Anchored by Tom Schuh:

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Queen of Mexican cuisine and former Buffalo Rising contributor, Laura Anhalt, has released a wonderful sauce under the label she and her business partner, Beverly Barry, own--A Taste of the World.  What began as a series of cooking classes based out of Anhalt's Buffalo home has evolved into a line of must-have gourmet sauces, a soon-to-be-released cookbook detailing Laura's affinity for the cuisine of her homeland, and a busy career as a promoter of both.

We covered Anhalt's delicious and versatile take on chimichurri when it first came out a few years ago.  She was ahead of her time with that one--it seems that while chimichurri has been popular in other cities for ages, it had never really taken hold here in Buffalo.  In the last year I have seen it on restaurant menus and in bottles on market shelves. A Taste of the World's Chimichurri is especially good and worth the effort of a special trip to the supermarket, but that's old news.

Today I want to talk about the duo's new Mexican Chocolate Truffle Sauce.  This sauce is smoky, earthy, sweet and deeply satisfying, but what makes it extra special is its texture.  If you warm it in the microwave or over a double boiler, it makes a delicious and sophisticated topping for ice cream or cheesecake and a beautiful fondue for fresh fruit, pound cake or even marshmallows.  But if you prefer--like Anhalt herself--to enjoy it straight from the jar, its texture is exactly that of a fine truffle.  Delicious!

Anhalt and Barry use a local co-packer and have personally sourced the coca beans and all of the other ingredients from outside of our region.  While someone may be able to replicate the basic ingredient list used to make this fine product, it is impossible to replicate. The duskiness of the cinnamon and chile components lend a complexity to this sauce, making it superior to any other 'bottled' chocolate sauce or dip I have ever tried.

You can find it at local markets with a commitment to offering quality, locally manufactured foods, including: The Village Beer Merchant, Dash's, Chateau Buffalo, Johnny's Meats and Premier Gourmet.

Carl Paladino’s campaign starts, and more:

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Take a sneak peak this afternoon of an upcoming exhibit, "Hands on History," at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

A typical boy's fantasy came true for Ronald Hoier one summer afternoon in 1946 when his mother took him to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium courtesy of her friend “Marse Joe” McCarthy, the legendary New York Yankees manager.

Tickets are still available for the four potential first-round home playoff games for the Buffalo Sabres.

Every 18 seconds, on average, someone in the United States is arrested for a drug crime. The nation's jails and prisons are teeming with drug offenders.

LEWISTON -- The town will build a higher berm around a Harold Road firing range used by town police and other agencies to address concerns from nearby residents who say they fear the potential of stray bullets from the facility.

Responding to a call of a shooting on the 300 block of Davidson Avenue at 9:45 a.m. today, Buffalo police found the lifeless body of a 23-year-old man in the street in the Kensington Avenue-Eggert Road neighborhood, authorities said.

Housing is essential for a prosperous downtown.  Across the country, Americans are embracing city living, particularly in places where they can live, work and shop all within a few blocks. Buffalo is enjoying the benefits of the nation's rediscovered taste for urban living.  Many are making the decision to move downtown.  They want to be in the heart of the city. They want to walk to work, sporting events, theater and dining, and do not want the responsibilities of conventional home ownership.

Hundreds of people have moved into downtown Buffalo in recent years.  Buffalo officials have been encouraging developers to recycle old downtown buildings into chic residences since St. Mary Square and Ansonia Center opened in the mid-1980's.  Nearly 700 residences have been created since.  Work is underway on 144 additional units and there are plans for 300 others.  Include Waterfront Village and the unit count goes over 1,150.

Much of the progress has been recent and can be credited to a few developers taking a risk.  Pioneers include First Amherst's Lofts @ Elk Terminal, Ellicott Development's Belesario, Clover's Sidway Building, and Signature Development's Ellicott Lofts.  Their success has spurred others to join in and each has completed follow-up developments.  Today, people are now living downtown amid the office towers, warehouses and parking lots on such streets as Ellicott, Oak, Washington, Perry and Main. 

People are moving downtown to be close to jobs and entertainment. In turn, housing helps make downtown a more attractive workplace stimulating the demand for retail.  The result is a more active downtown.  But where is the retail? 

It has been a long-deferred dream of bringing serious retail options back downtown.  One way to do that is with high density housing- and lots of it.  As the downtown population grows creating steady traffic, retail is becoming more viable. 

Consultants say a critical mass of 10,000 downtown residences is necessary to reel in a stable, tax-paying base of neighborhood boutiques and restaurants, ultimately launching a self-propelling economy.  Downtown's current one thousand units will not bring back a department store, a Gap or Trader Joe's, but the new residents have helped create retail demand. 

Much of the housing has been created though the adaptive reuse of architecturally significant properties creating unique, modern living space.  Therefore, most projects are small conversion projects and average around 40 units.  Worse, they are spread throughout downtown.  The developments together are making a significant difference in how downtown looks and feels, but they aren't concentrated or large enough to spur much retail and no area feels like a "neighborhood."

The City Queen City Hub plan for downtown recommended focusing on target areas to create a critical mass of residential.  A strategic approach was deemed necessary to develop new "downtown neighborhoods and strengthen surrounding neighborhoods."   Queen City Hub was praised for its approach and earned accolades from the American Planning Association in 2005.  Like many Buffalo planning documents however, follow-thru has been more happenstance than City-driven.

Next:  Where is the Focus?

Moe. will return to its native Buffalo for a two-night stand as part of the annual Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor summer series. The two shows will take place at the Erie Basin Marina on June 25 and June 26, according to event producers Buffalo Place Inc.

Buffalo developer Carl Paladino has officially tossed his hat into the ring for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. He says he’ll bring change to state government. Paladino has the support of the local Tea Party movement, and enters the GOP field alongside former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

A Williamsville teenager will spend three years behind bars for severely beating a classmate. 18-year-old Curtis Byers previously admitted to the brutal assault in the Williamsville South High School cafeteria in March of 2009. Byers pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. He has a history of run-ins with the law, having set fire to a vacant Buffalo home in which a firefighter nearly died and also a shooting during an armed robbery.

Two adult clubs which had their liquor licenses suspended are awaiting a judge’s ruling on their appeals. The judge hearing the case against Rick’s Tally-Ho in Cheektowaga says he will rule in a day or so on if the club can sell liquor again. However, the judge hearing the case involving 24KT Gold in Hamburg did not say when a ruling would be announced and refused to allow the club to sell alcohol in the meantime. Last month, the State Liquor Authority suspended the licenses after raiding the establishments. More than two dozen employees face federal indictments.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to a restaurant and a park for an employee and an autistic patient over the weekend. But the two men left the People Inc. residence in Amherst Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. and were not found until Monday morning in Buffalo. Police are questioning the employee, 40-year-old Michel Donnelly, to find out what happened. Investigators say the autistic man is 38-years-old who communicates only through sign language. Both were located in good health.

A Town of Elma man is behind bars on charges that he assaulted his own brother. 30-year-old John Lawson allegedly became violent after a dispute late Sunday night at a home on Transit Road. Erie County Sheriff’s deputies say the victim suffered significant injuries. Lawson has been charged with second-degree assault and menacing. He remains in the Erie County Holding Center.

Rescuers and firefighters cleared the scene of a downtown Fredonia fire last night. Officials say the blaze started in the bedroom of a building near the M&T Bank on East Main Street. No injuries have been reported yet and the amount of damage caused has yet to be determined.

A local church property is being sold to the University of Buffalo to expand the school’s downtown presence. UB purchased 15-acres of land from St. John Baptist Church for 15-million dollars. The land is located within the High Street medical corridor, and the university is planning on using the site to increase the size of its medical school . St. John’s Church wants to use the money from UB to jump start plans for a 500-million-dollar revitalization of the adjacent Fruit Belt neighborhood.

Buffalo’s Polish community, as well as the Polish-for-a-day, were out in full force on a beautiful Dyngus Day yesterday. Near-perfect weather marked big celebrations around the area, including a parade past the historic Central Terminal in Buffalo, and a dance at the Hearthstone Manor. Tradition has it that Dyngus Day was created in Buffalo, and that our area has the biggest Dyngus Day celebrations in the country.

Plans for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary Season have been announced. Sixteen programs will be performed by BPO from October through June. The BPO gave its first-ever performance on November 7th, of 1935 at the Elmwood Music Hall.

Ol’ Weird Neil is coming back to Buffalo. Neil Young will perform a solo-acoustic show on May 19th at Shea’s, one of 14-dates on his just-announced “Twisted Road” tour.

Informedone got this one right off the bat- Electric Tower.  And so did several others.  Not much is known about this interior space located in the building's signature spire.  It may have been used as performance space or for employee meetings.  Does anyone have the details?

The Electric Tower, located at 535 Washington Street, was acquired by Iskalo Development from Niagara Mohawk in 2004. Iskalo has returned the property to its original grandeur, starting with the restoration and reconstruction of the two-story lobby space.  The building was rededicated in August 2007.

If there is one thing that you can say about Prish Moran, owner of Sweet_ness 7 on Grant Street, it's that she is never idle. You would think that managing a rather large, multi-use building with both residential and commercial tenants would be a full time job. Prish operates the café, oversees the Grant Street Art Gallery, constantly interacts with her tenants, and brainstorms ways to create dynamic enterprises out of underutilized spaces.

In recent weeks, Prish has set her eyes on an entirely different area of the city. After being approached by Penny Wyatt, owner of a property located at the corner of Parkside and Russell, she decided that it was time to "get her hands dirty again." According to Prish, the corner is perfectly situated to attract a large number of residents and nearby students from Medaille and Canisius College. "The block needs a coffee shop," she told me. "I love the idea that it's an awesome community... it's a funky little strip that should do great with a two-corner patio. I've already been in contact with someone from The Martin House, and then there is The Zoo. I've worked out a deal with Penny - the two of us are going to make this work."

S7 Café will serve up many of the items that have made Sweet_ness 7 the success that it is today, though the menu will be scaled down a bit since there will not be a grill. Prish told me that she can't wait to get started on the building. She will be taking a similar approach that she did on Grant Street, working with Buffalo ReUse and turning the interior into an arts and crafts-style décor to play off the FLW flavor of the neighborhood. Local filmmaker John Paget will be filming the entire process in order to capture the essence of the transition. "I want people to see that it's not as hard as it looks," Prish said. "I want to create a visual manual for others, so that they can transform their own neighborhoods into destinations that they envision. People should be able to watch the work of others to learn what to do and what not to do. How do you work around issues that can be major stumbling blocks? We should be giving them a blueprint to revitalizing their own street corners."

S7 Café
299 Parkside (Corner of Russell)