Out and about with the Redhead and columnist Frank Thomas Croisdale the other night and ended up at Dan Vecchies' Shadow on Third Street for dinner.
The place was packed, and would be for the rest of the weekday night. Valet parking, a doorman, the whole nine yards. You'd know better than I when the last time was that a white-tablecloth, American cuisine eatery opened in the city's South End, but Shadow would be a four-star restaurant in Buffalo or Cleveland, and wouldn't be at all out of place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Saw a lot of people I knew, Reporter landlord Frank Amendola had his whole family there for a celebratory dinner. The cocktails were all they're cracked up to be and our waitress kept them coming.
Feeling adventurous, Croisdale and the Redhead ordered the grilled chicken flatbread, served with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, toasted pine nuts, basil pesto and mozzarella. They raved. I had a steak, and haven't had a better one in a long time. They served it with rosemary potatoes and grilled vegetables. The desserts were sinful.
Vecchies spent a long time and a lot of money on a gut renovation before opening Shadow and it shows. The exposed brick, the artwork and the subtle lighting combine to create a signature atmosphere that you won't find anyplace else in the Falls.
He recently closed a $200,000 deal on another building located just across the street from Shadow, and word is that he's taken an option on a third property up the block.
We've heard a lot about development in recent years, from state and local officials as well as from out-of-towners like David Cordish. It hasn't amounted to much. It's refreshing to see a local guy like Vecchies willing to gamble on his own dream and make the city a better place.
Got an e-mail from Kevin Schuler last week. You remember him. He's the guy the Buffalo Niagara Partnership planted in Niagara County after Bobby Newman was denied a seat on the board of the Industrial Development Agency because he lives in Erie County. Schuler got the seat instead.
Thank you very much, Bradley Erck.
Anyway, Schuler -- in his role as governmental affairs director for the Partnership, pointed out an error in the Nov. 18 Reporter editorial. Newman, CEO of the Niagara USA Chamber, is not a member of the Partnership's board, he wrote.
My fault, and I regret it. In fact it is Newman's brother, James, who sits on the board.
Bobby Newman himself is merely a member of the Partnership, has been directing businesses away from Niagara County and into the waiting arms of the Partnership's "development" arm, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, arranged for the Partnership to slime local union workers with their "Who Does What?" and "Who Spends What?" reports, and has most recently been a spokesman for the Partnership's Niagara Initiative, which put forth the novel idea that Erie County is entitled to a share of the Seneca Niagara Casino revenue.
It's little wonder that Schuler is attempting to distance himself from Newman, who's about as popular in Niagara County as the measles.
Rick Pfeiffer, ace newsman at the Niagara Gazette, was yanked from the police beat last week and moved to the City Hall desk. It's just as well. Once Police Chief Christopher Carlin leaves his post in January, Pfeiffer would have a hard time finding anyone at the Public Safety Building willing to talk to him.
In a few short years, Pfeiffer gained a reputation among cops here for burning sources and toadying up to an unpopular administration. At the same time, he perfected the art of stretching one-paragraph police blotter items into 500-word narratives that only seemed inane to those who actually took the time to read them.
Finally, has anyone seen Mayor Irene Elia?
Since her Election Day drubbing at the hands of Councilman Vince Anello, the diminutive dictator has been MIA, unavailable for comment to the press, doing nothing to facilitate the transition to the new administration and making only furtive appearances at her City Hall office.
Elia's bizarre behavior since the election pretty much confirms much of what was said about her prior to it -- that she's a couple beers shy of a sixpack. Her absence, however, makes it easy to forget the through-the-looking-glass lack of reality that characterized her administration.
One could easily think it was all just a bad, bad dream.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 25 2003 |