosted by John Henson. It’s not Le Caer’s first time on the Food Network. He also competed in “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” last year. Le Caer works as a private chef and used to own the Hertel Avenue restaurant Pastry by Camille. “Halloween Baking Championship” airs on Food Network at 9 p.m. every Sunday. Episodes release on the streaming platform HBO Max every Monday. Le Caer is one of 10 bakers competing on the show to win $25,000 and the title “Halloween Baking Champion.”
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Restaurant news
Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant specializing in fried chicken sandwiches, opened a new location at 6610 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls. Its hours are 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day but Sunday.
Gino & Joe’s has reopened its downtown Buffalo pizza shop at 403 Main St. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Kaylena Marie’s, a café, breakfast and lunch spot known for its soccer ball-sized cinnamon rolls, has closed its Orchard Park location at 3144 Orchard Park Road after four years of business. Owner Kaylena Eisenhauer wrote on social media that she chose to close the location to focus on her family and other franchises. Kaylena Marie’s plans to open its new Buffalo location at 884 Main St. this winter.
Food events
Celebrate the fall harvest at the Newfane Historical Society’s 46th Apple Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 28 at Country Village, 2685 West Creek Road, Newfane. The festival’s signature food, Art Gladow’s “famous chicken chowder” will be for sale by the bowl and to-go gallons. The festival will include a flea market, artisan vendors, live performances and historical re-enactments. Admission is free.
The Massachusetts Avenue Project’s seventh-annual “Raising the Roots for Food Equity” fundraiser returns from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 at 387 Massachusetts Ave. Sample foods made with local produce from around a dozen restaurants, including Aroma on Bryant, Chef BigWayne Jamaican Cuisine and Roseland’s Atlas. Beverage samples from local businesses such as Tipico Coffee, Go Veggies juice and Smoldered Society Beer Co. will also be available. DJ Auntie K will play disco and soul music. There will be art activities and a Polaroid Photo Booth. Tickets are $74 for adults; $38 for people under 21 and free for children 5 and under.
Savor the cider season at the sixth annual Cider Fest from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Terrace at Delaware Park, 199 Lincoln Parkway. A $30 ticket includes unlimited hard cider, beer and wine tastings from at least 10 local businesses, including BlackBird Cider Works, Hamburg Brewing Company and Central New York’s Eve’s Cidery. Food includes a soup bar by Roux Café, Sahlen’s hot dogs, Moriarty Meats sausages, cider donuts and ice cream. Children are welcome ($15 admission for kids). There will be live music and, for kids, face painting, caramel apple and pumpkin decorating.
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Francesca Bond
Food & drink reporter
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