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TAKE ONE
Merge offers vegan and more
By Jessica Keltz; photos by kc kratt
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Merge’s sweet potato and peanut soup.
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Beet salad.
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Merge’s bright interior.
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Bruschetta trio.
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Someday, if you are very lucky, a restaurant will open within walking distance of your home, and on that restaurant’s menu will be all of the foods you like to eat. And if your tastes are similar to mine, and you live in the Allentown or downtown neighborhoods in Buffalo, it turns out that you are already very lucky, because Merge has arrived.
Merge features a mostly meatless menu, with a few poultry and seafood dishes as well as gluten-free, vegan, and raw options. A vegetarian for more than a decade, I’m accustomed to making up my mind quickly in restaurants—I can narrow down the choices pretty fast. Not here. Garden salad with tempeh? Buffalo-style eggplant? Wraps stuffed with black bean cakes and vegetables? All are most likely delicious, but none made the cut.
On my first visit to Merge, I went for the Chopin wrap, which, the menu notes, is vegan. It contains baked potato, cabbage, hummus, and hot sauce—an unexpected combination to be sure, but also a delicious one. All ingredients were perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor, and the sandwich was greatly improved by being grilled before it was served. Instead of one of the many available sides—kale salad, sweet potato fries, mac and cheese—I requested a cup of sweet potato and peanut soup. Along with vichyssoise (a French potato and leek soup) and hearty chicken noodle, it’s always on the menu. A moderately hearty orange puree, it is served with a generous pinch of roasted peanut bits on top.
At the time, the restaurant hadn’t been open more than a couple of weeks, always a potential cause for concern. Here, it was not warranted. The coffee was fresh, the service prompt, the order correct and the meal delicious. On my second visit, a friend and I started with the bruschetta trio. It consists of about ten to twelve slices of toasted baguette positively heaped with either tapenade, artichoke/asiago spread, or a sun-dried tomato mixture. Just in case that’s not close enough to condiment heaven, the slices are arranged around a shallow vat of balsamic dressing. The only way to taste everything is to hold the bread by its edges and dip the entire bottom in the dressing, resulting in a less than elegant eating experience. It’s well worth sacrificing clean fingers for.
For my second course, I tried a special of the day, black bean soup. Then I finished my meal with a homemade chocolate chip cannoli. So many of the appetizers—fried ravioli, polenta medallions in a tomato mushroom sauce—are so appealing that I doubt I’m the only person who’s ever skipped the main dish entirely. Soon I will return to sample the battered and fried dill pickles.
So far, everything I’ve tried at Merge has lived up to my high expectations. Friends also recommend the beet salad (served with goat cheese), the Sherri (a wrap filled with roasted Italian marinated chicken, cranberries, brie, and spinach), the Katie (a high-end grilled cheese with granny smith apples and “lightly pickled jicama”), and, of course, the sweet potato fries. Lunch prices are typical for downtown Buffalo, with salads, wraps, and sandwiches running about $7 to $8.
Dinner options at Merge include a gluten-free lasagna made with brown rice noodles, peppercorn poached salmon, shrimp scampi, and ratatouille with fried eggplant and toasted pine nuts. Entree prices range from $8 to $12. As of this writing, beer and wine were on their way, and a short but high-quality coffee and tea menu was already in place.
If one could find any downside to the restaurant—and as far as I’m concerned, there isn’t—it’s portion sizes. A cup of soup and a wrap makes a perfect lunch for me, a female office worker, but those with hearty appetites will need to order more in order to fill up. In this way, it reminds me of Moosewood, the famous Ithaca vegetarian restaurant where modest portions are the norm. Why should everything be made for the biggest people? I don’t need a boat of pasta or a sandwich the size of my forearm and, as such, Merge suits me just fine.
Merge
439 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo
381-8502
Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Jessica Keltz is an attorney and freelance writer. She lives, works, plays, and eats in the city of Buffalo.
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