From the Editor As we venture further out into “best of” territory by presenting, for the first time, an opinionated list of Western New York’s twenty-seven best restaurants, I’d like to reiterate once more the mission behind our madness. We realize that “best” and “top” lists can be very controversial, but, in the end, they are simply resources that our readers can use to help them take advantage of all the riches Western New York has to offer. If readers note a few restaurants on our list that they have never been to before, visit them, and enjoy their experiences, then we’ve accomplished a big part of our mission. So we hope you enjoy this list, which contains a good percentage of modest and casual dining options as well as pricier white tablecloth establishments. Why twenty-seven? We were shooting for twenty-five, but we ended up with a couple more. I’d also like to salute three intrepid Spree freelancers:—William Altreuter, Alan Bedenko, and Catherine Berlin—who, at considerable trouble to their schedules and, I’m sure, some damage to their bank accounts, visited Fashion Week in New York (Altreuter and Berlin) and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (Bedenko). They share the results of their observations about these two trend-predictors here. Even better, these two features are part of ongoing style and automotive coverage that will now be appearing in every issue of Spree. Enjoy! Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top