Every city has some food words of its own. Buffalo has an unusual number, partly because the region stayed culturally distinct for a long time and partly because a surprising amount of what gets eaten here genuinely did not spread anywhere else.
Here is the working vocabulary, roughly in order of how likely you are to encounter it in your first month.
Weck
Short for kummelweck — German kümmel (caraway) plus weck (roll). A kaiser roll crusted with coarse salt and caraway seed. Almost exclusively used in the phrase "beef on weck," which is rare roast beef on that roll with horseradish and jus. It is the one Buffalo food you genuinely cannot get elsewhere; we have written a full explainer on beef on weck because it deserves one.
Fish fry
Beer-battered haddock, fries, and slaw, served every Friday of the year rather than only during Lent. The year-round part confuses transplants — the reason goes back to a Catholic rule that changed in the 1960s and a city that kept the habit anyway. Ordering "a fish fry" means the whole plate, not just the fish.
Stinger
Steak and chicken fingers on the same sub roll, usually with hot sauce and bleu cheese. The name is steak plus finger. Nobody can prove who invented it — the earliest print citation is 2005, which kills the most commonly repeated origin claim. Order one after 10pm and you will understand it immediately.
Sponge candy
A honeycomb-textured toffee — airy, brittle, dissolves on contact — enrobed in chocolate. Appeared in Buffalo shops around the 1940s. The texture depends on humidity, which is why it is a cold-weather product here and why local makers guard their process. Do not confuse it with the denser honeycomb sold elsewhere. Locals have strong shop loyalties and will tell you about them.
Loganberry
A sweet, dark red fruit drink, deeply associated with the old Crystal Beach amusement park across the lake in Ontario. It survives as a regional soft drink and increasingly as a cocktail mixer — our own Loganberry Mule is exactly what it sounds like. Almost unknown outside WNY.
Pizza logs
Pizza filling — cheese, sauce, pepperoni — rolled inside an egg-roll wrapper and deep fried. A bar-menu staple, invented in Western New York, and one of the more unhinged things this region has contributed to food. Excellent.
Cup-and-char
The natural-casing pepperoni that curls into crisp little cups in the oven. One of the defining features of Buffalo-style pizza, along with a sweeter sauce and a thicker crust.
Chiavetta's
A tangy vinegar-and-herb marinade for chicken, sold in bottles across WNY and inseparable from church picnics, firehall fundraisers, and summer parking-lot barbecues. If someone mentions "chicken barbecue" here, this is the flavor they mean. (Cornell chicken is the Ithaca cousin — related idea, different region.)
Ted's
Shorthand for charcoal-grilled hot dogs, after the local chain that has been doing them since 1927. "Getting Ted's" is a complete sentence.
Beef on weck's supporting cast
- Horseradish — prepared, not creamed, and applied with more confidence than visitors expect.
- Au jus — served in a cup on the side for dipping. Do not drown the roll.
- Mac salad — macaroni salad, a default side alongside or instead of potato salad. People have positions.
Half of Buffalo's food vocabulary is German, a quarter is Polish, and the rest was invented by somebody working a fryer at midnight.
Words that are not ours
Worth knowing so you do not accidentally out yourself:
- Garbage plate — Rochester. Not Buffalo. Claiming it here is a tell.
- White hots — also Rochester. Buffalo's answer is the charcoal dog.
- Spiedies — Binghamton.
- Chicken riggies, Utica greens — Utica and Rome.
"Buffalo sauce" outside Buffalo usually means something bottled and sweet. Here it means cayenne pepper sauce cut with butter, and nothing else. The whole global category grew out of that one simple combination — and the story of how it got invented is considerably messier than the plaques suggest.
Using it
Most of this vocabulary shows up on our menu without translation, because locals do not need one. If you are new here and want the crash course in a single sitting: a fish fry on a Friday, wings whenever, and a beef on weck the first chance you get.
The restaurant is at 3151 Main Street and the full menu is here if you would like to see the words in their natural habitat.