My travels recently took me to Buffalo, New York for the first time.  I had heard good things about the city from a friend, but in my mind, Buffalo is one of those dying Rust Belt cities and my expectations were low.

Buffalo surprised me.  While it’s true the city has shrunk in size as industry has moved away, Buffalo has reinvented itself as a center for higher education and the health care industry.  The city has a vibrancy and optimism that was refreshing and the friendliness of everyone I met was contagious.

For my short visit, I consulted Edible Buffalo for guidance on a restaurant and market to visit. They recommended Trattoria Aroma in the Elmwood Village neighborhood, a residential area with a number of restaurants and wine bars a short cab ride from downtown.  The restaurant is charming with a bustling bar and a large patio area for al fresco dining.

Guests are greeted at the door by a chalkboard listing the daily local produce and featured farms.  The menu is packed with locally sourced dishes, name dropping a local farm in almost every dish.  I selected an appetizer of grilled local asparagus, with prosciutto, shaved parmesan cheese, a fried farm egg and a drizzle of truffle oil.

The dish was luscious and a fantastic way to start the meal.

For dinner, I ordered a pasta dish that featured local produce.  The ripe squash, chard mushrooms and tomatoes tossed with a delicious handmade pasta was rich and surprisingly satisfying for a vegetarian dish.

Trattoria does a fantastic job of highlighting the best of Buffalo’s local meat and produce in their creative offerings and it was a lovely place to start my adventure.

Saturday morning, I got up early and visited the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market, located in a small parkway in the same neighborhood as Trattoria Aroma.  The producer only market was bustling this early July morning with plenty of offerings for any craving.

My favorite part of visiting markets outside of Austin is finding goodies we don’t have.  The first booth I saw as I entered the park was a produce stand with cherries. C-H-E-R-R-I-E-S!!!!!! I’m sure there were other vegetables and fruits on the table, but I could only see the cherries.   I bought a bag and exercised immense self-control to not eat it immediately.

The harvesting season in Buffalo begins in late May/early June and the market offered much of the produce that we see in early spring in Central Texas with an abundance of lettuces, Swiss chard, sugar snap peas, turnips, onions and asparagus.   Blueberries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries were also plentiful.

As I wandered through the stalls, I was delighted to recognized so many farm names from the menu at Trattoria Aroma.  I mentioned to one farmer that I had enjoyed their eggs and asparagus the night before at dinner and she beamed with pride.  ”It’s nice to work with such a great restaurant,” she said.

The market offers a number of prepared foods and meats as well.  You could fill your fridge with smoked sausages, chicken, rabbit or beef.  White Cow Dairy sells a variety of bottled yogurts and juices including low-fat yogurt.  You can buy a complete pasta dinner at the Pasta Peddler who sells both handmade dried pastas and jarred sauces and even pair it with a nice wine from one of two Niagara based vineyards.

View the full Buffalo Road Trip photo set.